Informational Interview Nathan
Bertao
Blog Post #1 March
1, 2014
This
interview was with Scott Schuil who is a property manager in the Central
Valley. Currently Scott manages about 83 single-family units that are spanned
out from Madera to Bakersfield.
How
did you get started in this field?
· My father has always
had his hand in real estate investing from the time I was young. Once I became
old enough and had my own vehicle my dad gave me certain property management responsibilities
over the local properties that he owned.
What
was your educational background?
· I graduated from
Immanuel High School in Reedley, CA. After High School I went to college at
Azusa Pacific University and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business
Administration in 2009.
What
are your major responsibilities?
· My main
responsibility is to make sure that my father’s rental properties are always
occupied with tenants. If somebody is moving out it’s my responsibility to have
someone lined up to move in right away. If a property is sitting vacant then we
are losing money. Other responsibilities include collecting rent money,
maintenance that includes: mowing lawns and repairing general things that need
to be fixed that I am capable of fixing with my very limited handyman skill
set.
What
is the most rewarding aspect of your job, least rewarding? What might you
change? Would you choose this career again?
· The most rewarding
part of my job is fixing something for a tenant or solving an issue in a short
span of time and them feeling like you are just Mr. Handyman. The least
rewarding part of the job is dealing with tenant’s pets. Particularly dogs
leave a huge mess outside and tear up the house on the inside. I’m considering
changing our policy of allowing pets into our properties or requiring a larger
deposit because we lose money in my opinion by allowing pets. I would choose
this career a hundred times over again. I love being my own boss and not having
to report to anyone. There’s nothing like being your own boss in my opinion.
What
is a “typical” day like for you?
· Overall I would say
that I never have a typical day. Each day is vastly different from the next and
sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to do the next day when I go to bed at
night. I’m always busy however and there’s never a dull moment in my day. An
example of a typical day starts of with me mowing a few lawns, I prefer to do
this in the morning. If a property has a pool I will clean and maintain that
too at this time. Then after that I will report to any repair calls that I need
to take a look at. If I can’t fix the issue I will set something up for a
professional to come take a look at it. Everyday it seems like I’m dealing with
a repair, and since my dad has properties from Madera to Bakersfield, some days
I waste a lot of time traveling.
What
are some common entry-level positions in the field?
· I said that I graduated I but anyone can
be a property manager. It also doesn’t require any certain licenses like being
a realtor does. If you don’t have a connection like I do with my father it’s
probably recommended and helpful that you have some type of general contractors
license to be a property manager. When I hire people to help me out I like to
see some experiencing in the construction field to make up for my lack of
skills of working with my hands.
What is the best educational preparation for a career in this filed?
· There’s not a specific class
that I can remember taking in High School that has helped prepare me for what I
do now. I would say however that High School sports helped prepare me for this
job. Playing football our coach required us to wake up early and we were always
working hard. Those traits I learned from my football coach were instilled to
me and although I work hard it makes it seem easy since I’ve been doing it
since High School now.
What
have you found to be a major weakness of new hires in this field?
· I have hired a few
different guys on separate occasions to help me manage properties because as I
mentioned I have to cover a large span of area. What I’ve learned from these
hires is that most guys underestimate how much work actually has to be done. I
have a repair or a concern with a tenant every day it seems like that I have to
tend to. Most hired workers come into the job thinking they can do this job and
have something on the side as well and that simply isn’t true. This job is very
time consuming.
What
is the future outlook for this career? What are the areas of potential
growth and decline?
· The future outlook on this job
for me is very stable. All the properties that we own have no intentions of
being sold anytime soon therefore my services will be needed as long as they
are around. If anything my father is constantly looking for new properties to
invest in and add to our collection. Potential growth and goals for my father
is to obtain more multifamily units. Potential decline for us would be if it
became easy for people to buy their own homes again because then it would be
harder to find tenants.
Can
you recommend any specific person for me to talk with and may I have permission to use your name?
· My father is very knowledgeable
in almost all aspects in regards to Real estate. Although he is a super busy
man he loves educating younger people and loves to answer questions. His name
is Michael Schuil and yes, you have the permission to use my name.
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