What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
PMI Elevation offers competitive pricing. We are able to lower our prices because we utilize the best and most advanced software technology platform to manage your property. You will have full access to all of your property financials as well as any maintenance requests tied to your property. We can have you as involved in the process, or as distanced from the process as you choose.
We can offer deeper discounts to property owners that have multiple units as well, so please tell us about your entire portfolio and we can design something to fit your investment strategy.
What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
At PMI Elevation, we sit down to discuss your property and investment strategies. We will then develop the best plan and scope of services to fit your needs and your tenant's needs.
Once the plan is finalized, we begin to transition your portfolio into our management system and create online portals for you and your tenants to automate the entire process including tenant payments, maintenance requests, and advertising your property to the widest range of potential tenants.
We quickly get you set up to automate your real estate investments to become truly passive to you.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
The owner of PMI Elevation, Jim Shonts, is a fully licensed real estate broker in the State of Colorado. Jim is also a member of the National Association of Residential Property Manager (NARPM).
Randall Henderson is the employing broker of Property Management Inc. in Colorado. Jim Shonts is an associate broker working with Randall Henderson. Randall is also the Executive Vice President of Residential and Commercial for the PMI corporate franchise.
Randall built and runs the comprehensive online and in-person PMI training platform, and has personally trained over 300 aspiring entrepreneurial franchisees. A serial real estate entrepreneur himself, he has owned and operated many industry-related businesses in the areas of property management, realty brokerage, investment, and land development. Prior to PMI, Randall developed and taught a real estate lecture series, and was a sales trainer for a Fortune 500 company. Randall has a degree in mathematics from Brigham Young University. A message Randall often shares with those he teaches is that “Failing forward is the quickest way to success”.
How did you get started doing this type of work?
In 2008, Beth Shonts and I moved to Denver, CO to start our new careers and the next chapter of our lives. We were young adventurers and we quickly fell in love with the area and all that Colorado has to offer. Beth found a home with Craig Hospital helping spinal cord injury patients adopt to their injury. I began my career with CH2M HILL (now Jacobs Engineering) in Procurement. I was responsible for sourcing products and services for municipal water, wastewater treatment plants and supporting industrial clients in Operations and Maintenance across North America.
At that same time, we bought our first house. Not just any house, but a 4-plex. We lived in one unit and rented out the other three units. At the time, the US housing economy had recently collapsed. We were just getting into real estate. In hindsight, timing was perfect for us. We were young and ambitious. We flipped the entire property while living in it. We created our own sweat equity with next to nothing in the bank account.
But what I did not picture was the growing passion for real estate investing and property management that this house would spark.
We took that experience with that property and bought again and again. That “nights and weekend” part-time gig would become my new passion and future career. What I did not realize as it was happening was that I had spent hundreds of hours researching best practices in property management. The time commitment required to manage your own properties is MASSIVE. You don’t think that a few hours here and there add up, but then you look back and realize all the books and blogs you have to read to do it “RIGHT.” So many laws and regulations to keep up on. It is overwhelming for the single property owner to stay up to date with.
I loved it though. I knew I was at the crossroads. I spent so much time researching real estate investment, hundreds of books, hours of podcasts (love BiggerPockets), blogs. I was helping friends with their properties giving advise about property management and how to do it best to do it legally and protect your huge financial investment. It was not work to me, I truly enjoyed it. I had to make the change.
In 2018, after much research and deliberation, I left corporate America and I bought into the Property Management Inc. franchise system as a property management franchisee. As one of the fastest growing franchises in the country, Property Management Inc. is truly in a class of its own. PMI's proven, comprehensive franchise program gave me the tools I needed to get started on my path to success. The benefits I receive from PMI's property manager franchise system gives me the competitive advantage required to succeed in the property management industry.
Now I hope to share my passion of real estate investing and property management with you. Whether you are a current or future client, tenant, friend or colleague -- I am always here to offer what I have learned over the years and share it with you. So please reach out to me if you are interested in real estate investment, looking for your next house or know someone that is. I look forward to what we can do and help you find your next home and/or grow your passive investments.
What types of customers have you worked with?
Having spent years as a real estate investor in the Denver residential multi-family industry, I have had many tenants over the years. While I am just starting up my Property Management Inc. franchise in Denver, I have spent years helping friends, family, and colleagues with their investment strategies. I have sat down and consulted with them about the financials about a property or house they were looking to buy. I have consulted them on the lease provisions they should have to have better asset protection. I have even helped friends, family, and colleagues in selecting and pre-qualifying tenants in their investment properties.
I did all of this without taking a fee when I realized that if I was the go-to expert for friends and family and it did not feel like work, this must be the business that I should be in. "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life" - Confucius. And that is where I am at today with helping other investors realize their real estate investment dreams.
Describe a recent project you are fond of. How long did it take?
Every property that I have ever purchased was a full renovation, buy-and-hold investment. In selecting properties, we always found something that we can add value to, then keep that investment forever. I managed the renovation of every property and converted each unit into something that I take lots of pride in showing to potential tenants. Every time I show a unit, I love when the potential renter is blown away by the quality of my rental and the little details I put into every rental and every showing.
It is my passion to serve you as a client...the same way I served all of my tenants in my rentals. That pride of ownership shows to every person that walks through a PMI Elevation property.
What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
Find someone that loves doing this work and has investments personally. When the company you hire also has investments, they know exactly how to balance the owner's bottom line with tenant expectations. They know what it is like to be a property owner, and in turn, they know how to serve their clients as well.
Consider how long it takes a property manager to respond to your inquiries. This matters in this business. We are here to serve you, our clients. If they take 2 days to respond to you as a potential client, how long will they take when you are actually a client?
Look at their review scores on Google and other reputation sites. But be careful to read the reviews. Are the reviews from owners or from tenants? Often the property manager needs to take a tough position with tenants, and tenants in turn leave poor reviews because of that. If the PM company does not have good owner reviews, that is a bad sign. I have a fiduciary responsibility to you, my client, the owner. That means... a duty of acting in good faith with regard to YOUR interests. If owners are giving bad reviews, that means that TRUST has been compromised.
What questions should customers think through before talking to professionals about their project?
Many real estate investors will self-manage their rental properties. This is not always a bad thing. I did it for years. I thought I was saving a ton of money doing it that way, and I was. But I was trading time for money...lots of time, for a little bit of money. I have probably read easily hundreds of books, blogs and forums on real estate investing. I was passionate about it. I wanted to do it right. Not every investor shares that passion, and that is absolutely fine. For the investor that does not want to know every rule, law, fair housing issue, maintenance best practice, security deposit procedure, etc etc etc --- you have PMI Elevation. We have taken the time to develop systems and processes for you. Let us be your agent for managing your property and I know you will be happy that you did.