What has San Diego Property Management been like in 2022? Let’s recap:
Maintenance
Vendors are overwhelmed and costs have risen exponentially. We are struggling to curb costs at your properties. Every work order requires a pull-on history. Every additional estimate takes time and now is costing. Vendors are putting pass-throughs on their billing, product increases, gasoline increases, trip charges, labor/wage increases.
- We are seeing more leaks than ever.
- The cost of appliances has gone through the roof, the same stackable washer/dryer cost $1,000, today it is $1,650.00. If the cost of an appliance repair is greater than 50% of the replacement cost and older than 5 years, we generally suggest replacement.
- Hot water tanks in years past cost approximately $900, are now closer to $1,800 +.
- The city permits are costing more due to the time to obtain one, as the city is back up.
- Code enforcement is sitting at Home Depot, following contractors back to jobs to fine them.
- 2 Years Later- Residents working from home through Covid put a lot of wear and tear on the properties and the volume of work orders has risen.
Residents
We have a new generation of entitlement. Residents do very little, partly because they have no idea as to how! They feel like rents are too high and the pride of ownership is long gone. Some still have it, but not many. They are quick to report us to the city and code enforcement any time they don’t get their way.
Here are a few examples of service requests we have received recently:
- The toilet seat is loose
- The neighbor’s dog pooped in our yard
- A light bulb is burned out
- A car is parked in front of our house for a week
- The neighbor upstairs walks loud (mind you we don’t manage the upstairs unit)
No joke. Verbal abuse on vendors and our employees is higher than we have ever seen.
We are also seeing a large refusal to sign annual leases. We are chasing them down only for the lease to expire and have to start all over again.
Employees
While our team stayed strong and stable through the pandemic, we have seen a lot of burn out this year. This industry has a massive turnover rate and as hard as we tried, the constant negativity to and about housing providers was unrelenting. Unfortunately, we like many others, felt the extreme pain of losing long time employees. We are rebuilding one day at a time.
Minimum wage increases again:
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- 2023 will be the sixth year in a row that minimum wage has increased. Frankly, we are struggling to pay people enough to deal with the rude and condescending attitudes. I am sure you are seeing it in your industries as well. Or just out at a restaurant. We are doing all we can to keep the standard high.
California Legislation
Keeping up and implementing new laws is overwhelming. Here are just a few we are trying to navigate:
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- SB 721 – Exterior elevated decks, balconies, and walkway inspections
- AB 2559 – Reusable screening report
- AB 1482 – Just cause eviction and rent caps, 5% + CPI, max 10%.
- State of Emergency constantly enacted to prevent price gouging
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HUD / Section 8
While these programs are meant to help they are six to eight weeks behind on processing new applicants. Once an applications is approved we must pass inspection. The demands for repairs and upgrades are part of the delay. A crack in the crisper drawer in the fridge was backordered and they wouldn’t approve the move in until the new drawer arrived.
Life in the property management world is crazier than ever. 2023 will probably bring some surprises too. Be kind.
