We are so proud to announce that this is our 50th Five Minute Friday! When combined with our 50th full episode from last week, Property Management Brainstorm, TODAY is celebrating our 100th published podcast. Wow, our 100th episode, hard to believe but a great way to kick off our first FMF of 2021. And what better topic for our 100th episode to tell you all that the speaker slate has been finalized and our full agenda is now available for the CALNARPM Conference, coming up on March 11-12, 2021. ...
Jan 15, 2021•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast We are proud to kick off 2021 with the “Best of Brainstorm”, snippets from our top guests of 2020. Topics Covered [3:48] Episode 42 featured Andrew Smallwood of Second Nature, who knows a lot too about why air quality is so important in rental properties. [5:35] In Episode 44 , our guest was Citizen Home Solutions, featuring Peter Hernandez. Citizen provides a concierge onboarding service for new tenants to get their utilities setup. [7:27] Perhaps the most inspiring conversation of the year was...
Jan 08, 2021•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello Brainstormers! We are taking some time off from production during the holiday season but will be back with our normal Property Management Brainstorm programming in January 2021. Until then, happy holidays and we look forward to having you back with us in the new year! Connect with Bob Preston https://www.propertymanagementbrainstorm.com/ This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm . Subscribe to Property Management Brainstorm on Ap...
Dec 23, 2020•27 sec•Transcript available on Metacast On this Five Minute Friday, Bob discusses facing fears in our property management businesses as we head into 2021. Simply put, the issues we fear the most are the ones we most need to discuss and resolve! Are there areas of your business that need attention which you’ve been avoiding during the pandemic? What better time to focus on these items than now as we are working on our new year resolutions and 2021 business plans. This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at P...
Dec 18, 2020•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast On today's FMF, Bob Preston speaks about the importance of relationship management in every business. Most of us would agree that Property Management is a “relationship business”. Imagine the number of people your team interfaces with daily in making your business successful: property owners, tenants, vendors, prospective tenants, HOAs, and more. This amounts to literally 100s of individual personalities on an ongoing basis. Bob refers to this group of people collectively as "stakehold...
Dec 04, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this time of gratitude, I wanted to say thank you to all of our listeners who tune in for Property Management Brainstorm. Counting you among our listeners is something for which we are especially grateful! This has been a trying year on all of us in property management, so, I’m also wishing you the gift of faith and hope as we gather with the family we love, the friends we cherish, and for the blessings that will come. I’m certain we will all emerge from this crazy year stronger than ever. Wa...
Nov 27, 2020•3 min•Transcript available on Metacast What the heck is normal (or ordinary) wear and tear? This term is used in many of our states where we practice property management and is often the cause of misinterpretation, conflict, and disputes. In today's Five Minute Friday, Bob describes his "common sense" rule as it applies to determining what is normal wear and tear or what otherwise might be considered damage. This topic is of course hugely important when determining charges to a security deposit when a tenant moves out ...
Nov 20, 2020•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bob has been addressing "process" in the past few episodes, speaking to why it is so important in property management. But what if many of those processes could be “automated”? The concept is to let technology handle your repetitive tasks. Might this allow your property management business to work smarter, not harder? In this Episode 49 of Property Management Brainstorm, Bob discusses this topic with Heather Park, Co-founder and Managing Partner at RentBridge. They will be speaking abo...
Nov 19, 2020•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's Five Minute Friday poses a hypothetical questions. There is no right or wrong answer, only personal preference of how you think a property management company should be run. A lot of companies have come into our property management space offering technical solutions based on automation and artificial intelligence. The concept is a sound one, what tasks in your property management workflow can be automated? And by automate, we are talking about digitizing the process, often taking it ...
Nov 13, 2020•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Exciting news! The Calilfornia State Chapter of NARPM® (CALNARPM) has announced its theme and the dates of its annual conference. This will be a virtual conference, titled "Embracing Change", to be held March 11-12, 2021. Embracing change is something all property managers have had to do during COVID-19 and may need to do more than ever as we come out of the pandemic next year. We will be charting new directions in property management as we begin 2021. Join property managers, landlords...
Nov 06, 2020•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Real estate brokers and property managers receive what are known as “trust funds” in the normal course of doing business. These are typically deposits and payments received and held on behalf of others, thereby creating a fiduciary responsibility to the funds owners. In our business as property managers, we must handle and account for these funds according to established legal and accounting standards within the rules and regulatory requirements of our individual states. Not being in compliance ...
Oct 30, 2020•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast The role of being a landlord comes with many financial, legal, and ethical obligations. As an owner of an investment property, time is money. There are two ways to go, managing the property yourself or hiring a property manager. On this week's Five Minute Friday, Bob poses a question to real estate investors: should you manage a rental property yourself or should you hire a property manager? There are of course lots of questions to ask yourself and many aspects to consider. Bob covers these...
Oct 23, 2020•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this week's Five Minute Friday, Bob reviews and gives his position/endorsement for either a "yes" or a "no" on four California Ballot Measures in the upcoming election on November 3rd, that he believes to be significant to landlords, real estate investors and owners of rental property. Bob provides his opinion from a nonpartisan, independent position, as the owner of a property management company in the State of California. Here is a summary of the ballot measures of ...
Oct 16, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast What is a "process" and why do we need it as a landlord or property management company? Webster’s defines process as a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. All you property managers out there, sound familiar? Our daily workflow in this business requires us to follow certain steps for several reasons: legal compliance, efficiency, profitability to name just a few. Think of the activities in our jobs which need to stay streamlined: business development, ...
Oct 15, 2020•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast We've been getting a lot of questions this month about the new eviction protection laws recently passed by the CDC and in California so we wanted to provide an overview to California landlords and property managers on this episode of Five Minute Friday. Full disclosure, Bob Preston, the host of the show, is NOT an attorney so this episode should not be take as legal advise. It offers only his opinions and summary, from his interpretation, as to how a landlord should handle such situations u...
Oct 02, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the host of the show, Bob often gets asked about the name of his podcast, Property Management Brainstorm. That often leads to the question, is Property Management a creative business? is the business of being a landlord and managing rental properties an open landscape for brainstorming and innovation? If asked, many of our listeners would answer "no" and they would not necessarily be wrong! Many property managers are still utilizing old school ways of doing things and the same proce...
Oct 01, 2020•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast A common question we get at North County Property Group is what type of rental should I have for my investment property, long-term rental or short-term rental? Long-term rentals involve annual leasing on a home that is normally unfurnished. Short-term rentals, sometimes called vacation rentals, are homes that are furnished with all utilities and amenities provided by the owner, rented to incoming guests while on vacation. In this FMF episode, Bob offers two differing profiles of success factors ...
Sep 25, 2020•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode is dedicated to property managers wanting to grow their business. Bob discusses hosting landlord seminars with Mike Connolly, Broker/Owner at East Bay Property Management of Freemont CA. Mike's company has successfully hosted landlord seminars to bolster their business development efforts and grow their rental property portfolio. Heading into the Fall of 2020, the market may be ripe for gaining new property management clients. Many self-managers of rental properties are not sur...
Sep 17, 2020•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are two times of the year when a functioning HVAC system is critical for a tenant in a rental property, winter time when in need of heating, and the middle of summer when cooling is necessary during hot temperatures. In this episode of Five Minute Friday, Bob explains why regular HVAC service is not only worth it, but how his company considers it a mandatory regular maintenance item. Many landlords my consider HVAC systems "out of sight, out of mind" until they break down. This s...
Sep 11, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast When society emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, will there be a paradigm shift across industires, our economy, and even how we live our lives? Might that shift create a need for us to make permanent adaptations to the way we run our property management businesses? In this Five Minute Friday, Bob Preston ponders these questions and more as he discusses what happens when the usual way of thinking is replaced by new perspectives. Of equal importance is to spot the changes as they emerge and plan f...
Sep 04, 2020•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast As landlords and property managers, have you ever experienced the dreaded “blackout” at your rental property when the tenant utility transfer was not handled properly? This is when you arrive to move your tenant into the home and guess what ... no power! Even worse is getting a bill a month later and discovering that the transfer never happened and you’re now being billed for tenant’s utility usage. On this episode of Property Management Brainstorm, Bob discusses the process of setting up utilit...
Sep 03, 2020•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast We are starting to see them everywhere, “smart devices" installed for home automation. These devices might include thermostats, doorbells, home security cameras, lighting, appliance monitoring and more. Homes are becoming more efficient, secure and convenient. So is it something that makes sense for your rental homes as property manager or landlord? On this Five Minute Friday, Bob discusses the factors that should be considered, including benefits and drawbacks, before installing smart devi...
Aug 29, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast In FMF #36, Bob speaks to the importance of open communication as a landlord and property manager. This is true with all of our stakeholders: tenants, maintenance vendors, and property owners. One question Bob hears a lot from new San Diego Property Management prospective clients is: Will you keep me informed throughout the rental listing process? You see, they want to know what is going on! We’ve heard a lot of stories of property management companies taking on new clients, never to be heard fr...
Aug 21, 2020•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this episode of Property Management Brainstorm, the focus is what it takes to build and grow a property management business from the ground up AND the importance of the support provided by our National Association of Residential Property Managers, otherwise known as NARPM (N-A-R-P-M). Bob Preston discusses these topics with his guest, Kellie Tollifson, owner of T-Square Properties in King and Snohomish Counties of Washington State, which she has grown from the ground up. Kellie is also the na...
Aug 20, 2020•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this week's FMF, Bob discusses one of the challenges he had in the early days of his company with the delegation of authority … the process of transferring responsibility for a task to another employee. When working in a small company, finding the time to properly offload an aspect of the business to another person, and more importantly trusting that aspect to another person can sometimes be nerve wracking! There are many excuses for it, like: “It takes too long to train them. It’s quick...
Aug 14, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Built to Last. These are three simple words that communicate a powerful punch. It is actually the name of a a book written by James Collins and Jerry Porras in 1994. Bob explains how he was given the book 25 years ago by his boss at the time, Bill Krause, who had been an executive at HP and was the CEO of the start up where Bob was working in Silicon Valley. Bob still has the book to this day and the words “Built to Last” still resonate with he applies them to his property management business. I...
Aug 07, 2020•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this episode of Property Management Brainstorm, Bob discusses home wellness as an essential part of healthy living with Andrew Smallwood, Director of Sales at Second Nature. One aspect of home wellness and healthy living is regularly changing filters on heating and air systems (HVAC) for improved air quality within a rental home. Second Nature, provides an easy and automatic way to get the right air filters for your rental properties and to get the air filters changed on time, every time. Doi...
Aug 06, 2020•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week's FMF, Bob shares some fun news about his personal involvement in the industry association, the National Association of Residential Property Managers, also referred to as NARPM. Bob has taken office as President of the California State Chapter of NARPM, known as CALNARPM, for the 2020-2021 term. Bob shares his thoughts about CalNARPM, the other people involved on the leadership team, and the CALNARPM State Conference and Tradeshow scheduled for March 31 - April 2, 2021. The CAL...
Jul 31, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello Brainstormers! Wishing you all a very happy and safe 4th of July holiday. I'm taking a pause in broadcasting for a month or so while I'm on vacation during the first half of July. Property Management Brainstorm full episodes and Five Minute Fridays will back be back on the air with great content again as of early August, 2020. Thank you so much for subscribing, listening and supporting Property Management Brainstorm! We will catch you soon in early August! Bob Preston, podcast ho...
Jul 03, 2020•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode 31 of Five Minute Friday, Bob shares with his listeners one of the most common questions he gets from prospective clients: are we locked into a long-term property management contract? The answer is and has been, for the 20-year history of his company, an emphatic "no". Bob calls this his Satisfaction Guarantee. If for whatever reason a client is not satisfied, they can discontinue North County Property Group's services at any time on 30-day notice. Bob further expl...
Jun 26, 2020•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
