That's it, I'm Out

[Shep]

I found out the other day that both tenants, who rent a duplex from me, are breaking their lease and leaving this weekend. Needless to say, that came as a surprise.

A little background. I've had this duplex for 4 years and it's been a PITA to manage. I work 45 hours a week and with my current job drive time is around 1 hour to get there. Not much fun to check in on, collect rent, show the rental to lease.

So, I'm done. I've decided to hire a management company to do all the "landlord" responsibilities. I cannot tell you how good I feel right now. I don't have the pressure on me any more. I'm not worried about what would need to be done if I had to do it. If I had to worry about that I'd be freaking out about trying to find time to cleanup, fix, show, etc, the rental. Now all that is on someone else's shoulders.

I'm hoping that this experience ends well. The moral of the story is this: Rentals are great when you collect rent, bad when you have to do the other crap. (Don't get me started about shoveling 5" of cat poop off a kitchen floor.)

[jackellis]

We have two rental properties. The ski cabin is going to be managed professionally even though we only live a mile away. The condo is being converted to owner use (it's in the Bay Area).

Taking care of one house is enough work.

[JR]

You made a good decision. We had a rental condo for a while and hiring a mgt. co. was a great move for us. They have tradespeople ready to work on small projects, know how to deal with renters, and are just generally not hung up on any emotional issues.

You do need to read your statements and make sure you understand what's in there. Your mgt. co. probably manages dozens of properties and honest mistakes can be made that they might not catch. There also have been examples of mgt. cos. operating unethically. So do your part as the owner, and examine the business monthly.

JR

[LinuxRandal]

Seems to me, you still have some work to cover yourself this time. Pictures from prior to them moving in (security deposit issues with the old tennants), Lease issues (do you still collect x months rent/lawyer work).

Your set for cleanup, AFTER you get pictures to CYA.

[Shep]

Originally Posted by JR

You made a good decision. We had a rental condo for a while and hiring a mgt. co. was a great move for us. They have tradespeople ready to work on small projects, know how to deal with renters, and are just generally not hung up on any emotional issues.

You do need to read your statements and make sure you understand what's in there. Your mgt. co. probably manages dozens of properties and honest mistakes can be made that they might not catch. There also have been examples of mgt. cos. operating unethically. So do your part as the owner, and examine the business monthly.

JR

Yeah, this company belongs to a family friend from church, so I've known him for a while. His contract is only about 2 pages, unlike 5+ pages for other companies. What I really like about him is his maintenance fees. He only charges $20/hr, unlike others who charge at least twice that.

[germdoc]

Originally Posted by Shep

(Don't get me started about shoveling 5" of cat poop off a kitchen floor.)

???

Can you sell it as fertilizer?

[Shep]

I had a tenant a year ago who simply destroyed the place. I had started the eviction process because they had not paid rent for about 2 months. Since I was so "evil" to ask for rent, they decided they did not care what happened to the place. They moved out but left all there stuff there, including their 6 cats (which were not on the lease). Since the court says that a landlord can't do anything till the eviction hearing, the cats remained with all the garbage.

Cat poop, pee, baby diapers (yes I said baby diapers, and not number 1's, but number 2's) garbage, etc. filled the place. The fleas soon followed. I flea bombed the place about 6 times to kill everything. The fleas were the worst. When I would go over to clean I would put rubberbands around my pant legs to keep them from climbing up my leg. I would normally wear old semi-faded work jeans to clean up. When I would enter the fleas would attack me. My pants look like I went running through black tar due to the number of fleas.

Good times,

Like I said, don't get me started.

[conwaygolfer]

you need to do when renting property is to interview all potential renters. Spend 10-20 minutes with listening to them while showing them the property. You should be able to tell which ones you want to rent to. The others, take their application and trash it after they leave.

My first rental property in Maryland was an excellent experience. The tenant was there for 18 years without a late payment. After that I was living in Fla. and decided to go with Section 8 tenants. THAT was a mistake.

If you allow a management company to do their thing, they are not interested in your property, only the fee they will make. Usually half the first months rent, plus 10-20 per cent each month. But of course, it will be less for you to mess with, but also less in your wallet. I guarantee you that they will only be looking at the writing on the paper and not the person who fills in the form.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Conwaygolfer