Shae Woodcox gets into what we're all thinking about our neighbour's Ring camera - nothing good. He also candidly gives his review on some property management software, like CRM, Entrata, and Yardi.

Host - Welcome back to The Property Management Mentor, powered by Let Hub. I'm your host, cayenne. We talk cons, oddities, and stories in the PM space.

‍Guest -You know, with a lot of situations like that, it always turns into, well, apartment two 10 has a great camera, so why aren't you telling them to take theirs down?

‍Host - We're asking Shea Woodcox pm questions. Shea is an assistant community director with international properties and has been in the industry for seven years. Let's get into it. All right here. We're gonna get right into a mentor moment. We have a problem that a PM is managing. How would you handle it? Our story, A resident has installed a ring security camera on their apartment door. It faces into the apartment across from them, and this has made the other renter uncomfortable. What would you do?

‍Guest - The ring cameras, it's kind of like a double standard, right? Because you do not have the right to film anybody, period. You can't do it. But at the same time, on our properties, we have cameras that are filming people for security. You know what I'm saying? So the, the only difference is this is actually getting into somebody's apartment. So they're filming somebody for a purpose. Other than, you know, their security, you know, whether or not they're doing it intentionally or, or not. I, I have come across situations like that, not so much with filming, but with having to tell people to,  take the ring cameras down because they're not allowed at all. I think that's like a universal thing, you know, where you can't violate people's privacy like that.

‍Host - Yeah, I get that. But it's their ring camera and they wanna keep their property safe, so what are we gonna do about it?

‍Guest - Camera has to come down. It has to, because you can't, you know, especially filming inside people's. homes, it, it, it just can't happen. So at that point, what I'm doing is, you know, I'm putting out a notice to the community that there are no ring cameras allowed on the doors, period. And just, just so that person, you know, doesn't feel as if, you know, they're being singled out.
That's a great primary intervention.

‍Host - Yeah. And. Speaking about things we don't want happening on properties.

‍Guest - Absolutely.

‍Host - Let's talk about things we definitely don't want happening, which are scams. We're gonna talk about a scam today that was happening to James. He had Jane Doe apply to live at his property and he got background credit and Id from her. However, soon another woman calls to inform James that Jane Doe has stolen her identity and is living in the apartment with their sister. Mary Jo James checks the rest of the documentation and discovers it's all faked. Jane Doe has been doing this for years. James tells Jane Doe the police are coming, but she is not scared and remains in the apartment for a week until the police execute the warrant. Jane is arrested but released on, and James says she's likely already scamming someone else. Have you seen something like this before? What would you do in this situation?

‍Guest - Have I've gotten stubs and, and proof of income that's not real. Yes. I think, I think we all have in, for those of us that have been in the industry for a certain amount of time, you know, we know the signs advise my leasing agents. A that's not a situation to be calling the police right there. Then you definitely wanna be careful. when you do things like that, especially, you know, when you back somebody up against the wall like that, you never know what can happen. You never ever want to put yourself in a situation where you know somebody can like flip out on you. And because I'll tell you what, if you call the police on me,  and I'm standing right there. I, I don't know, but I don't know. I don't know what I would do. And I get it.

‍Host - You're between someone and their housing and that's an incredibly intense place to be.

‍Guest - I just, their housing, their wellbeing. You about to send me to jail , you know, so it can go, it can go to here or there With me, I've, I've definitely had situations where I've gotten pay stubs because you can literally go online, pay five bucks,  and you can get a pay stub generated. When I did get one, I called him and I was like, Hey, you know, this pay stub isn't real. Right. You know, and it just, it was just went a situation. He was like, yeah, you know, I was just like, you know, we can't take this.

‍Host - That's really nice. Super empathetic. I hear this all the time. I wouldn't be calm in these situations.

‍Guest - Yeah. Empathy within reason. that's true too, because you can be empathetic to a point, but when that well runs dry, you're just like, you didn't even come here for empathy. You came here to fight.

‍Host - Yeah. I mean, you definitely don't wanna, you definitely wanna show that you're being, you know, empathetic. Like at the same time,  you do wanna give like a sense of sternness. I think people can read that off you and. Take things in a completely different, direction. But yes, empathy is always the way to go though.

‍Guest - Yeah. Empathy seems to be a reoccurring tool in your toolkit, but I know you guys are inundated with a lot of tools, specifically in the tech space. What are you using right now that's made your life easier?

‍ Host - So, I remember I used to, for a short period of time, I used Entrada. Entrada was super, it, it had to be the most easiest software I've, I've used. And then with Yardi follow. Close. If I had my way, I would just stick with those.

‍Guest - That makes sense. Is there anything in the space you've used that's been hugely frustrating? You don't have to name names.

‍Host - Oh, I'll name it. I'll name it. CRM is literally. It's one of those things where, It like I was just saying, it's five steps to do something that takes one step. Going through and checking leads is the absolute worst if you haven't used it. If, if you hear it run, that's good to know.

‍Guest - That's it's so bad. Yeah, so there's a lot coming out in tech for you guys right now. What is not being a trust? We've heard inventory management. We've heard maintenance. What's not being touched by tech yet?

‍Host - Yeah. I mean, it is just, I would have to, I, I would have to say it's both our, especially with maintenance, our maintenance teams are, they're the heart of the community. My guys, I really wish there was an avenue where they could just compartmentalize everything that they need to do when they're, and make things, you know, easier for them, just like it does for us. I think that would be great.

‍Guest - That's really good of you. That's awesome. Of you to think of your team. And I know when you have a ton of balls on the air, thinking about everybody like this, we can make mistakes. So what's your biggest mistake you've made with a property or a tenant in your time?

‍Host - Oh, God. So I'm trying to figure out how to word this. Being trusting of. You know, the people that you are over, but not being too trusting for your peace of mind, make sure that things are getting done. I was just expecting everybody to have it all taken care of and have it all together, you know, but just make sure they get it done. It just, there was just a period of time where my, where move-ins, you know, weren't getting done when they were supposed to and people were picking up keys and their apartments weren't done. And why didn't you walk this and why didn't you do, you know, and it's just, yeah, totally.

‍Guest - People don't realize being a property manager means managing clients, managing a building, managing people, and managing customers. And there are hard days on the job, but there are weird days too. What's one of your weirdest days on the job?

‍Host - So, okay. Well, I had a daughter of a resident. She was calling us like every other day and she was wanting us to check on no, her mother, you know, and they're like, can you go check on my mom? And, you know, just one of those things where you can't do wellness checks, but you can't, however you call police, then come over and they can conduct a wellness check or whatever the case may be. So it just got to the point where unfortunately I, whether, I don't know if the police were too busy or whatever, but the daughter had called the police maybe like about three different times and they just weren't getting back to her, or they just had, I don't know, matters. Were more pressing than going to check on somebody's mother. You know? They're usually fine, especially at old age. Sometimes you don't hear the phone or whatever the case may be, but so I just kind of took it upon myself. I'm like, okay, you know what? That's fine. She was just like, it's just been a few weeks and I haven't heard from my mom, and I think we know where this is going. So I went over to the apartment door. It just smelled like really, really weird in there. And we opened up, we opened up the apartment door and she was passed away on the, on the kitchen floors.

‍Guest - That's an incredibly hard day. And it's interesting because we had someone on the podcast previously, Nicole Oswald, and she walked into a situation thinking she was coming into what you arrived into, but it was a hoarder situation. So yeah, weird days on the job.

‍Host - Yeah, you never know what you're gonna get. So that was an interesting call. And of course, you know, she was very upset with us because why didn't you just do this earlier? Which is, you know what? Also the mistake I made because somebody of policy, you gotta stick to it. Yeah, it's difficult.
But making sure you maintain policies like this can ensure you don't end up in situations that are out of your control. Speaking of situations that have been out of control, the post covid working world, what has it been like for you? Good, bad, ugly. We wanna know it all,

‍Guest - So, okay. I'd have to say it was glorious during covid when nobody can come into the office. So I was really enjoying that. Sorry, nobody in the office call our email, so that was great. But I think one of the main things that dealing with now is, uh, a lot of properties trying to recoup the money that they lost out on while we were in Covid. Because when we were in Covid, prices were dropping, right? Because nobody was moving and they needed people to, they needed people to move in regardless of whether in covid or not. So we've really been seeing a spike in, in rents. You know, going up way high. And I think a lot of it also has to do with people, you know, moving out of, you know, these bigger cities. And you know, I, I know here in Texas, everybody's coming over here from California, New York, you know, everybody's coming in with that expensive cities and making our city rent expensive.

‍Host - That's really interesting to hear. Texas is just becoming a nexus between, New York, LA, and San Francisco. We're getting food, we're getting tech, we're getting fashion all in one little city.

‍Guest - It's already been started.

‍Host - That's great. It's already been started. We're gonna close out the episode we always do and ask who your mentors are. Who would you wanna hear on the show?

‍Guest - If I had to choose a mentor, it would have to be Jenny Gonzalez. With Carbon Thompson Properties. I've literally, I've never. Worked for a person that had as much compassion and first lease up, and it's the first time ever.  As a team, we leased up to a hundred percent.  And that has a lot to say about who's leading your team. And, Jenny Gonzalez, that is, that is my mentor, Jenny Gonzalez with Carbon Thompson.

Thanks for answering our questions. We. Property managers have to answer a lot of questions about properties. If they need help doing that, let Hub can step in. This has been the Property Management Mentor, and if you wanna nominate a mentor or share a story, you can at podcast@lethub.com Talk to you soon.