Hold It with PM Jen

You've probably never heard someone tell you what it's actually like when the EPA audits your rental business. Al Romero just went through one, and he's telling us everything. Al is the broker at ARK Property Management in York, PA. In August he got an email, a seven page letter, and a request for three years of files. He walks us through what they asked for, how they picked which files to look at...

Why listen to this one? Because I said so, and honestly that should be enough. Need more? Fine. My guest is attorney Monica Gilroy, and we talk about what it is actually like to have a Fair Housing complaint filed against you. How you find out. What to do first. What it does to the next stretch of your life. Monica brings stories from thirty years of defending these cases. I bring two of my own, a...

You own the properties. Why not own the property management company? Back in June I was at InvestHER Con in Scottsdale with my good friend Stacey Salyer, and she opened my eyes to something I had never taken seriously. Stacey has spent 22 years in property management. She built her own company and sold it for seven figures in 2022, and along the way she has helped buy more than 50 management compa...

Last week you heard Justin's story. This week we get into the ideas behind it, and I will be honest with you, this one rearranged some furniture in my head.   Justin's whole argument is that most investors are flying blind because they only watch one thing. The market. Is it going to crash, is it a good time to buy, what are rates doing. Meanwhile there are three separate cycles running under ever...

Ten years. That is how long it took Justin Anderson to go from working as a laborer on somebody else's job site, owning nothing but his own home, to holding more than 800 doors. After building and accumulating all of that property, he did not feel free. He felt trapped. He calls it a sophisticated cage, and that phrase is exactly why I asked him to come on the show. This is part one of a two part...

You have probably heard the advice a hundred times, from me!  BUY AND HOLD FOREVER AND EVER.  Walt heard it too. He just didn't want it. He was tired of active landlording, he was retired and ready to act like it. The problem was that every option on the table felt like a bad trade: - Sell everything and pay the tax man  - Do a 1031 into another rental, which is the same job with a new address - W...

FREE FOR LISTENERS Want PM Jen's Pennsylvania Legislative Tracker? Email me at HIWPMJ@onefocuspm.com and I will send it to you. No catch, you just have to ask. _______________________________________ Buying a home to live in and buying a rental are two completely different games, but a lot of investors walk into an agent relationship expecting it to work the same way. Then the frustration starts....

I had a microphone problem during the main part of this episode, so the sound quality isn't what I'd like it to be. Lesson learned. Thanks for bearing with me. In this one, I start with some Pennsylvania legislation I'm keeping my eye on right now. We're talking about bills that could let tenants break a lease without penalty when there's violence in the property, or put you on the hook for a tena...

The headlines made it sound like HUD killed emotional support animal protections and landlords can finally charge pet fees and say no. The reality is more complicated, and acting on the headline could land you in a lawsuit. In this episode I break down what actually changed at the federal level and what didn't. (Educational only, not legal advice. Talk to your own attorney about your specific situ...

On this episode of Hold It with PM Jen , I'm bringing you another real-life What Would PM Jen Do? conversation. Jamie Anderson, a realtor and investor, came to me with a tenant situation that had gone from frustrating to unsustainable. What started as late rent payments evolved into suspected drug use, unauthorized occupants, and a difficult decision about whether it was time to take the property...

In this episode of Hold It With PM Jen , we are back for Part 2 of What Would PM Jen Do, picking up right where we left off and diving into more real landlord questions with real answers, the way I always do, straight, practical, and based on what actually happens in the field. Kristin is still with me and we're working through the messy real world decisions property owners face every day, from se...

Buying a tenant occupied rental is one of the riskiest deals in real  estate investing, and most realtors will never tell you what to actually  look for. On this episode, I am sharing how I do due diligence on tenant  occupied properties, the questions you need to ask, the documents you  need to demand, and the red flags I have seen kill deals after closing.  This is the work that has let me add 2...

The landlord forums are wild. People asking real questions, getting stupid advice, and then making decisions that will haunt them for years. I can't sit back silently! This week on WWPMJD (What Would PM Jen Do), my leasing agent Kristen joins me to take on questions pulled straight from the forums. Who pays for maintenance and why the lease matters more than your feelings about it. What you can ac...

PM Jen and her sister Jessy are sharing real, unfiltered stories—and this one starts with a lawsuit. A tenant slip-and-fall turned into a long legal battle involving multiple attorneys, insurance companies, depositions, and a last-minute settlement. From injury claims to jury selection, this episode breaks down what landlord liability actually looks like behind the scenes—and why documentation, in...

PM Jen and her sister Jessy are telling real stories now and they are starting with this one. An employee stole $30,000 from One Focus Property Management over the course of 10 months. There were red flags. There were forged signatures. There were Valentine's chocolates in a FedEx envelope in January. This episode is for entrepreneurs, investors, and property managers who want the gritty reality o...

Finding the right property manager isn't as simple as a web search. In this episode, Jessy and I break down the vetting process from the inside — not the conventional guide you've already read, but the questions NO INVESTORS EVER ASK. We're talking licensing, trust accounts, company structure, fee transparency, and the one hack that will tell you everything you need to know about how a property ma...

Finding the right property manager isn't as simple as a web search. In this episode, Jessy and I break down the vetting process from the inside — not the conventional guide you've already read, but the questions NO INVESTORS EVER ASK. We're talking licensing, trust accounts, company structure, fee transparency, and the one hack that will tell you everything you need to know about how a property ma...

You have never heard an interview like this before. My guest is someone who has been in the trenches with me for almost six years: Lindsay Aballa, my executive assistant based in the Philippines. We talk about what it's really like to work as a global remote team member, what their concerns and challenges are, and the advice she wishes every American employer understood before hiring one. If you'v...

This one is for every investor who keeps saying they're "too busy." You're not too busy. You just need help. 33% of my team is remote workers from the Philipines and my guest, Jessy Leupold is accountable for hiring training and managing that team along with our US based team. She breaks down exactly how to hire, onboard, train, and hold a global assistant accountable. And trust me, it is not as h...

Season three is  here, and we're calling it the how-to season. How to grow. How to scale. How do people ever get past 30 doors? The first hire every real estate investor should make is a remote assistant, ideally global. Yes, I said it. And yes, I stand by it. In today's episode, I sit down with Jay Berube from BetterWho to break down exactly how to do it. Why it works, how to find the right perso...

 Real estate investors don't get enough gifts. We keep properties running, handle crises, build wealth for our families… and somehow end up unwrapping socks. So I fixed it. In this bonus episode, I share the first holiday gift guide made specifically for real estate investors. Every item is something I personally use, love, or credit for making my buy-and-hold life easier. Whether you're shopping...

In this episode, I do exactly what I love most—tell the wild stories from our business. The gross, the weird, the funny, and the totally inappropriate. The ones you'd usually only hear if you cornered me at a cocktail party. This year, I decided to take those stories into a professional studio—and yes, we had an absolute blast (and a bottle of Champagne!) recording them. This week's release is a b...

In this episode, I reconnect with an old classmate… who turned out to be my kind of investor. Rebecca Styer and I graduated together in 1999—but we hadn't crossed paths in 25 years until I spotted her at a real estate meetup. Now? She owns 30 doors, self-manages the whole thing, raises her kids, and just left her W2 job to go all in. This is not a story about overnight success. It's a story about...

I called it the No Bullshit Playbook because someone had to. Real estate investing is full of hype, half-truths, and commissions-first, facts-later nonsense. Not here. This episode of Hold It With PM Jen breaks down my 2025 No Bullshit Playbook for buying and holding rentals in North Central PA—where to buy, what to watch, what's changing, and why lazy MLS listings are killing your deals. Get the...

In this episode of Hold It with PM Jen, I talk with Stacey Salyer—a badass who scaled a PM company from her living room as a single mom, sold it, and now consults PM entrepreneurs across the country. We talk business puberty (yes, really), ditching the shame, owning your feminine in this masculine-coded industry, and why more women need to get in the real estate ownership seat. If you're a female...