Ep27 Management Success with Tina Smothers

[00:00:00] When community comes together, amazing things can happen. But even people I know coming together

[00:00:04] just to share the marketing piece of it, or who showed up for the ribbon cutting, who used around

[00:00:09] yourself with, they may not be in the profession but they're really gonna shout from the rooftops

[00:00:13] where you're doing. From cornfields to high-rises, office to industrial, houses,

[00:00:18] to hotels and every other asset class in real estate, we cover the people, the projects,

[00:00:24] and the profit. Welcome to the Investing in Iowa Show. This show is for go-doers,

[00:00:30] action takers and business owners. It's for people like you who are sick of Uncle Sam taking a

[00:00:35] huge bite in your apple. If you're looking to get ahead of what's taking place in Iowa,

[00:00:40] learn who is doing what and how you can get in on the action, you're in the right place.

[00:00:46] Posted by Neil Timmins, an Iowa native who has been involved in over $300 million in real estate

[00:00:52] right here in Iowa, recording in studio from West of Illinois. Here's your host, Neil Timmins.

[00:00:59] I've got Tina's mother's here on the show. Do you welcome? Thank you. Thanks for having me today.

[00:01:04] I'm excited to be here. Say, for the audience to say, who are you? Where are you from? What do you

[00:01:07] do? Yeah. Well, my name is Tina's mother's and I'm actually real estate investor, property manager.

[00:01:14] I do some consulting in the real estate side of things. So integrated asset management is a

[00:01:20] management company I have. We do Des Moines Metro Management of Residential Units. I've also done

[00:01:26] redevelopment with a couple of projects in the area. Some of which are we'll call high profile.

[00:01:32] I'm sure we'll talk about those. And then also recently it's been often started advisory solutions,

[00:01:38] which is my consulting firm. Just to add some strategy advisor and some different fractional

[00:01:44] leadership if anybody in the real estate field is needing some temporary services. When you say

[00:01:55] management of either cell phone deals, which I have some or third-party management. So I've

[00:02:01] got owners from all over the United States that we manage for and we full service. So we'll do

[00:02:07] the leasing, the accounting, the tenant relations, everything, A to Z for a fee. We get them out

[00:02:14] of apartments only. We do residential and commercial. Yeah. Talk to me with that side of the business

[00:02:20] and maybe what that looks like for you guys. How many units and what where is it primarily made

[00:02:25] up on in terms of asset types? So we right now manage 1300 units in the Des Moines Metro area

[00:02:34] and we've got about 6,000 square foot of commercial space that we have. The multi-family units

[00:02:40] that we manage, it's really diverse. So we've got rents that start at 600 a month that go all the way

[00:02:46] to 1500 a month with the assets that we have in Des Moines, Wachie, Clive, all over and mainly

[00:02:54] what we have in our portfolio is going to be primarily studio one-and-two bedrooms. Okay,

[00:02:59] that makes sense. I'm curious you've got a wide range of rents, $61500. Is the management more intensive

[00:03:06] at one in the spectrum versus the other? Who it's not? I've had a lot of people ask me that

[00:03:14] throughout the years because I've done a lot of that you add in the Des Moines Metro area. I've been

[00:03:20] in real estate 27 years in Des Moines doing leasing an out from there and I would say it's not.

[00:03:28] It really isn't. There's going to be a tenant demand again, whether they make this much or

[00:03:35] this much paid this much or that and we always try to stick to some of the what you would think

[00:03:40] for standard principles, keep the product nice, clean and free and really take pride in the

[00:03:46] community is no matter what type of asset class it is. Do you have any section 8? It goes management.

[00:03:52] We do not that is not a property that's primarily section 8. It may have a few residents

[00:03:57] that are on section 8. Sure. But that would be maybe 10 to 15 of the 1300 units. Yeah,

[00:04:08] are the key success. Property management has a really specifically dual-paramage.

[00:04:12] Cash such a broad question. But I think there's a couple things that we always just pinpoint

[00:04:18] people, obviously having the right people in place are going to be what is going to take you

[00:04:25] to that next level of commitment, whether it's loyalty, people who want to share in what you're

[00:04:30] building and your management, how many what the properties are. I always share with all of our

[00:04:34] team members with owners vision is what they see the property offering to the community.

[00:04:40] And so I think people is always number one, but it's hard too because sometimes which is a benefit

[00:04:46] of a third party management company. If you don't have enough units, you know, to have that

[00:04:49] person that's focused on it. But it is hard at unless you have 7500 units or more, maybe that

[00:04:57] 5000 range where you can really put all the people that you need in a place to cover all the different

[00:05:01] sectors, whether it's training, marketing, your CEO position and CFO. So it's hard when you're

[00:05:08] in that number, but I think that I've learned through the years to really do it well. I'm hands

[00:05:14] on in the company. And so having been a leasing agent and manager for years, I have that boots on

[00:05:20] the ground experience. And so it really does go, I think back to who I have around me and all of us

[00:05:28] working together. But I hear you saying is the most challenging part of the business is the people.

[00:05:33] Oh my gosh, when they're returning it. And you've probably on a week where it's really been a

[00:05:38] trying week. Yes, yes. And it's on the resident hurts too. I think that this probably comes up in

[00:05:44] most conversations like we're having, but just after COVID, I mean, it just things started to change.

[00:05:51] People are working from home for instance. So in the apartment industry, it means you've more

[00:05:56] quarters probably because more people are home, things are going to go bad quicker or we're

[00:06:03] plumbing backups. Just different things like that. So it's increased the maintenance, part of it,

[00:06:09] and your customer service experience, whether you have people there or not, we've really learned

[00:06:13] to adapt the AI part of things, which is always in another conversation. Yeah. Most conversations as

[00:06:19] COVID now. But yeah, people I think is the key. And then figuring out how do you manage

[00:06:26] your residential units with having the right number of people for the right number of units that

[00:06:32] you're managing? Right. And a lot of that's going to be geographically, are they close? How many

[00:06:36] do you have in one spot? So all right, you wish a day. We're not going to go very deep. But give me one

[00:06:41] example, one usage that you how you guys use AI and what you do. Gosh, that's one example.

[00:06:48] So I would say the biggest thing is the property management software that we use has greatly

[00:06:53] adapted it. So they've now got that intertwined in their software. So it makes it easy to write

[00:07:00] marketing descriptions or templates for texting our residents or coming up with the resident

[00:07:07] letters. So I mean, that right there just saves so much time. I can do it from my phone and notice

[00:07:12] out to 100 unit property in 10 seconds. Before we get into the ownership side in your world,

[00:07:19] take me to the very beginning. How do you even get into this industry? So I'm from small town

[00:07:23] Iowa who were first I like graduated from Ida Grove and have family that moved to

[00:07:30] or have family that lived into Moine. And I originally started college in Sucide at Morningside

[00:07:36] and it just wasn't a fit for me. At least had family in Des Moines. And so I AIB is a quarter college.

[00:07:44] So I was able to drop classes there and move you know mid. I graduated early. Let me start

[00:07:50] there from high school. So it was April Iron Rolled in 1997 at AIB. And I went to the guidance

[00:07:59] counselors office there and tried to find a job and there was one for a leasing agent.

[00:08:03] Actually down the street, I'm Park Avenue. And I walked into the office and my life changed

[00:08:09] significantly from that day forward. I feel very fortunate. I met a great person who took me

[00:08:17] under her wing and mentored me for years and really showed me the boots on the ground approach

[00:08:22] that I feel like you need for this success in property management. And that was yeah. So 27 years ago

[00:08:30] I love the industry. I love the challenge. I love to be busy. I don't even know what it's like

[00:08:35] to clock in at a certain time and clock out. And just to have seen the business of all through

[00:08:40] the years and how much we've grown from three carbon copy work orders to now all paper lists

[00:08:47] and just so many different aspects of it I guess that have changed that we've really been

[00:08:52] able to show efficiencies with that. At some point, your world morphed out of management

[00:08:56] into ownership. What was the very first one you were involved in? So that would have been seven

[00:09:01] years ago and I had decided that I wanted to be an investor and start my own management company

[00:09:09] and really as the cards lie, just everything worked out it was kind of a crazy story in itself.

[00:09:16] But that would have been seven years ago we closed on urban green apartments which is 97 units

[00:09:20] with my partner that I have on some other assets here in Des Moines. But yeah, it was a great

[00:09:25] position that we've had. It's a long-term hold for us. I think it was originally

[00:09:30] we bought it from the people who built it. So it's a great asset. Yeah, as a result of sitting in

[00:09:36] that ownership to what if you learn and maybe how have you changed your management,

[00:09:40] now that you get a sit and bolsteads to offer? That's a tough one. It's tough because so many times

[00:09:47] I really, oh, what would I have done if I was on site or I'm trying to show empathy towards a

[00:09:53] decision that somebody's made that wasn't probably the best decision? It's a lot different

[00:09:58] at thinking of your performer and how you're really managing that asset class. Like if it is

[00:10:04] a long-term hold or short-term hold and so I think it's really from the owner to being on site

[00:10:11] managing obviously the income and expenses which is probably an obvious answer but as an owner,

[00:10:17] I want to check into everything like that shouldn't cost that much. This should be the

[00:10:21] fact should be that. But you also have to go back to where we're talking about people and

[00:10:26] trust your people. What is the best use of time? Is it doing ABC or is it completing this task?

[00:10:34] I think that's probably my biggest thing is just how do you manage that? But I will say

[00:10:39] wholeheartedly, I manage my assets the exact same as I manage third party assets as well. It's really

[00:10:45] important. I think though it's really important for if you are a third party management company

[00:10:52] or you work for a property management company that is managing assets for others just to understand

[00:10:59] their goal as a regional manager or a manager, you probably aren't in disclosure that this is the

[00:11:05] distributions we want out of the property. But the more that you could be transparent with that so they

[00:11:10] are not. I think it helps everybody to see the end goal clear and why you are raising your rent or why

[00:11:18] you decided that you're not going to do XYZ anymore to save $2400 a year. I go through the

[00:11:25] exercise a lot if there are income raises this much at this cap rate, this is the value of the

[00:11:30] property just to help them to understand that and through the years I didn't have a lot of people

[00:11:36] that would do that with me and so I think just really understanding that piece of it will help the

[00:11:43] asset and your onsite team even more. Hey Iowa Investors, this is Avabout Camp, Chief of Staff at

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[00:12:16] These opportunities are for everyone there for qualified accredited investors only. If you want to

[00:12:22] learn more, please visit LegacyImpactInvestors.com to apply. You've done some high profile projects

[00:12:28] in the one I come to mind for me is it's thrilling hotel situated in July if you took hotel

[00:12:33] and turned into an apartment. Yes. It talks to me about that project because from the outside

[00:12:37] looking at it, sounds like a daunting task. It was an amazing project. It's 112 units if you will.

[00:12:45] It was a Mariat back in the day. So it's got studios which is unique to that markets and

[00:12:51] lives and it's got what we call a two-bedroom loft and separate buildings. It's on a bigger

[00:12:58] set of land if you will than most of our assets that we have. The beautiful part about that

[00:13:05] rehab and that redevelopment compared to the AID project was that we'll both we took over 100%

[00:13:13] empty but with the Clive project, the Sterling Hotel which is now the Vibet 8035, we were

[00:13:19] they're all exterior entrances so we were able to go in and rehab them without disturbing

[00:13:25] other people. Meaning AID was all one floor so it just makes a difference when you got

[00:13:31] that sort of thing went on we were able to fill it up because you've got different entries,

[00:13:36] exterior entrances in that project and so we actually had it let's see we closed in February

[00:13:42] end of February of 2022 we had to empty out all of the rooms as well. That was a daunting task.

[00:13:50] That was very done by that you mean the physical empty now because there's furniture. Yes

[00:13:54] because they were fully furnished to choose and everything and so the feel good story that

[00:13:59] comes from that is it was all donated to non-profits we worked with Daniel Lopez Ministries

[00:14:04] who helped us coordinate that we were able to ship 40 mattresses to a non-profit in Africa

[00:14:10] just everybody the community really came together for those non-profits to make sure that

[00:14:15] nothing was thrown away that could be recycled and reused and so that was great but that was probably

[00:14:21] one of the hardest pieces of the project is you can't go until you have all of that gone and

[00:14:27] sure throwing into roll-offs that becomes really really tough on the budget as well. So yeah

[00:14:34] so we closed on that again the end of February and we were 95% least by that October so we really

[00:14:45] booked on getting the rehab done on that and by about mid July I believe we had everything

[00:14:52] pretty much wrapped up as far as our capital side of getting everything remodeled and then

[00:14:59] all of the amenity upgrades that we did. Would you learn going through that project? Wow

[00:15:03] on that one I would say I learned that when community comes together amazing things can happen so

[00:15:10] it just again don't any things but just even people I know coming together just to share the

[00:15:17] marketing piece of it were to show up for the ribbon cutting and so again who used around

[00:15:24] yourself with they may not be in the profession but they're really gonna shout from the

[00:15:27] rooftops where you're doing and so it was a great project for that reason what I learned probably

[00:15:33] more what you're asking on the other side of it is it's difficult again especially after

[00:15:40] COVID I see it a lot more just finding the vendors to do the work. Product prices have went up

[00:15:45] considerably. Just things you wouldn't even think of the glue for your flooring that now has to

[00:15:51] be manufactured and so it's that we try to stay local and use locally on companies and businesses

[00:15:59] but just like I was explaining with the management company it's hard when you got this smaller numbers

[00:16:04] so love to use companies that have it's an owner and a couple other people on the team but then

[00:16:10] you're also piecing that together to ensure that everything's getting done right you're bringing

[00:16:15] in more vendors because of that you can't win pain or you're gonna have a couple different crews

[00:16:20] probably important to what we're talking about today is we do all the project management ourselves

[00:16:25] my partner is the project manager on when we do the rehab and so you know typical of some

[00:16:33] other investors or redevelopment they'll have a company that is doing all that for them and so we

[00:16:38] you all in house ourselves why I mean money it's a big expense obviously but I also think

[00:16:47] throughout the years I mean I've been a part of millions and millions of dollars of rehab

[00:16:52] in our value ad properties not only here in Iowa but many other states as well and have seen that

[00:17:00] from the construction side of things so I think just with our experience together and how we're

[00:17:04] able to work together it really does work for us and so it's been great we're on our third redevelopment

[00:17:10] project together now and that was AIB closed in 2019 that project did so it's been five years

[00:17:18] and three deals we're pretty proud of that how big was the AIB one AIB was it's 93 one

[00:17:25] two bedrooms that we have now from the dorms at around the dorms that were on Belle Avenue

[00:17:30] with that though we bought the campus and had to parcel sold the parcels and so

[00:17:37] a little bit different angle of that I think it really was the vision that helped us the vision was

[00:17:43] clear on what we wanted to do with that project and so again long-term hold for us and it was all

[00:17:50] they can had to empty out all the furniture so it learned some stuff on how to do that better

[00:17:56] obviously and yeah so it just a great project there as well that we love that and that's the

[00:18:03] village it grace Lake bring me to the third projects coming up so the third project is the

[00:18:09] Clive Hotel which we closed on the last week at December 2023 that is studio one bedroom and then a

[00:18:17] 12-bedroom 119 units on that we renamed it the macoia 8035 so we could brand it kind of this

[00:18:25] name is the vibe at the 8035 that's right down the street so yeah working on that this project a

[00:18:31] little bit different than the other two because we are having to do more of the construction with

[00:18:37] jackhammering running different plumbing and things like that so it's obviously patience is a

[00:18:44] virtue right so I want to deal done because I want to get at least but there's also a lot of different

[00:18:49] pieces that we have to it that we didn't have to do before. Sure are you learning anything new so far?

[00:18:55] Again, as it just goes back to probably the vendor side of it we really need to

[00:19:03] find the people that can handle the work like the companies but we're also looking to stay local

[00:19:08] and we're managing it on our own and things like that so I think what we're learning is it's harder

[00:19:15] there's more work out there so I totally get it I'm a business owner and you have to go where the

[00:19:22] work is and it's in small companies they're getting pulled all different ways to try to keep

[00:19:27] everybody happy because we have built that community and those relationships and there's give to it

[00:19:32] it's back to the people. Do you add more people to your team that you're managing and then the

[00:19:36] person in your way or keep it how you have and just trying to be very transparent with everybody

[00:19:41] on that how can we help each other and provide to them and so forth so. It's a time for him to

[00:19:47] deliver that. So we have I think we've got 10% of them ready and at least so it's ongoing

[00:19:56] and that one is one building so again it's a little bit more tricky than the vibe because we're

[00:20:03] getting it forward on but yeah we've running them as we turn them over so that's kind of our plan

[00:20:08] and by I think 12 months is realistic for that many units in the scope of what we have going on there.

[00:20:14] If you're a house clipper execute the birth strategy or do double closings and are in need

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[00:20:25] loan approvals in 24 hours closings in five days little guy loans was founded by Neil Timons

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[00:20:44] www.littleguilones.com. Of course on the final to side when you put one in place like that to

[00:20:51] a standard construction loan and then you're rolling to a per room once you hit a certain lease right?

[00:20:56] To my understanding yes that's not my really area of expertise that's more my partner but yes

[00:21:01] we are doing the construction loan on it yeah. Why Iowa what keeps you here why do you

[00:21:06] invest here? I'm a native of Iowa so like I was saying everything really fell into place for me

[00:21:12] from my leasing throughout my career I worked for local companies national companies

[00:21:17] I was fortunate with my skill set I was able to travel to other markets and really learn

[00:21:23] what they're doing there and I was just home and I think that's why I do what I do with the

[00:21:28] management I think it's important everybody has a place to call home and you don't have to be

[00:21:33] a home owner that's the other part of it and so Iowa we call home and always always well.

[00:21:40] Curious wouldn't you feel like from going full circle if you will from going to school today

[00:21:46] I'd be to eventually coming back and purchasing? Yeah it's one of those like this is such a crazy

[00:21:52] thing and I think as I tell stories of my 27 year career in property management and the projects

[00:22:00] we have there's a link somehow some way to something or to somebody who passed through my life at

[00:22:07] that time and it's really cool to see all that come together and I think it goes back to your

[00:22:12] question on why I invest in Iowa and I think it's the community part of it because I wouldn't

[00:22:17] have those stories otherwise I kind of put that together so they I'd be deal with awesome I mean

[00:22:22] the state had it and we were awarded the contract and and off we went and thankfully everything

[00:22:28] felt in the line like it should have. Daniel really for the final three questions. Okay hit me.

[00:22:34] You had one piece of advice for your 20 year old self what would it be? Probably not to try to

[00:22:39] conquer it all at once I'm really so happy that I did it the way I did it but I look at a lot of

[00:22:47] individuals in their 20s now and I think just slow down enjoy life whether your married or have

[00:22:53] kids especially if you're not like I was just working 60 hours a week just because that was it

[00:22:59] and I had my daughter when I was 23 and I have sons who are 6 and 9 and I look back the time

[00:23:05] goes so so fast so just work through it give it time and allow yourself to cheat different levels

[00:23:13] of success and be okay with that. Two books that changed your life. The absolutely hands down would

[00:23:20] be Simon Stinick start with why I was very fortunate to see him speak in 2016 and I think that

[00:23:29] that really was a lot that pushed me in the direction of going on my own and starting my own business

[00:23:37] becoming a broker investing in property management and I don't know on the other when I

[00:23:45] guess that always just comes to mind because it was life changing for me honestly. If you were

[00:23:49] cast away in an island for one year you could only get three pieces of data each month from your

[00:23:54] business what three things must you know each and every month to know how your business is running.

[00:23:59] That would be definitely the occupancy of the vacant how many are made ready and their cash flow

[00:24:07] each month because the rest I could do in my head and assume what's going on. I can read it pretty good.

[00:24:13] You know, fast lots of questions what's one question I did not ask that I should have asked.

[00:24:17] Oh my gosh that's a real I don't know on that. I feel like we've covered a lot I think that for me

[00:24:24] I'm excited and very curious to see what the next couple years are going to hold for all

[00:24:30] the markets that especially here in Iowa around the 2019, 2020 timeframe we have a lot of

[00:24:36] four or five year the loans. What arms written and a lot of balloons coming due. Yes. And so just

[00:24:42] curious and hopeful that everybody comes through that and what assets will change hands I guess

[00:24:49] in the market. So for people who want to find you they want to follow you and want to check

[00:24:54] you to work kind of go what should they do? Yeah on LinkedIn it's just Tina's feathers and then I also

[00:25:01] advisory solutions or advisory-olutions.com is my consulting that kind of brings in the points

[00:25:07] of the management that we talked about the assets that we bought, if anybody wants more information

[00:25:12] on that I've a lot of people reach out and say can I pick your brain? I'm always happy too

[00:25:17] sometimes what work for me may not work for others. And so I always want to be very

[00:25:22] very conscious of that when talking about like the hotel conversion deals and some different things

[00:25:27] because as we all know there's so many variables in it. Cool work. Yeah. Yeah. Why I appreciate you being

[00:25:32] here. Yes, I've been a wonderful conversation. Links are below in the show notes for everybody.

[00:25:37] Tina, thanks for being here. Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks for listening. If you're enjoying

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