Podcast appearances and mentions of matthew listen

In this exciting episode of Tickers, Thaon Simms and Matthew Preston dive deep into DOLLA Financials' latest developments, including the potential spin-off of its subsidiary, Ultra Financial, and the company's aggressive growth plans. Learn about the microlending strategies fueling DOLLA's rise and what investors can expect from this dynamic company. Could Ultra's spin-off be the next big IPO? Tune in to find out how DOLLA Financial is changing the game in the Jamaican financial landscape!

This week, we dive back into the Gospel of Matthew. In today's text, Jesus has a discussion with some unlikely people and reminds us in a powerful way that he is God. Our main passage this week is Matthew 17:1-13.

Teaching by Kent Bateman, based on Matthew 17:1-13. Week 39 of our series, The Gospel of Matthew. For more information, visit citychurchknox.com.

Teaching by Kent Bateman, based on Matthew 17:1-13. Week 39 of our series, The Gospel of Matthew. For more information, visit citychurchknox.com.

In this episode, Tom and Michael chat with Matthew Whitaker from GK Houses about what it takes to have effective property management and how investors can set themselves up for successful relationships with their PMs.   --- Transcript   Michael: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Remote Real Estate Investor. I'm Michael Albaum. And today I'm joined by Tom Schneider and Matthew Whitaker with GK Houses, Matt and GK Houses is one of our preferred property management partners at Roofstock. And so we're going to be talking to Matt today about what it's like to be a property manager. What are some things that we as investors can do to make their lives easier? And give us a little bit of insight into what a day in the life of a PM looks like. So let's get into it.   Theme Song   Michael: Matt Whitaker. Thank you so much for joining us today. Really, really appreciate you taking the time to be with us. How are you doing?   Matthew: Yeah, I'm doing great. I'm excited to be here and excited to do this with you.   Michael: Awesome. And you're down in the Southeast, right?   Matthew: I am. Yeah. I'm in Birmingham, Alabama. That's where our corporate office is and we're in eight different markets. So we're in three markets in Colorado and then we are also in Birmingham, Nashville, Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Little Rock.   Michael: Awesome. Awesome. And for those of our guests who might not know you, can you give us a little bit of background about yourself on GK houses, help everyone get to know you a bit?   Matthew: Yeah. I'd love to some, the CEO of GK houses. I started it about 13 years ago during the last recession. And during that kind of, 07, 08, 09 time when the market crashed, I owned about 30 rental houses at the time and had a hard time selling those once the market crashed. Most of those were in the low to moderate income world and the ability to sell that went away. And I started a property management company, converted all those 30 over into rentals and was able to get some of my investor buddies to also let me manage them. So I got up to about 70 houses pretty quickly, and that was kind of how I lasted through that recession through 08, 09, 2010 was by managing homes in about, we also were selling homes. So we were doing some turnkey stuff at the time, kind of original before it was very popular. And, but in 2013 we really started off focusing on the management business. And we decided at that point we managed about 250 homes right here in Birmingham. And at that point we decided that we wanted to get to 25,000 houses under management. And so we've been growing that ever since 2013. And today we manage somewhere around 26, 2,700 homes in those eight markets that I talked about earlier.   Michael: Great. And did you have any personal management experience in the real estate arena or did you go straight from owner to manager?   Matthew: I always swore I would never be a property manager or a real estate agent…   Michael: You're in good company.   Matthew: And a lot of companies did that same thing. Yeah. And so never, never say that to yourself, but now I'm a real estate agent and a property manager. And so I managed my own homes. So I had been doing it ever since I first got started, even my first house I ever bought, I still own, and I have rented it ever since. And that was a disaster story. So it's amazing that I'm in the property management business. So yes, I did have a little bit of management experience. I had been in the buying and selling business for about seven or eight years. So I was very familiar with what a manager did. I had some other third party managers that manage some homes for me for some time and found all the things that I didn't like about a property manager. And so I decided to just do it ourselves, with GK Houses.   Michael: That's great. I love that. You've got that personal experience that you did it for yourself and then went into business, helping other people do it because it just shows that you understand the business kind of from the ground up, which I think is so huge. And you're able to treat the rentals as if they were your own.   Matthew: Yeah. There's nothing that replaces knowing what it's like to have a $500 bill come through, or a $2,000 air conditioning, a replacement come through where you're expecting that cashflow to pay the mortgage. And now all of a sudden you've got to figure out some other way to pay that mortgage. So it definitely gives us empathy for our owners. And that's something that we've tried to communicate and teach to the team members that work for us is, you know, and I'll often say to them, what if on Friday you found out that I was going to pay you $500 less with your paycheck. And they, you know, that would be disappointing to them if it was a surprise. And that is the same surprise that we were calling up from time to time. And unfortunately having to deliver bad news to owners because inevitably things are going to break when an owner buys a rental house they're in business and you're going to have expenses for that business. And so we've learned a lot over the years about having reserves and making sure that you can afford to pay for the lumpy expenses that are in this business, but it still requires a bunch of empathy from our team members when they're communicating with owners and having deliver, you know, have tough conversations.   Michael: That's great.   Tom: You touched on reserves. I'd love your thoughts, Matt, on, you know, what do you think an appropriate like reserve level is?   Matthew: Yeah. If I was in new person getting into the business and I bought a foot, let's call it a fully renovated home. I would probably stay about. And obviously depending on the age or the vintage of the house, I would stay about $3,000 out. So I would keep at least $3,000 available at all times. And then as I got to a bigger portfolio, obviously the per house number would come down because you could dilute that across the portfolio. But getting started, I would say somewhere around two to $3,000, just available to make sure that it doesn't affect your lifestyle. And if you do have one of those expenses that comes through   Michael: And in that same vein, most lenders are going to require a cash reserve amount for PITI. Would you consider that a couple thousand dollars to be that same pool of the reserve bucket? Are you saying above and beyond this? The reserve?   Matthew: Yeah. I'm just talking about expenses and then capitalizable type items. I mean, I may even start as you started to build a portfolio and this is one of the reasons I always tell people don't buy one rental house. I mean, certainly try it on dip your toe in the water, but it's way easier to own 10 rental homes than it is to own one because you all these expenses start to get diluted amongst your cashflow of your portfolio. And then it doesn't become as big of a deal when you have a $500 bill come through. If you have a rental house, a $500 bill comes through, you're literally writing a check out of your back pocket. Sometimes if you have 10 rental houses and a $500 bill comes through, it's just another number on your statement. And you're just calculating your return based on that. So I think of that in excess of that, I'm just thinking of, in terms of repairs and maintenance,   Michael: Tom like you always say peanut butter spreading that across.   Tom: Peanut butter spread the risk. I love that quote yeah, 10 properties, a lot easier than one property.   Matthew: It is, and absolutely if you're not having to manage all of them, any, even if you are, obviously you're spreading that risk across multiple residents with different jobs and different industries. And if somebody invests through you, they can even do it across different markets. So 10 seems to be the magic number in my opinion.   Michael: Great   Tom: perfect segue talking about, you know, as long as you're not managing it, and let's talk in a little bit about the roles and responsibility of a third party property manager that you would hire, what are the different things that services that they would provide in the process?   Matthew: I really think the services of a property manager fall into two buckets. There is the accounting bucket and the communication bucket. And obviously under that communication comes execution, but let's talk about accounting first. Part of our operations is accounting for our homeowners. We want to make sure that the money comes in on time, that the resident's abiding by what the lease term says in terms of money paid. And so we're going to kind of hold the resident to making sure financially that house is getting taken care of. And then we're going to account for all the dollars that come in and of course paying any expenses that we need to pay out of that money that comes in. And then the other side is just operations and communication around those operations. We're obviously going to make sure that the house is taken care of. One of the interesting things, especially around small multifamily and single family.   There's a lot of logistics involved in that. I always say it's a communication challenge and a logistics problem. So it's about, you know, having a one house, one owner or one vendor, you're always communicating with somebody. So you need to be really good at communicating. And our property managers become more like air traffic controllers. They're making sure the vendor knows where to go. What time to be there has the resident's information. The resident knows that the vendor's coming. The owner knows that there's a problem at the house if it exceeds a certain amount of money. And so you're having to keep all of these people in the loop and make sure that the planes aren't running into each other while you're that. And so, again, it just boils really down to accounting and making sure that I's are dotted and T's are crossed and then operations and communications.   Michael: Matt, you said something that I want to circle back to that the owner knows if there's a problem, if it's above a certain dollar amount. So from folks who have never purchased a property, what do you mean by that? And why is that important to highlight?   Matthew: Yes. So you hire a private manager to basically take care of the problems and you don't want to know that something small has happened at your house. That's not really going to affect your lifestyle. It's just kind of brain damage for somebody to call you over a hundred dollar issue. So we have, what's called a $500 kind of threshold. And if one of our maintenance guys goes out there and he sees that this thing's going to exceed over $500, we're going to contact the owner before we do anything and provide them an estimate. But if it's below that $500, we're generally just going to take care of that issue. And then the owner's going to see that happen. You know, see that payment on their statement. You hire a property manager and you will be circled in on all the big issues, but we want to handle all the small issues. That's why we feel like you hire us is for a turnkey solution, not to have to sweat the small stuff.   Michael: Awesome. Thanks for clarifying and Matt, in your opinion, you know what separates the good from the great property managers?   Matthew: Yeah. We go back to accounting and communication again, getting the numbers right. Is so incredibly important and you'd be surprised at how many property managers get that wrong. The other, again, communicating, it's so hard in our business to communicate and trying to make sure as an owner. And of course I was in this position. So I know exactly how they feel. If you don't know what's going on, it's not like you expect the best is happening. And so you want to make sure that you're clearly in the loop and you have the confidence and the trust of your property manager, that if something bad is happening, that you're going to be well aware of it. And also communicated with what we call uncomfortable transparency, which means I'm not going to withhold information from you to make it easier to tell you or more palatable or, you know, easier on me really, because I don't want you to get mad at me.   So we want to make sure that we're giving our owners the truth. And we call that also entering into the danger and telling them, being willing to tell them exactly what's going on with their house so that they, if it is a big issue, they can make the best decision for themselves. And also try to remain as objective as possible when we're communicating, because money can be very emotional for people. And if we can kind of steer them towards the best solution, then we want to make sure that we're doing that based on our experience as a property manager, you know, we do have the benefit of, and especially in the South right now, it's getting really hot and air conditioners are breaking well. We have the benefit of knowing that air conditioners break and things we've done in the past and mistakes that we've made in the past. So, you know, when it becomes a, should I spend 600 or $700 to fix this air conditioner and it may last another couple of years or a $2,000 replacement or a $2,500 replacement. Well, we can give them kind of some objective advice based on what we've seen in the past. And then the owner can make their own decision based on that information.   Tom: That's a great example of being proactive in informing the most decision and using some of the information that you guys have as an investor. We want to get the top dollar. We want to manage the least amount of vacancy as possible. What were some things that you would advise that the owner, the investor can help achieve those?   Matthew: Yeah, the biggest expense and investor's going to have is turnover. You know, you can have a picky tenant that calls in a lot of maintenance work orders, or it feels like they're calling in a lot of maintenance work orders, but truly turnover in my opinion is the biggest expense you have. I think of it and you played football, Tom. It is like going in to score a touchdown. And instead of you throw an interception on as you're about to score, and then they run it back for a touchdown, it's like a 14 point swing that somebody moves out because, and the reason I say that is not only do you have loss of rent, so you're not having money come in, but you're also having to pay money out on deferred expenses when that happens. And so it's very important that you keep residents in homes and the way you do that is you do it through good communication with the residents.   You do that through handling maintenance work orders. One of the things we found was our residents started staying longer when we internalize maintenance because our maintenance team is not out there just fixing a problem. Our maintenance team is tasked with making the resident happy because they're a GK team member. And so if you think about kind of the change in that, if a maintenance team member thinks his job is to just fix something, well, that's a problem if ultimately in the owner's best interest is that resident staying alone time. But if the maintenance team member is out there with the idea, I want to make this resonant as happy as possible, then it makes the resident happy. It's in the owner's best interest because the resident stays a whole lot longer.   Michael: That's great.   Tom: Oftentimes decisions, especially those big decisions that you'll make with an investor it's the repair or replace, or do we want to focus on vacancy or rent growth? And I don't know, I guess one of you just elaborate a little bit on those two important decision points that can make or break deals.   Matthew: Let's talk a little bit about rent growth, because I think what I've always thought of it, the way I mentally look at it is staying a little bit behind the curve. Like I don't want to be on the bleeding edge and I don't think investors want to be on the bleeding edge of pushing grants. And I know there's some institutions out there that will actually do that for us, I think. And I like to stay a little bit behind the curve because I think it's so important that that a doesn't move out. I don't want that resident to feel like they can get a better deal somewhere else. And so what I like to do is stay a little bit behind, but definitely be in tune with rent growth and be focused on it. In our leases, we have some rent growth built in, but that also gives us the ability to go to the resident and say, Hey, you know, the owners being very generous, wants you to stay another year and has decided only to raise it 1% instead of the three to 5%, which may be in our lease or even better, they've decided not to raise rent. And because, you know, they think you're an awesome resident and normally they would raise it 5%, but they're not going to raise it at all. So it gives us the ability to even if you only raise it 1%, it gives us the ability to basically say, Hey, the owner's doing you a favor because you signed up for three or 5%.   Michael: That's great. I think, yeah, like you mentioned Tom investors where they want top dollar and you know, as much as we can push the envelope, we'd like to, but that's really great advice. Cause I think something that I chat a lot about with Academy members is when it comes to pushing rent is do the calculation, do the math for if this tenant leaves and you've got three weeks of vacancy, what does that cost versus what do you stand to make with the 10, 15, 20 bucks a month? You're going to increase the rent. The math kind of works itself out pretty clearly.   Matthew: Yeah. I would think if I'm an investor and I am on a number of rental homes, I think in terms of seven to 10 years, how can I maximize the most amount of money over that seven to 10 years? Not now. And this gets into having reserves too, because if an owner is making short term decisions is going to affect his or her longterm seven to 10 year plan then, and that's a problem. If you have reserves, you can make clear objective decisions based on how much, what the best longterm getting the most money in over that seven to 10 years. And so I think as your clients and investors operate, they need to be thinking longterm because this is a, this is not a get rich quick game. It is a consistently make good decisions over the long period so that they can over the course of owning that rental home, whether it's seven to 15 years, then they end up in a much better place.   Michael: Tom, Matt set you up so nicely for your T-ball swing. What do you like to say? Be what?   Tom: Oh, longterm greedy, be longterm greedu.   Matthew: Yeah, that's great.   Michael: Matt, I want to ask you a question about property management fees specifically around vacancy. And I get the question a lot in the Academy that says, Hey, you know what? It seems like property managers, aren't incentivized to actually keep tenants in place because of the new tenant placement fee being 50% or 75% or a hundred percent of one month's rent versus a lease renewal is typically less. So what would you say to someone that had that question?   Matthew: Yeah, I think it's a great question. You definitely don't want to incentivize your property manager to do something that's not in your best interest. And so when you're thinking about property management fees, what I would tell somebody is make sure that the fees are in line as well as you can with your incentives or with the incentives of the property manager, because you just don't want anybody to have to make this kind of moral decision that affects their income. And so what I would say is the way we look at it is we do need to make money when we're leasing, because we do a lot of work. The way we look at GK Houses is we want it to be an annuity business for our owners and for us. And the way to do that is to keep residents in homes. And that allows us to do certainly we're doing a lot of work while the residents in the house, but as soon as that resident moves out, I mean, it's like a full time job trying to get that home back on the market as quickly as possible. And so we often talk about, and we've structured our fees so that we don't want people moving out. We want to build this big annuity snowball. And so to me, you need to make sure that your property managers fees align with your interests and your interest of being an annuity. So I would say incentivize the manager to renew the lease over a leasing fee. Now the leasing fee may be higher, but what kind of work did they have to do to earn that? I would much rather earn a couple hundred dollars, 200 $5,300 renewal fee that is, that, you know, requires two to three hours worth of work versus the, you know, maybe 20 plus hours of work. I would pour it into a turn.   Michael: And can you give somebody who's listening a real high level overview of what work does go into a turn because I think that's such a great point is there is so much work that goes on into placing a new tenant, but that goes on behind the scenes. Most folks don't have any idea.   Tom: The Duck's legs under the water. That's another episode where we riffed on that for a minute. So, sorry. Yeah, go ahead.   Matthew: Well, we think about this about 60 to 90 days out. So we're trying to renew the resident almost, you know, six to eight months into their lease. We're trying to do it as quickly as possible. And so when they submit their notice and they start to move, you know, we start communication. So we communicate with the unit or, Hey, your resident is submitted. Notice just wants you to know. And then we give them an idea of what we're going to do when they move out. When the resident finally does turn in keys and moves out, we're going to do, depending on the market, we're in, we're going to do a walkthrough. And generally that happens not the same day, but within 24 or 48 business hours of that resident moving out. And we do a full writeup with pictures and it is amazing how many pictures we take, but we really feel like this is part of taking pictures, is communication with the owner.   They can see the pictures and kind of feel what the house looks like. And then one of the things that owners forget is we also have a requirement with the resident to account for their security deposit. So we have all these logistics going on and all this communication with the resident and communication with the owner, we send out a statement or an estimate, the owner that basically dumps all the expenses into three categories. One is these are the expenses we want to charge the resident for anything above normal wear and tear. So, you know, if the carpet has been lived on you can't really charge a resident for that because you expect the carpet to be lived on. But if there's a hole in the wall for some sort of misuse, or you can tell that the home has been misused there, we're going to charge that resonant for that.   And then there's a column that we say are required repairs. And so required repairs are, there's a hole in the wall and we need to fix this before the next resident moves in. You just can't leave a hole. Nobody's going to rent a house with a big hole in the wall, or then the next column is recommended. So maybe there's a room that is kind of in between. It's kind of in a gray area. May if you paint this room, it's going to run faster or you're going to rent it for more money. But if you don't paint it, then it's not going to keep us from renting. So we divide our estimate into those three columns and we'll send it to the homeowner and the homeowner will either approve the required or add on the recommended on top of that, and then approve whether the resident's security deposit. They're happy with how we account for that.   Then we have to basically do the accounting of the resident security deposit and then mail that to the resident. Now, oftentimes sometimes the resident disagrees with how we accounted for that. And the resident obviously did a move in when they, when they, and we did a move in before. So there's some time there's some kind of go back and forth between them and us on it. Was this a definitely misuse or was this like this when you moved in? And so sometimes when we inherit leases, we deal with some issues with that, but we do a really good job of a moving walk through. So we have pictures of the house before it moves in and we can easily compare those to the move out, walk through. Then once we we're done with the resident and everybody's happy there simultaneously, we're going back and forth with the owner on the work that needs to be done to get the house on the market.   And to me, owners love speed. And so that's one of the things we try to do is there is an anxiety that happens with an owner as soon as that resident moves out, that money stopped coming in and the expenses start, but it also makes an owner feel better if it gets done very quickly. So we're trying to renovate that house, turn that house as quickly as possible, and then put it back out on the market as fast as possible. And so, you know, depending on how long it takes to do the work, you know, our goal is to get that house back on the market, just literally as quickly as possible. And the only downtime being the time it takes to get the work done. We also start pre-marketing. So we try to start building some excitement. Some of our markets, we actually pre-market even when the residents about to move out, I just kinda made it hard recently with the pandemic, but you know, kind of a normal world will pre-market and we've been leasing a lot of homes.   We're starting to use some video tours. We're using a Matterport camera and we've been pre-leasing homes without people actually even walking through them. We've done a really good job with these Matterport cameras. And then again, getting it out on the market and getting as many people through it. One of the things that we found though, is if you take somebody through and the work's not done, sometimes there is a misunderstanding of what work needs to be done or what work is going to get done. And there's some disappointment from time to time. So we like to get the work done first, build the excitement, and then generally your first people through are your best opportunities to rent that house. Cause there's a, they feel that sense of urgency. And then we signed the lease and hopefully they move in as quickly as possible so that we get the rent coming back in and stop the expenses from flowing out.   Tom: I had like two questions I was going to, but you kept hitting him. I was, you know, I was gonna ask, Oh, you know, what changes have you guys made with the pandemic? And that's cool. So you guys are doing video tours and   Matthew: Yeah, we're using a Matterport camera now, which is basically you set it up in the middle of the room and it allows somebody to virtually walk through the house and it is really cool and it shows it's got a fish eye on it, fisheye camera on. It allows people to really see what it's like to live in that room. And the other thing is it's really a touchless and we're not using leasing agents as much as we did any more. Now, some areas are starting to let some leasing agents back. Colorado's allowing us to use leasing agents again, but it's still a opened the door. Let somebody go through and kind of obviously socially distancing the whole time. But we also use Rently a lot boxes on our homes, which allows a resident to check themselves in with a credit card and their ID. And they can go through the home by themselves without us having to be there.   There's some, obviously some accountability and the fact that we have a credit card and we have their ID and we know who they are, we have their cell phone number, but then we're proactively following up. So one of the things that we found in the past, we went a little too automated where we wanted somebody just never to talk to us to the point where they just leased our house without ever talking to us. But now we've found that proactively reaching out and talking to somebody on the phone, right after a showing, is that great way to get somebody comfortable enough to submit an app. And we're receiving right now, somewhere around three in some markets and somewhere around five times as many applications, part of that is pandemic driven. I think there's a move right now from multifamily to single family, just cause people don't want to be on top of everybody, but in part of it is the summer, but we're more occupied right now than we've ever been before.   Tom: That's really interesting.   Michael: Yeah. Very interesting. Matt a question. I get a lot in the Academy, especially of folks who are looking at Roofstock inspections is I've got all this repair work that needs to get done. Is this something that I have to do that I have to coordinate? Or is that going to fall on the shoulders of the PM? Are they able to assist in helping coordinate that work repair work to be done?   Matthew: I can't speak for all PMs, but I love it when we do the work in full transparency. So we do make money when we do the work as the general contractor of that work. But when I can control the process for the owner and I can control the communication and I can control what gets done and I have vendors that know how I work and I can get them in and get them out. I always think of it again, it says value and speed. I can get it done so quickly and there's not a lot of coordination and communication. If you're in a market, you could certainly try to do that because you may have the time, the drive over there. And it makes sure that the contractor is getting the work done. The biggest challenge we have is contractors and relationships with contractors. So for somebody to remotely hire a contractor and get the work done for not only cheaper, but on time and all their work done appropriately to me is just too big of a risk to take.   And what ends up happening is they end up putting the burden on the property manager to go make sure that we're gets done. So then it ends up costing them more because we're going to charge them for some of that oversight. So we just say, look, just let us handle it. And we're happy to give people an estimate to get that work done. And then we'll contract it out to the people that are vetted vendors that are insured. And if somebody falls off the proverbial roof, then they're not going to Sue you. And so we just think it's in the owner's best interest to let the PM handle that.   Michael: Great. And what would you say the most difficult part of being a property manager is what do you wake up everyday and go, Oh man,   Matthew: Not to use another football reference, but I am going to, there is no Superbowl in our world. There's no, we won the super bowl and now we can take two or three weeks off when the 31st hits and we collect a hundred percent of our rent. The first comes the next day and then all our rent's due again. And owners need to know this too. It is a thankless business. The whole point of the job is to deal with problems. And so when you're communicating with your property manager, you need to know that they are doing nothing but dealing with the exceptions, all the problems that have happened that day. And so I have a lot of empathy and sympathy for my team because it is hard. You have to keep them excited and it's hard not to get burned out. And so when an owner gets mad or a resident gets mad at them, obviously that takes an emotional toll.   And generally our PMs are not the ones that made the mistake or when something happens and listen, we're people, we're human. We try to execute as well as we can, but we are going to make mistakes. But when an owner kind of takes that out on a PM, because that's the person they see as kind of the face of the company, you know, that takes an emotional toll on people. So the whole, and when you're communicating with a resonant about not paying rent, you're talking to them about their home and the money, you know, money it's, everything emotionally is tied into this one thing that we're doing. So we have a lot of hard conversations. And so that's, what's so hard about being a PM. And I would say, that's, what's so hard about self managing too, you have the ability to be objective in an emotional situation?   Going back to the first rental house that I bought, I had a six month kind of agreement with an insurance company on a house that had burned down or somebody's house had burned down and they moved in for six months. The insurance company paid me additional money over above what I was asking. Well, the house person was living in the house. Couldn't afford the house normally. And when their house wasn't ready, they'd never moved out of my house. And so here I am self managing I'm 23 years old, and I need that money. I am very emotional about needing that money. And so I was probably the worst person to be dealing with that situation because I was overly emotional making bad decisions. Here I am. This is my first rental house I got paid for six months. Everything was great. I thought I was a real estate guru. And all of a sudden, now my resident's not paying, I'm paying a mortgage and it's not like I just have tons of money left over every month. And so I was just in an emotional place. And what I would say is, if you can't be objective, you can't treat that relationship like a business or even worse. Maybe you do have a lot of money or the ability to float things. And you allow things to go on too long because a resident may tell you a story. You know, it becomes very hard to be objective in those situations because either you're emotional about your own finances or you become emotional about the resident situation. And it really is like running a business. Well, listen, we do have a lot of sympathy and empathy for our tenants. We're very resident friendly, cause we know we want them to stay a long time. We want good residents to stay a long time, but you also have to be very objective when you're dealing with them. And, and so if somebody can't separate themselves from the situation, it becomes a lot of conflict. You know, personally, you're not going to do the right thing consistently to self manage.   Michael: I think that's such great insight into property manager, being a thankless business. You know, I personally am going to make this admission on the podcast. I don't think I've ever called my property manager wants to thank them for a full rent collection month, but I know I've called them and asked why the rent was late. So less than to everybody listening go, thank your property managers for the good stuff. Don't just highlight the bad stuff.   Matthew: And we do have some owners that are kind enough to thank us. And we do have some really great owners, but you're right. I mean, the expectation of the owner is full rent collection and no expenses. So as long as that happens,   Michael: Right, right.   Matthew: The bar is at a hundred percent.   Tom: Everybody's good.   Matthew: So anything below that is us not meeting expectations, even though, you know, it's not our house. If the toilet breaks, I've never used that toilet. Right. It wasn't you. Right. But I do understand too, that it's kind of funny, like an owner may move out of the house and then a new resident moves in and immediately owners because they are emotional about, especially a house that they lived in and owner will become very well that toll, it never broke when I was there. And I'm like, well, I don't know what to tell you.   Michael: I don't know what to tell you! Tom, You got any more questions?   Tom: Yeah. I guess, you know, kind of continuing on this theme of, you know, helping this thankless job, how would you say investors could help put their property manager in a better position to be successful?   Matthew: One of the things I would say is around communication is a lot of people want, expect like an email to go out and then an immediate email to come back and we do have RPMs or full time communicating. So we do have the ability to do that, but there are times when they need to be a little flexible about how fast we get back to people, because we do have other fires that are raging from time to time that a PM may be very focused on getting another owner's property fixed. So just having a, you know, not an unrealistic expectation around how fast we're able to get back with people. And look, we that's. One of the things that we measure is we do measure how fast we get back with people.   So we are getting back with people fairly quickly. The other thing is, again, having reserves really helps us out because it gets us into a situation where we're doing the right thing. We're playing the odds. We're placing good bets with these homes and allowing us to help you manage for the long term. So those are two things an owner can do. And then also when they do communicate with us, I know you're going to get frustrated when something happens bad and look, we're frustrated too, but know, it's every bit as hard to make that phone conversation and make that phone call and just know that the PM has been dreading calling you and telling you that there's this $500 expense or whatever it is. And so just having some empathy for that person that is making that phone call is helpful and being problem solvers together. Let's Hey, we're on the same team. We didn't cause this problem, but we're going to both fix it as teammates   Tom: Love it.   Michael: It's such a good point about around the communication timing. I was chatting with a student in the Academy. I won't say from where I was just say it rhymes with smooshmork. And they said, you know, I can't deal with this property manager. I said, what happened? He goes, well, I emailed them 20 minutes ago and have her back. I said, well, that, that might be how you're used to communicating, understand that it's different around the country. And so what I was recommending folks is just ask, when you're chatting with property managers, vetting property managers, ask them what their communication style is and ask them what a reasonable response time is, because the expectation should be set on the front end.   Matthew: Other thing I would add around communication. If you start to get up to, let's say five to 10 rental properties, what you need to is set up a regular monthly call with your property manager. We have found these calls to be so helpful. Again, getting back into being objective. You really solve problems together for the longterm. There's no emotion around it. There's no surprises when you have five to 10 rental properties and it's worth the manager spending an hour with you and kind of making sure that you're on the same page on a regular basis. It would be hard to have those calls for anybody below five houses let's say. But if you're starting to get up into five and continuing to grow, it makes sense for you to have a regular monthly call. And if you get to a point where you have 20 to 25 houses, it may be a weekly call that you would want to have. But I can't tell you how these regular calls have really helped us with our communication with owners, because you're not just hearing about the bad problems. You're also hearing, Hey, we collected this. We collected that. And you're starting to kind of get a better picture of what your portfolio is doing.   Michael: I've got to go set up weekly call. That's a really great idea.   Tom: I know. I love that as a takeaway from today's session... Yeah, I love that. That is a great idea. I really like that.   Michael: Tom, you got anything else?   Tom: That's good for me. Yeah. That's super insightful.   Michael: Love it. Awesome. Well, Matt, we've got some quick fire questions. We'd like to end our episodes with, if you don't mind, it's kind of a yes, no one answer to the other.   Matthew: All right, I'll do it. Alright.   Michael: So high rent growth or low vacancy?   Matthew: Low vacancy.   Michael: Angry resident or angry investor?   Matthew: Ooh, Whats C?. Yeah, definitely angry resident. Although none of those are fun.   Michael: Cashflow or appreciation?   Matthew: I am a cashflow guy.   Michael: Concentration or diversification?   Matthew: I am a concentration guy and I think this is an important thing too, is probably a good nugget for the people that are going to be listening to this, become an expert in an area. First, in my opinion, before you try to diversify too much, I have found that when you become an expert in one area like a Birmingham or even a neighborhood in Birmingham, then you are way more successful at buying than trying to diversify and not being an expert in one area. Sorry. That was more than one word, but..   Michael: No, that's super great insight. Super great insight. Local or remote investing?   Matthew: I think you can do both with technology today. I mean, I would hate to say one over the other because I think if you have access to all the technology that I have living in Birmingham, so it makes no sense for you living in California or in New York or wherever you're living, not to invest in Birmingham because I have the access to the exact same information as you do.   Michael: Great. Single family or multifamily.   Matthew: I'm a single family guy. I think, I think the best opportunities and the biggest opportunities to exploit what is still incredibly inefficient market is in the single family world. I think your points about like the pandemic people wanting a little bit more breathing room, like single family, really great way to go. I'm telling you, Tom we're at over 98% occupied. I've never been on. I've been doing this now almost 13 years. Never been that high and never gotten the amount of applications that were getting approved residents. Great residents are moving into our homes. It is really a good time to be in the single family world. Great turnkey or massive project. Definitely turnkey. Okay. Text message or email. I'm a text message guy. My emails, I forgot like 50,000 unread emails. That's a true story. I can, I can show you.   Michael: That's great. Last one. Olive oil or butter?   Matthew: I'm an olive oil guy.   Tom: Love it. Awesome.   Michael: Awesome. Well, Matt, thank you so much for taking the time to view with us today. If folks want to reach out to you at GK houses, you know, what's the best way someone can get in touch with you or someone on your staff?   Matthew: Yeah. I would say email me, but obviously…   Tom: The jig is up!   Michael: 50,001, right?   Matthew: Listen. The best email to email is support@gkhouses.com and we are monitoring that through a help desk type system. And then that'll get assigned to the right person in our office that can handle that. You can also look us up online and call any one of our offices. So we're a Roofstock preferred vendor in Atlanta and in Birmingham. And am I allowed to say the other two coming down?   Tom: Of course, growing markets all the time.   Matthew: So Little Rock, y'all are in Little Rock now and we're also a property manager there. And then we had a conversation with one of your team members this week about y'all are opening up in Denver, which is super exciting. So glad we're going to be a preferred vendor there too. So just y'all are growing and allowing us to grow right alongside of you. So we appreciate you so much.   Tom: Onward and upward.   Matthew: Yeah.   Tom: Thank you so much for coming on Matt.   Matthew: Yeah. Thank you for having me.   Michael: You got it, take care.   Michael: Okay. Everyone. That was our episode. Thank you so much to Matt Whitaker for coming on today. Really, really appreciate it. If y'all liked the episode, feel free to give us a rating or review wherever it is you listen to your podcast and we look forward to seeing you on the next one.  

A Catholic homily by Fr Guy de Gaynesford Readings: Ecclesiasticus 3: 2-6, 12-14, Ps 127, Colossians 3: 12-21, Matthew Listen … Continue reading →

This week on the show: Rodrigo is still absent, The Goon punches some zombies, and KIRKMAN! (doesn't appear on the show). NEWS Thor 2 Director confirmed LINK Contest We're giving away a DC Universe Legion of Super-Heroes 12-Pack of Action Figures. You gotta work for this one as you do your best Matthew - Listen to the show for complete details! The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you gotta call the Major Spoilers Hotline to enter! Contest ends December 31, 2011. REVIEWS Stephen Invincible #86 Story by: Robert Kirkman Art By: Cory Walker Allen thinks he's doing what's right - what must be done, but could he be wrong? Nolan and Young Omni-Man must do whatever it takes to prevent him from completing his mission, could this be the end of Allen The Alien? [rating:4/5] Rob Batman< incorporated: Leviathan Strikes! Written by GRANT MORRISON; Art by CHRIS BURNHAM and CAMERON STEWART; Cover by CHRIS BURNHAM In this sensational, giant-sized one-shot spinning out of BATMAN INCORPORATED, Batman realizes to his horror that he's been outwitted as the true identity of Leviathan continues to elude him. Is his deadly adversary an old foe with a grudge to settle, a new face of evil…or something completely different? Only one thing is certain: You won't soon forget the shocking ending! [rating:3.5/5] Matthew The Theater #3 Writer: Raven Gregory Artist: Robert Gill The hot new series that redefines the horror genre continues... After closing the Borden theater for the evening two young employees decide to have some late night fun. Little do they know they are not alone. Elsewhere, a broken, middle-aged man finds a hole in the ceiling that leads to a dimension not of this world. Featuring over 30 pages of content with covers by the amazing Nei Ruffino (Green Lantern Corps) and Dan Leister (Hack/Slash)! [rating:2.5/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week:COMPUTE Since the dawn of computer technology, movie makers and writers have warned us of a future where the computer would rise up and take over the world, enslaving all of us. This week we connect two of those computers to each other, and let them crunch the numbers to see who should be the supreme computer overlord [poll id="213”] LINK Discussion: The Goon in Wicked Inclinations The Goon”s most desperate battle gets a high-class treatment, with a ritzy new design and featuring a new cover by Eric Powell! An ally of the Goon has learned the Zombie Priest”s secret name, turning the tide in the struggle against the undead hordes of Lonely Street and forcing the Priest to create a whole new breed of minion-one that may be beyond even the strength of the Goon to contain. As rival crime families attempt to use the battle as cover to move in on the Goon”s empire, open war breaks out from the docks to Lonely Street! Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums. NOTE: We really do like Robert Kirkman. Honest. Please don't sue us.

This week on the show: Rodrigo is still absent, The Goon punches some zombies, and KIRKMAN! (doesn't appear on the show). NEWS Thor 2 Director confirmed LINK Contest We're giving away a DC Universe Legion of Super-Heroes 12-Pack of Action Figures. You gotta work for this one as you do your best Matthew - Listen to the show for complete details! The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you gotta call the Major Spoilers Hotline to enter! Contest ends December 31, 2011. REVIEWS Stephen Invincible #86 Story by: Robert Kirkman Art By: Cory Walker Allen thinks he's doing what's right - what must be done, but could he be wrong? Nolan and Young Omni-Man must do whatever it takes to prevent him from completing his mission, could this be the end of Allen The Alien? [rating:4/5] Rob Batman< incorporated: Leviathan Strikes! Written by GRANT MORRISON; Art by CHRIS BURNHAM and CAMERON STEWART; Cover by CHRIS BURNHAM In this sensational, giant-sized one-shot spinning out of BATMAN INCORPORATED, Batman realizes to his horror that he's been outwitted as the true identity of Leviathan continues to elude him. Is his deadly adversary an old foe with a grudge to settle, a new face of evil…or something completely different? Only one thing is certain: You won't soon forget the shocking ending! [rating:3.5/5] Matthew The Theater #3 Writer: Raven Gregory Artist: Robert Gill The hot new series that redefines the horror genre continues... After closing the Borden theater for the evening two young employees decide to have some late night fun. Little do they know they are not alone. Elsewhere, a broken, middle-aged man finds a hole in the ceiling that leads to a dimension not of this world. Featuring over 30 pages of content with covers by the amazing Nei Ruffino (Green Lantern Corps) and Dan Leister (Hack/Slash)! [rating:2.5/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week:COMPUTE Since the dawn of computer technology, movie makers and writers have warned us of a future where the computer would rise up and take over the world, enslaving all of us. This week we connect two of those computers to each other, and let them crunch the numbers to see who should be the supreme computer overlord [poll id="213”] LINK Discussion: The Goon in Wicked Inclinations The Goon”s most desperate battle gets a high-class treatment, with a ritzy new design and featuring a new cover by Eric Powell! An ally of the Goon has learned the Zombie Priest”s secret name, turning the tide in the struggle against the undead hordes of Lonely Street and forcing the Priest to create a whole new breed of minion-one that may be beyond even the strength of the Goon to contain. As rival crime families attempt to use the battle as cover to move in on the Goon”s empire, open war breaks out from the docks to Lonely Street! Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums. NOTE: We really do like Robert Kirkman. Honest. Please don't sue us.

This week on the show: Rodrigo is out and Rob is in, and it's time to sit down and partake in our annual look at Starman. NEWS LEGAL: Wolverine pirate gets year in prison LINK Contest We're giving away a DC Universe Legion of Super-Heroes 12-Pack of Action Figures. You gotta work for this one as you do your best Matthew - Listen to the show for complete details! The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you gotta call the Major Spoilers Hotline to enter! Contest ends December 31, 2011. REVIEWS Stephen Atomic Robo Vol 6 #4
 Written: Brian Clevinger
 Art: Scott Wegener
 Colors: Ronda Pattison
 Letters: Jeff Powell
 Previously: Robo tried to save some astronauts in space. And then it went HORRIBLY WRONG. So, then Robo tried to get to the bottom of it only to find a big damn conspiracy with tanks and guns and stuff. This issue? He’s on the run and the fate of everyone in the world lay in the hands of a trucker and some HAM radio hobbyists. Seriously. Not buying ATOMIC ROBO comics is the biggest mistake of your life. Do something right for a change and pick up an issue. Start with this one if you have to. Your only regret will be lamenting what took you so long. [rating:5/5 Rob Star Wars: Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #1 Writer: John Ostrander Artist: Stephane Roux, Julien Hugonnard-Bert Cover Artist: Stephane Roux The name's Cross. Jahan Cross. Move over, James Bond; there's a new secret agent in the galaxy, and he has the weight of the Empire behind him! Cross's mission takes him and his assistant IN-GA 44 to the affluent Corporate Sector. There, on the trail of stolen droid technology, they will rub elbows with diplomats and desperadoes, captains of industry and sergeants of the local police-and rub most of them the wrong way! [rating:4/5] Matthew Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (W) Jeph Loeb (A/CA) Ed McGuinness How has Cable been reborn? Where has he been since SECOND COMING? And what dark event has driven him to destroy the Avengers? [rating:1.5/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week: FIGHT! We’ve featured a lot of male character fighting in the Major Spoilers Poll of the Week, but this week, we cast our gaze to the ladies.  This week, the gorgeous ladies of comics enter the ring to mix it up. [poll id="212”] LINK Discussion: Starman Omnibus Volume 04 The acclaimed series STARMAN, starring a Gen-X super hero from the 1990s, is re-presented in high quality format, featuring spectacular art by Eisner Award winner Tony Harris. In this volume, Starman stands shoulder to shoulder with heroes including DC’s Captain Marvel, Batman and many others. First, in a story set in the 1940s, Ted Knight, the original Starman, works with Captain Marvel and Bulletman to clear himself of espionage charges. Then, back in the 1990s, young Jack Knight, the new Starman, must capture the deadly Doctor Phosphorous before embarking on a mission into space to find lost hero Will Payton. And in a never-before-collected story, Starman teams up with Batman and Hellboy to rescue his father, Ted Knight, from neo-Nazis who have tapped into a mystical power source. Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.

This week on the show: Rodrigo is out and Rob is in, and it's time to sit down and partake in our annual look at Starman. NEWS LEGAL: Wolverine pirate gets year in prison LINK Contest We're giving away a DC Universe Legion of Super-Heroes 12-Pack of Action Figures. You gotta work for this one as you do your best Matthew - Listen to the show for complete details! The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you gotta call the Major Spoilers Hotline to enter! Contest ends December 31, 2011. REVIEWS Stephen Atomic Robo Vol 6 #4
Written: Brian Clevinger
Art: Scott Wegener
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Jeff Powell
Previously: Robo tried to save some astronauts in space. And then it went HORRIBLY WRONG. So, then Robo tried to get to the bottom of it only to find a big damn conspiracy with tanks and guns and stuff. This issue? He’s on the run and the fate of everyone in the world lay in the hands of a trucker and some HAM radio hobbyists. Seriously. Not buying ATOMIC ROBO comics is the biggest mistake of your life. Do something right for a change and pick up an issue. Start with this one if you have to. Your only regret will be lamenting what took you so long. [rating:5/5 Rob Star Wars: Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #1 Writer: John Ostrander Artist: Stephane Roux, Julien Hugonnard-Bert Cover Artist: Stephane Roux The name's Cross. Jahan Cross. Move over, James Bond; there's a new secret agent in the galaxy, and he has the weight of the Empire behind him! Cross's mission takes him and his assistant IN-GA 44 to the affluent Corporate Sector. There, on the trail of stolen droid technology, they will rub elbows with diplomats and desperadoes, captains of industry and sergeants of the local police-and rub most of them the wrong way! [rating:4/5] Matthew Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (W) Jeph Loeb (A/CA) Ed McGuinness How has Cable been reborn? Where has he been since SECOND COMING? And what dark event has driven him to destroy the Avengers? [rating:1.5/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week: FIGHT! We’ve featured a lot of male character fighting in the Major Spoilers Poll of the Week, but this week, we cast our gaze to the ladies.  This week, the gorgeous ladies of comics enter the ring to mix it up. [poll id="212”] LINK Discussion: Starman Omnibus Volume 04 The acclaimed series STARMAN, starring a Gen-X super hero from the 1990s, is re-presented in high quality format, featuring spectacular art by Eisner Award winner Tony Harris. In this volume, Starman stands shoulder to shoulder with heroes including DC’s Captain Marvel, Batman and many others. First, in a story set in the 1940s, Ted Knight, the original Starman, works with Captain Marvel and Bulletman to clear himself of espionage charges. Then, back in the 1990s, young Jack Knight, the new Starman, must capture the deadly Doctor Phosphorous before embarking on a mission into space to find lost hero Will Payton. And in a never-before-collected story, Starman teams up with Batman and Hellboy to rescue his father, Ted Knight, from neo-Nazis who have tapped into a mystical power source. Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.

This week on the show: New lost episodes of Doctor Who discovered, the Complete Top Cow Pilot Season 2011 gets reviewed, and what comics should a conservative community stock in their library? NEWS Lost Doctor Who Episodes Found LINK Contest We're giving away a DC Universe Legion of Super-Heroes 12-Pack of Action Figures. You gotta work for this one as you do your best Matthew - Listen to the show for complete details! The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you gotta call the Major Spoilers Hotline to enter! Contest ends December 31, 2011. REVIEWS Stephen Detective Comics #4 Written by TONY S. DANIEL Art and cover by TONY S. DANIEL and SANDU FLOREA As Batman uncovers a deranged plot with far-reaching tentacles that touch some of the city's most elite citizens, he finds himself facing off against his newest and most fearsome foes: Dollmaker and his twisted family of killers! [rating:1/5] Rodrigo The Activity #1 (MR) story NATHAN EDMONDSON, art / cover MITCH GERADS The evolution of global warfare necessitates the evolution of special forces to rise and meet the call. The U.S Army has therefore looked to its last secret special operations tribe, the INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT ACTIVITY, or Gray Fox. Within Gray Fox is a team of elite men and women whose mission is flexible, whose technology is bleeding edge, and whose execution is precise and lethal. They are Team Omaha, and they serve THE ACTIVITY. [rating:0/5] Matthew Hellblazer Annual #1 Written by PETER MILLIGAN Art and cover by SIMON BISLEY A dying woman's desperate need to see her long lost son sends John Constantine on a mission in "Suicide Bridge," a haunting tale of evil and melancholy that finds John using his occult connections to learn why so many young people are going missing. It's a story full of strange places and desperate lives that leads Constantine to unearth his own connection to the mysterious disappearance of a boyhood friend. [rating:5/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week: FIGHT! This week we return to the classics – comic book characters beating the crap out of one another. Who would win a fight between Sandman and Clayface? [poll id="211”] LINK Discussion: Top Cow’s Pilot Season 2011 voting is now open (too bad the website is down), and this week, the Major Spoilers crew takes a look at the titles up for a series from the company. The Test – Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov, Artist: Rahsan Ekedal The Beauty – Writers: Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley, Artist: Jeremy Haun Fleshdigger – Writers: Shannon Eric Denton & Brad Keene, Artist: Alex Sanchez City of Refuge – Writer: Morgan Davis Foehl, Artist: Dennis Calero Misdirection – Writer: Filip Sablik, Artist: Chris DiBari Theory of Everything – Writer: Dan Casey, Artist: Thomas Nachlik Seraph – Writers: Lance Briggs & Phil Hester, Artist: Jose Luis Anonymous – Writer: Alan McElroy, Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.

This week on the show: New lost episodes of Doctor Who discovered, the Complete Top Cow Pilot Season 2011 gets reviewed, and what comics should a conservative community stock in their library? NEWS Lost Doctor Who Episodes Found LINK Contest We're giving away a DC Universe Legion of Super-Heroes 12-Pack of Action Figures. You gotta work for this one as you do your best Matthew - Listen to the show for complete details! The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you gotta call the Major Spoilers Hotline to enter! Contest ends December 31, 2011. REVIEWS Stephen Detective Comics #4 Written by TONY S. DANIEL Art and cover by TONY S. DANIEL and SANDU FLOREA As Batman uncovers a deranged plot with far-reaching tentacles that touch some of the city's most elite citizens, he finds himself facing off against his newest and most fearsome foes: Dollmaker and his twisted family of killers! [rating:1/5] Rodrigo The Activity #1 (MR) story NATHAN EDMONDSON, art / cover MITCH GERADS The evolution of global warfare necessitates the evolution of special forces to rise and meet the call. The U.S Army has therefore looked to its last secret special operations tribe, the INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT ACTIVITY, or Gray Fox. Within Gray Fox is a team of elite men and women whose mission is flexible, whose technology is bleeding edge, and whose execution is precise and lethal. They are Team Omaha, and they serve THE ACTIVITY. [rating:0/5] Matthew Hellblazer Annual #1 Written by PETER MILLIGAN Art and cover by SIMON BISLEY A dying woman's desperate need to see her long lost son sends John Constantine on a mission in "Suicide Bridge," a haunting tale of evil and melancholy that finds John using his occult connections to learn why so many young people are going missing. It's a story full of strange places and desperate lives that leads Constantine to unearth his own connection to the mysterious disappearance of a boyhood friend. [rating:5/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week: FIGHT! This week we return to the classics – comic book characters beating the crap out of one another. Who would win a fight between Sandman and Clayface? [poll id="211”] LINK Discussion: Top Cow’s Pilot Season 2011 voting is now open (too bad the website is down), and this week, the Major Spoilers crew takes a look at the titles up for a series from the company. The Test – Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov, Artist: Rahsan Ekedal The Beauty – Writers: Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley, Artist: Jeremy Haun Fleshdigger – Writers: Shannon Eric Denton & Brad Keene, Artist: Alex Sanchez City of Refuge – Writer: Morgan Davis Foehl, Artist: Dennis Calero Misdirection – Writer: Filip Sablik, Artist: Chris DiBari Theory of Everything – Writer: Dan Casey, Artist: Thomas Nachlik Seraph – Writers: Lance Briggs & Phil Hester, Artist: Jose Luis Anonymous – Writer: Alan McElroy, Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.

This week on the show: Matthew gets a gift! The crew reviews one of Matthew's favorite titles (Milk and Cheese)! We announce a Matthew-based contest! Plus - Stephen is a wedge of spite, Rodrigo is a carton of Hate! NEWS Shamus out at Wizard World LINK Contest We're giving away a DC Universe Legion of Super-Heroes 12-Pack of Action Figures. You gotta work for this one as you do your best Matthew - Listen to the show for complete details! The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you gotta call the Major Spoilers Hotline to enter! Contest ends December 31, 2011. REVIEWS Stephen VALEN THE OUTCAST #1
Written by Michael Alan Nelson
Drawn by Matteo Scalera
SC, 32pgs, FC, SRP: $1.00
COVER A: Liam Sharp
COVER B: Cary Nord
COVER C: Ale Garza
Diamond Code: OCT110899 SPECIAL $1 FULL FIRST ISSUE! The King is dead — long live the DEAD KING! King Valen Brand is a fair, just king as well as a great and mighty warrior. Killed by a Necromancer in battle and resurrected as one of the walking dead. Now he’s considered an abomination in his own realm,an outcast with only one purpose: to restore his lost soul! From the mind of fan-favorite creator Michael Alan Nelson (28 DAYS LATER, HEXED, DINGO, ROBERT E. HOWARD’S HAWKS OF OUTREMER) comes OUTCAST, a visceral new ongoing series that blends “epic fantasy” with “sword-and-sorcery.” Perfect for fans of A Game of Thrones and Conan. [rating:4.5/5] Rodrigo 009-1 Anime The story concerns Miléne Hoffman a female cyborg who works as a secret agent. The Japanese title of the manga was 009-1, or "Zero Zero Ku-no-ichi", a pun on kunoichi (female ninja) and a reference to the main character's espionage occupation. [rating:2.5/5] Matthew Thunder Agents #1 Written by NICK SPENCER Art by WES CRAIG Cover by ANDY KUBERT One of the most critically acclaimed series of the past year returns with a new #1 issue that serves as a great jumping-on point for new readers! What kind of people willingly become Super Heroes, knowing that their powers will eventually kill them? That's the question this new 6-part miniseries will explore as the team must face off against the Warlord and his Subterraneans! Nick Spencer (Morning Glories, Ultimate X-Men) teams with rising star Wes Craig for a twisted= tale of super heroics, espionage, and action! [rating:3.5/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week: What is the most important edition There are some who buy comics for the story.  Others pick up the issue for the art.  Still some buy only because of the company releasing the book.  What category do you fall into? [poll id="210”] LINK Discussion: Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad A carton of hate. A wedge of spite. A comic book of idiotic genius. The Eisner Award-winning dairy duo returns in this deluxe hardcover collecting every single stupid Milk and Cheese comic ever made from 1989 to 2010, along with a sh*t-ton of supplemental awesomeness. This has everything you need! Don’t judge it–love it! Or else! Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.

This week on the show: Matthew gets a gift! The crew reviews one of Matthew's favorite titles (Milk and Cheese)! We announce a Matthew-based contest! Plus - Stephen is a wedge of spite, Rodrigo is a carton of Hate! NEWS Shamus out at Wizard World LINK Contest We're giving away a DC Universe Legion of Super-Heroes 12-Pack of Action Figures. You gotta work for this one as you do your best Matthew - Listen to the show for complete details! The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you gotta call the Major Spoilers Hotline to enter! Contest ends December 31, 2011. REVIEWS Stephen VALEN THE OUTCAST #1
 Written by Michael Alan Nelson
 Drawn by Matteo Scalera
 SC, 32pgs, FC, SRP: $1.00
 COVER A: Liam Sharp
 COVER B: Cary Nord
 COVER C: Ale Garza
 Diamond Code: OCT110899 SPECIAL $1 FULL FIRST ISSUE! The King is dead — long live the DEAD KING! King Valen Brand is a fair, just king as well as a great and mighty warrior. Killed by a Necromancer in battle and resurrected as one of the walking dead. Now he’s considered an abomination in his own realm,an outcast with only one purpose: to restore his lost soul! From the mind of fan-favorite creator Michael Alan Nelson (28 DAYS LATER, HEXED, DINGO, ROBERT E. HOWARD’S HAWKS OF OUTREMER) comes OUTCAST, a visceral new ongoing series that blends “epic fantasy” with “sword-and-sorcery.” Perfect for fans of A Game of Thrones and Conan. [rating:4.5/5] Rodrigo 009-1 Anime The story concerns Miléne Hoffman a female cyborg who works as a secret agent. The Japanese title of the manga was 009-1, or "Zero Zero Ku-no-ichi", a pun on kunoichi (female ninja) and a reference to the main character's espionage occupation. [rating:2.5/5] Matthew Thunder Agents #1 Written by NICK SPENCER Art by WES CRAIG Cover by ANDY KUBERT One of the most critically acclaimed series of the past year returns with a new #1 issue that serves as a great jumping-on point for new readers! What kind of people willingly become Super Heroes, knowing that their powers will eventually kill them? That's the question this new 6-part miniseries will explore as the team must face off against the Warlord and his Subterraneans! Nick Spencer (Morning Glories, Ultimate X-Men) teams with rising star Wes Craig for a twisted= tale of super heroics, espionage, and action! [rating:3.5/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week: What is the most important edition There are some who buy comics for the story.  Others pick up the issue for the art.  Still some buy only because of the company releasing the book.  What category do you fall into? [poll id="210”] LINK Discussion: Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad A carton of hate. A wedge of spite. A comic book of idiotic genius. The Eisner Award-winning dairy duo returns in this deluxe hardcover collecting every single stupid Milk and Cheese comic ever made from 1989 to 2010, along with a sh*t-ton of supplemental awesomeness. This has everything you need! Don’t judge it–love it! Or else! Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.