Fix It Early: Property Management Lessons That Save Real Estate Investors Thousands
Show summary
In this episode, Alex Kirke shares his journey from multifamily investor to property management expert in Columbus, Ohio. Discover his strategies for scaling, managing properties efficiently, and lessons learned along the way.
Key takeaways
- A small $200 repair (like a minor plumbing leak) left unaddressed can turn into a $5,000 expense later, such as replacing a whole bathroom — fix problems early.
- If a tenant falls behind on rent and only makes promises to pay, push for eviction sooner rather than later; tenants who fall one to two months behind rarely catch up.
- Their eviction process: late fee if rent isn't paid by the 5th, and by the 10th if no payment arrangement or documented forbearance/rent assistance is in place, they issue a three-day notice and file for eviction.
- They run a BRRRR strategy, buying from wholesalers who bring deals (paying the wholesale fee when numbers work), spending heavily upfront to force appreciation, then refinancing and placing tenants.
- Spending more upfront to stabilize a property (e.g., granite countertops that last 30 years) pays off more in rentals than in flips, where added bells and whistles can eat into profit margin without raising resale value proportionally.
- They work with Section 8 tenants in Columbus because in certain neighborhoods it pays more than market rent.
- They currently manage about 150 units and are targeting 300 units under management by the end of the year, while also looking to acquire a larger 20-50 unit complex instead of scattered-site single units and duplexes.
About the guest
Alex Kirke is a multifamily investor and co-founder of Moving Forward Property Rentals in Columbus, Ohio. He and his partner started by buying duplexes and quadplexes, then launched a property management company that now manages about 150 units for themselves and other investors. His own portfolio includes about 40 properties, mostly single family homes, duplexes, and quads scattered across Columbus.
Listen to the audio
“A $200 expense now will save you a $5,000 expense down the road. If you have a small plumbing leak, you better fix it sooner than later, or else you may be replacing a whole bathroom.”
Alex Kirke
“If your tenant stops paying you and makes promises that they're going to continue paying you, it's often in your best interest to push for an eviction earlier.”
Alex Kirke
“We do above average properties at average prices, which we found is the sweet spot for long-term growth.”
Alex Kirke
Questions answered in this episode
When should a landlord start the eviction process for nonpayment?
Alex Kirke's company charges a late fee if rent isn't paid by the 5th of the month. By the 10th, if the tenant hasn't worked out a payment arrangement or provided documented evidence like rent assistance or a signed forbearance, they issue a three-day notice and file for eviction rather than relying on verbal promises to pay.
Why is it better to spend more money upfront on rental property repairs?
Alex Kirke says a $200 fix now, like a small plumbing leak, can prevent a $5,000 problem later, such as replacing an entire bathroom. His company spends more in the first 12 months on a property than it would otherwise spend over the next five years, which stabilizes the property and increases NOI long term.
What investment strategy does Moving Forward Property Rentals use to acquire properties?
They use a BRRRR strategy, buying from wholesalers who bring them deals in exchange for a wholesale fee when the numbers work. They spend significant money renovating to force appreciation, then refinance and place good tenants, which gives better NOI than buying turnkey.
Does Section 8 work well in the Columbus, Ohio market?
Alex Kirke says they work with Section 8 often because in certain Columbus neighborhoods it provides very good returns, sometimes more than market rent.
How many units does Alex Kirke's company manage and what's the growth goal?
Moving Forward Property Rentals manages about 150 units currently, with their own portfolio at about 40 properties scattered across Columbus (nothing larger than eight units in one location). They aim to grow managed units to 300 by the end of the year and eventually acquire a larger complex of 20-50 units.
What advice does Alex Kirke give to new investors who are stuck in analysis paralysis?
He advises finding a property that pencils out on the spreadsheet and jumping in, even knowing you'll make mistakes that may be painful or expensive. He notes their first flips only netted plus or minus $5,000, but the experience made them better investors, and you'll never know what could happen if you never pull the trigger.
Resources and links
Full transcript
Alex Kirke (00:00)
Biggest lessons are that a $200 expense now will save you a $5,000 expense down the road. If you have a small plumbing leak, you better fix it sooner than later, or else you may be replacing a whole bathroom.
So doing more upfront save you in the long run. It’s our biggest lesson that we’ve learned.
The similar thing goes with tenants. If your tenant stops paying you and makes promises that they’re going to continue paying you, it’s often in your best interest to push for an eviction earlier.
Michelle Kesil (02:04)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Alex Kirke of Moving Forward Property Rentals, offering property management and is also an investor. So excited to have you here today, Alex.
Alex Kirke (02:20)
Yeah, I’m excited to be here. Thanks, Michelle.
Michelle Kesil (02:24)
Sure, let’s dive in. So first off, for those new to your work, can you share what your main focus is?
Alex Kirke (02:31)
Yeah. ⁓ My partner and I are multifamily investors. We like to buy duplexes and quadplexes in the central Ohio area. We started as investors and we built up several units of our own. We opened up property management and started working with other investors to help them also benefit from the operations and the systems that we’ve put together.
So we have about 150 units under management right now in the Columbus, Ohio area.
Michelle Kesil (02:56)
Awesome.
Great, and what do you feel are some of the main keys that have allowed your business to grow and run successfully?
Alex Kirke (03:08)
of the main things that we focused on is we have a long-term mindset with the properties. We try to spend more money upfront to stabilize the properties and make them bulletproof. We work in a lot of ⁓ Class C areas and B areas and sometimes the properties that we get, they need a significant amount of work. And we have found that it’s more profitable in the long run to spend more upfront.
Make sure the property is good and stable and spend more in the first 12 months than you will in the next five years.
Michelle Kesil (03:41)
Yeah, absolutely. And how did you get started investing?
Alex Kirke (03:47)
We were originally looking for some sort of fixer-upper that we could just buy and work on in our free time. was me and my partner looking for something else to do outside of our normal day jobs that we had at the time. And then we realized that there were other ways to do it. The faster and better way to do it that most people find is using contractors to handle the work. So we got into…
fixing and flipping in our free times on nights and weekends and buying a rental property every now and then as we flipped a couple properties and
we made money on some, lost money on others and learned the best way to do it. I found that the best and most consistent profits are from holding rental properties and operating them efficiently for the long term.
Michelle Kesil (04:35)
absolutely. What have been some obstacles or challenges that you’ve overcome in your journey?
Alex Kirke (05:43)
Some of the biggest obstacles is we really like making properties nice. So that was a problem when you’re trying to flip a property and you’re adding all the bells and whistles to the property and making it fantastic. If you don’t have enough margin built in at the beginning, you’re eating up your profit on things that aren’t going to actually raise the value of the property.
Turns out when you do rental properties that works a little bit better, because if you’re doing things to make it more sturdy, then it’s worth the extra expense for granite countertops and things like that that will last 30 years. So we found that our method of doing it works better with rental properties. We’ve tried to find other contractors and teammates that have a similar mindset with it. We want to provide nice properties for people.
and stabilize properties for the long term to increase the NOI over the next 10 years.
Michelle Kesil (06:34)
Yeah. And why are you most focused on solving or scaling next?
Alex Kirke (06:42)
We are working on scaling larger and we’ve got about 40 properties of our own and we’d like to get those up a little bit bigger and we would like to get a larger complex, maybe 20 or 40 or 50 units all in one building or in one location. Right now we’re very scattered site. We’re all over Columbus with single family homes, duplexes, quads.
nothing more than eight units in one area at the moment.
So it’d be nice to get something larger that we can have more density with the operations. It’s a lot more efficient when you’re not driving all over town.
Michelle Kesil (07:24)
Alright, and what investment strategies are you currently working on?
Alex Kirke (07:30)
We typically do a BRRRR strategy.
we like to buy from wholesalers who are doing all the marketing for us and bringing us deals. We’re happy to pay them their wholesale fee to bring us a deal where the numbers still work on it. We typically spend a good amount of money getting the property looking nice, forcing the appreciation on it, and then refinance it and put good tenants in there. It gives us good
NOI compared to buying a turnkey property.
Michelle Kesil (07:58)
and what have been some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned through investing.
Alex Kirke (08:05)
biggest lessons are that a $200 expense now will save you a $5,000 expense down the road. If you have a small plumbing leak, you better fix it sooner than later, or else you may be replacing a whole bathroom.
So doing more upfront save you in the long run. It’s our biggest lesson that we’ve learned.
The similar thing goes with tenants. If your tenant stops paying you and makes promises that they’re going to continue paying you, it’s often in your best interest to push for an eviction earlier
to get them out and get someone who’s going to be more consistent with their payments in. Because when someone falls one or two months behind on their rent, it’s very hard for them to ever catch up on that.
Michelle Kesil (08:46)
And when you manage properties, what does that look like?
Alex Kirke (09:30)
We ⁓ have some strict operations based around if they owe money at the end of the month, or if they owe money by the…
the fifth of the month, then they’re getting a late fee immediately thereafter. And by the 10th of the month, if they have not worked out a payment arrangement to pay it before the end of the month, then we will be filing for a, or giving them a three day notice and filing an eviction quickly rather than taking promises from them. We need solid evidence that they are getting some kind of rent assistance or they’ve signed a forbearance with us that they’re going to.
pay the rent and if they don’t follow it, then we move forward with an eviction to not waste too much time and money by hoping they’re gonna come through on what they say.
Michelle Kesil (10:15)
Yeah. And is there like a specific process you have for property managing? Like is everything in house or what does that system look like?
Alex Kirke (10:27)
We do most things in house. We have a team of maintenance workers who will go around and do most of the work in the property. If they are unable to handle the problem in a timely manner, like an emergency plumbing repair, we do have third party contractors ready to go out and work on anything like that or larger roof jobs that are going to take several days. don’t, we don’t have an internal roofing company, but we have partnered with
good contractors that give us good work at reasonable prices and it can get the work done quickly.
Michelle Kesil (10:59)
Awesome. And now are you looking to continue scaling this business?
Alex Kirke (11:03)
Yes, our plans are to continue helping investors to increase their NOI and benefit from our experience and our operational efficiency. They said we’re around 150 units at the moment under management and we’re looking to grow that to 300 by the end of the year and continue growing beyond that.
Michelle Kesil (11:21)
What advice would you give to newer investors?
Alex Kirke (11:26)
For newer investors, would say to find a property that pencils out when you look at your spreadsheet and find one that works and jump in and you’re going to make some mistakes and sometimes those mistakes will be painful or expensive. It’s worth making them so that you can grow and figure out what you’re doing with it. On our first couple, we
didn’t make nearly as much money as we always heard that you would make flipping houses. Anywhere plus or minus $5,000 on some of those early ones, but we learned a lot and it made us better for it. I know a lot of people get stuck in the analysis paralysis stage. They’re looking at properties and evaluating them. They see some that they look good, but then they’re worried about everything that might happen. And if you never pulled the trigger on it, you’ll
Never know what could happen.
Michelle Kesil (12:20)
Yeah, absolutely. What have been some of the biggest highlights that you’ve experienced through investing?
Alex Kirke (12:29)
Hmm. Yeah, some of the biggest highlights are just ⁓ having emergencies come up in properties and handling them. ⁓ We had one property that turned into a drug house. We were informed by the police that they had or they had done some staying operations to purchase drugs from one of the houses that we were managing. And then they came in and arrested.
a bunch of people who were in the house. We very quickly worked on getting those people formally evicted so we could take back possession of the property and get it cleaned out and turned around and get a good tenant in there. And it’s been smooth sailing ever since then.
We’ve had properties where we send contractors out to and they say they knock on the door to handle a plumbing leak and a of
big guys with guns come out and say they’re not gonna let this plumber in.
Things like that are always fun and we involve the police when appropriate or issue three day notices or 30 day notices as appropriate to take back possession of the property when someone’s not handling it appropriately. We get all kinds of fun stories. There’s something new every week.
Michelle Kesil (14:21)
Well, yeah, that’s quite an interesting situations to navigate.
And what are your goals that you’re looking to accomplish as an investor?
Alex Kirke (14:35)
Yeah, I our goal has always been around trying to provide nice housing for as many people as we can. So in line with that, are expanding our own portfolio and helping other investors to scale their portfolios through operational efficiency. Just trying to provide good housing for as many people as we can. work with Section 8 a lot of times because in Columbus, Ohio in particular, it provides very good returns.
in some neighborhoods, sometimes more than market rent. And whenever we have an inspector come through, they’re always impressed at how nice we make the properties because we do try to stabilize them and make them above average properties. do above average properties at average prices, which we found is the sweet spot for long-term growth.
Michelle Kesil (15:21)
Great, well, thank you so much for sharing all of that. Before we begin to wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect and learn more, where can people find you and connect with you?
Alex Kirke (15:32)
Yeah, absolutely. People can reach us through our website. It’s mfprentals.net, Moving Forward Property Rentals dot net. There they can get more information about how we work with investors and they can see some of the properties that we list for rent on there. So if they know anyone who’s interested in working with us or if they want more information, they can reach out to us on there.
Michelle Kesil (15:58)
Perfect, well, appreciate your time and your story. Thank you so much for being here.
Alex Kirke (16:02)
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate it, Michelle.
Michelle Kesil (16:04)
And for those tuning into the show, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We have more conversations with operators like Alex who are building real businesses and we’ll see you all in our next episode.
