Real Estate Gladiators is a preferred property management company in Washington State serving primarily King and Snohomish Counties, and Tracy Minick, the company’s co-founder, is here to talk about overcoming challenges and how Real Estate Gladiators has managed to approach some of the complexities in the current real estate market and property management industry.
Maybe you’ll see some part of yourself in the scenarios we’re talking about; either as the stressed-out landlord with nowhere to turn or the property management professional and problem solver, coming to the rescue.
Inheriting Problems from Distressed Landlords
We often find ourselves in situations where landlords and property owners are coming to us with problems for us to solve. So our team at Real Estate Gladiators do our best to take over properties for these landlords who are in a pickle.
These are rental property owners who don’t understand the timelines and guidelines for being able to give notices and move toward lease terminations. They also have no idea of how to handle documentation, compliance, or other parts of property management and tenant relations.
They’ve been managing on their own, and maybe things have been going well, but all it takes is one major problem and they begin to see the limits of their knowledge and resources.
As you’ll see from the examples we’re sharing, the problems we are inheriting are at properties that we have not been managing, so we’re at a disadvantage and things are usually quite a mess.
Typical Problems and Challenges We Inherit
The most common problems that are brought to us are specifically around:
- Having a long vacancy and not being able to fill it. Or not being able to fill it safely. This can be a major challenge for landlords who are losing money on long vacancies or who are unsure of how to effectively screen tenants.
- Tenants are in place and landlords want to terminate the lease, but they do not understand all of our Washington State just cause reasons to terminate a lease or evict a tenant. These laws are carefully enforced by the state. And landlords don’t understand that if you want to terminate a lease, you have to do it within a certain number of days before the lease ends on its own. You have to serve the tenant a notice within a strict timeline, and you must provide a specific number of days before the notice is even recognized.
This has been one of our biggest challenges.
The way that we solve that is pretty simple: by following all of the rules and the laws. We believe in that 100 percent. Compliance is absolutely necessary, whether you’re an independent landlord or a professional property manager.
We want to be helpful. So, if we are stuck in a situation that is not favorable to the property owner, we provide them with the absolute best legal options and resources. From there, we can help them make informed decisions to get them unstuck. Then we help implement the action steps so that the owner can have compliant notices, leases, etc.
Real Life Example: Duplex Without a Lease
Here’s an example of a challenging situation that the team at Real Estate Gladiators recently had to deal with on behalf of an owner who came to us with a big problem.
This is an individual who came to us with a duplex that had two tenants.
Neither tenant had a lease. This was clearly just a handshake deal.
We had to start from the very beginning and offer each of those tenants a lease agreement. If they refused to sign it, only then could we take the next step and unwind all of the pieces that have basically rendered this owner financially incapacitated.
Not only were these tenants not established legally, but the owner also did not collect security deposits or do a move-in inspection. There was nothing in writing and nothing signed from these tenants.
It gets even better. At one point, the owner had actually allowed the tenants to switch properties in the duplex. So now, even if they had leases, the leases would not represent where each tenant lives.
When those tenants stopped paying rent, the lack of documentation and processes really did hurt the owner, and we were called in to help.
That has been something we have really prided ourselves on; being able to walk a client through the sticky parts of a problem-solving process. It’s not easy. It’s not pretty. We cannot wave a magic wand, but we can put the steps in place.
We can share more examples Iike this. At Real Estate Gladiators, we don’t just manage properties—we solve problems. Whether you’re facing tenant issues, legal compliance challenges, or financial setbacks, we’re here to help you navigate the complexities of rental property management. No situation is too messy for us to tackle.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure about your next steps, don’t wait until the situation gets worse. Let us take the burden off your shoulders and put the right strategies in place to protect your investment.
We proudly serve property owners throughout King and Snohomish Counties, providing expert property management solutions in Issaquah, Sammamish, Kirkland, Monroe, Everett, Lake Stevens, Renton, Duvall, Bellevue, Bothell, Snohomish, and Sultan. Our deep understanding of these local markets allows us to effectively manage rental properties, ensuring compliance with Washington’s evolving regulations while maximizing returns for our clients.
📞 Ready to get your rental property back on track? Contact Real Estate Gladiators today and let’s discuss how we can help.
