Field notes on running NYC buildings

What we learn watching an AI assistant property manager handle real arrears, insurance, and maintenance.

Property management··5 min read

Why Property Managers Never Respond

A 24-to-48hr reply time and 9-5 office hours are the property management standard. Here is the opportunity that creates.

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Property management··6 min read

Should I Self-Manage My Property?

What a NYC management company actually costs, what the fee quietly excludes, and why the model is built to work at a scale where service falls apart.

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Property management··6 min read

How to Fire Your Property Management Company

The contract, the handover list, and the data migration almost nobody plans for. Notes from overseeing two management transitions and several software migrations.

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Property management··5 min read

Property Management Fees in NYC: What You Pay, and the Ratio That Matters More

NYC rental buildings typically run 4 to 8 percent of collected rent, well below the national average. Why that is, which fee models to distrust, and the number that predicts service better than price does.

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AI property management··5 min read

What Is a Virtual Property Manager? A Definition Worth Being Precise About

Not a chatbot, not property management software, not an offshore assistant, not a management company. What a virtual property manager actually is, what it does, and where it stops.

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NYC compliance··14 min read

CityFHEPS for NYC Landlords: A Comprehensive Guide

The 2026 CityFHEPS payment standards went down. What the program actually pays NYC owners, the late fee rule almost everyone gets wrong, and the five-business-day notifications that get landlords disqualified.

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AI property management··5 min read

Half Ave vs. EliseAI

EliseAI chases arrears, and does it well. So does Maya. The real difference is three letters: NYC. Compliance, violations, and everything an assistant does beyond collections.

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Field notes··6 min read

Read the Actual Conversations. We Will Wait.

Eight real exchanges between Maya and real residents in real NYC buildings. Arrears, insurance, a failed payment, a CityFHEPS voucher, and the moment she stops and asks a human.

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AI property management··6 min read

Does an AI Property Manager Actually Work? Here Is the Honest Answer

Most AI product pages pretend the software has no limits. Where Maya earns her keep for NYC owner-operators, where she stops cold, and why the second list is the reason to trust the first.

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Field notes··4 min read

I Read 100 Conversations Between My Tenants and an AI. Here Is What Surprised Me.

I expected to grade a chatbot. Instead I found something that starts the conversation, carries the relentless eighty percent, and knows the exact moment to hand the resident to a human.

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