A Great Realtor Get the Job Done Right Even Under Covid-19

If you are selling a house in a normal year without the Covid-19 pandemic, it is not easy to tell the difference between a competent listing agent and an exceptional one. The sales of my rental house is a perfect test case for Judy ( https://jingtaof.kw.com ) to prove herself one of the rare breeds even among the very top of her profession. She is willing and capable of going above and beyond to work things out, not only for the seller in her listing agent capacities, but also for the buyer, and in this case for the tenant in particular, who was still living in the house and will remain afterwards.

As an investor of rental property, after over a decade of ownership, I’d already decided to move my investment allocations away from real estate in 2019. But I also wish not to cause too much inconvenience to the tenant, hence had been waiting for the lease to expire and the tenant to move out in May 2020. Then Covid-19 came and the tenant wished to stay for another year. I hated to cause them inconvenience in an already turbulent environment, so I ended up having to sell the house with a new 1-year lease. This limits the buyer pool to fellow investors, since I practically have to give up potential better offers from regular home buyers.

To avoid causing additional Covid anxieties to the tenant due to somewhat unpredictable house viewing traffic, I initially decided not to list the house. Instead, I spread words out only in my own social media circles, which included realtors who already have a broad investor client base. But nothing stirred after a few months, other than suggestions of waiting for the lease to expire. That was exactly my contingency plan and I was about to give up trying when Judy sent me a message from one of my social circles, asking me if I could grant her a chance before I pull it off.

She showed up at my house at an appointed time, with a mask on of course. I explained to her that the health of my tenants is more important than a speedy sale, so she can start selling only after getting voluntary consents from the tenant. I’ll not pressure the tenant in any way or form in my landlord capacity. This is a very challenging condition, since the tenant is a single Mom working 6 days a week in a dental office. Her job became extremely stressful due to the tiresome extra precautionary procedures after Covid-19, as any unlucky soul who had to have their teeth fixed could testify. So the available house viewing slots will be severely limited even when the tenant is willing to  corporate. The pre-listing preparation works inside and outside the house will also be a lot more challenging. Judy gladly accepted the challenges. I then wished her good luck, with full expectation that she might be wasting her time after all.

Just as I’d expected, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. But nothing could discourage Judy’s determinations. She personally attended to each and every task to make sure all were done properly, be it the outside fixes for curb appeals, the inside cleanups and repairs, or the professional photos under challenging conditions, and at the end bridging the gap between seller and buyer, etc. I was truly amazed when she finally brought me a deal just a few days shy of the Thanksgiving deadline. 

I’ve sold my house before through Opendoor and wrote a review about that experience https://www.highya.com/opendoor-reviews?page=6&rid=182536 . I believe Opendoor, Zillow, Offerpad and the like will eventually eat the lunch of most realtors. Only those who can manage the high-touch sales like Judy did will survive the coming onslaughts. From an investor point of view, the extra money I get from a traditional realtor channel may not worth the extra time and uncertainty. But in a situation like mine here, only people like Judy can bring home the bacon. As a seasoned marketing professional specializing in Product Managements, I naturally have a bit higher standards in terms of products and services qualities. Still, Judy is head and shoulders above peers and deserves more than a 5-star rating.

Signing up a great realtor like Judy is only the first step. A buyer also needs to pay attention to a new form of stealthy leasing restrictions that has already infested a large number of Atlanta area HOA communities. Unlike traditional “HOA Leasing Control” written in the CC&Rs, this one is buried in the vendor contracts, which is neither part of the seller disclosure nor HOA closing letter.  You’ll be up to a total surprise only afterwards, and may soon find yourself in depth of a lawsuit that could drag on for years and cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars ( Nextdoor does not allow direct link to GoFundMe, but you can find it by searching “ Defending My Legal Right to Blow the Whistle ”). So make sure to ask if a company called RMS (Rental Monitoring Solutions of Norcross, www.rmsassist.com ) is involved in the community and think twice before buying that house if it does. 

Another way to  make sure you don’t inadvertently buy into a HOA community with this undisclosed form of leasing control is to avoid those that are managed by property management companies that actively promote such practice to HOA boards. In Johns Creek, HMS ( https://hms-inc.net/ ) is known to do so and one of the first infested communities is Wellington ( https://tcowellington.com ).  Another one is Atlanta Community Services (ACS, https://www.atlantacommunityservices.com ), which manages the community with the rental house I just sold. People all over Metro Atlanta start to consult me about this issue after the Wellington incidence was made public in 2018. Since then, I’ve heard complaints from many other communities managed by one of the following companies:

Access Management Group: https://accessmgt.com

Action Community Management: https://acmga.com

All-In-One Community Management: https://allinonemgmt.com

Community Management Associates: https://cmacommunities.com

Exclusive Association Management: https://www.exclusiveassocmgmt.com

HomeOwners Advantage: https://www.hoadv.com/index.php

POSolutions: https://posolutions.net

Silverleaf Management Group: https://silverleafmanagement.com

Superior Properties of Georgia: https://www.superiorpropertiesofgeorgia.com

I suspect RMS might not be the only one promoting such practice, and there might be at least another 10+ Property Management Companies that I have not yet heard of. Together, they probably cover over 200,000 houses. Unless you absolutely believe such stealthy leasing control will not harm you in the long run, you should think twice before buying into such communities.

Frank Hui

2020-12-24
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