Case Study in Baltimore County Property Management. How HomeWorks Property Management turned a non-performing asset into a cash cow.

Baltimore county property management- A case study of success!

Overview:

Our client is a professional real estate investor who owns about 200 units in the Baltimore and D.C metropolitan area. Initially, we were hired to take over the management of a 10 unit building in Baltimore County, Maryland, that wasn’t performing as expected with the understanding that our client may sell it if we were unable to turn the building around.

 

The good, The Bad, The Ugly.

And not necessarily in that order! When the property manager managing the building was notified that HomeWorks would be replacing him, he went from slow to respond to completely unresponsive. We had 3 leases, no keys, outdates rent ledgers, and no contact information for the current residents. The property was had an 80% economic vacancy rate while 9 of the 10 units were occupied. Most of the residents were 60 to 90 days in arrears, and the rents were on average $200 below market per unit. Maintenance on the property had been billed for, but it was not done or done to such a low standard that it would need to be redone. Our work was cut out for us! We had many details to clarify before being able to get the cash flowing again.

Our Strategy

We decided on a 90-day plan broken down into six bi-weekly milestones.

1st Milestone:

All current residents contacted, notified of the change in management, and current contact information received.

2nd Milestone:

Take inventory of all the maintenance issues in the building,
Determine a budget for repairs,
Immediately fix what was a threat to life, safety, or health.

3rd Milestone:

Obtain replacement documents where possible and get copies of keys.

4th Milestone:

Resident workout plans. We needed to collect the delinquent rent balances and set up a payment plan for those who could not pay the entire outstanding balance.

5th Milestone:

New leases, rent increases, cosmetic repairs started.

6th Milestone:

Vacant apartments turned and rented.

 

Implementation- A story of a successful turn around from Baltimore County’s top property manager

Failing to plan is planning to fail!

Ultimately 5 of the 9 residents agreed to workout plans and paid on time after they saw the maintenance work being performed in their apartments and the work being done to spruce up the building as a whole. The remaining residents were either evicted, and money judgments were obtained to collect the outstanding rent balances. We were able to raise the rents slowly as well until they were just below the market rate. We replaced all of the old plumbing fixtures with water-efficient fixtures that saved approximately 30% on the water bill. We implemented a plan to repair all of the minor issues that were reported to us, planned capital expenditures, and during the unit turns refinished the cabinets, repainted the units in a modern style, refinished the floors, had the exterior of the building power washed, and rented all of the vacant apartments at market rent.

Outcomes achieved

Today this building produces approximately $7900 per month in gross cashflow and is fully occupied. All of our planned capital expenditures are on target, and the client has an asset that will appreciate and produce income for years to come!

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