The Landlord Thread

[countrygirl2]

We got MIL's house on the market in Dec for tax purposes, then we had computer issues

and I couldn't update with pictures, were gone also to New York several times. I finally

got it the way I want it, pictures up and price a bit lower.

We did quite a bit of work on it and it has a really nice garage but is in a rural location will

only appeal to certain people. Also since we take no pets or smokers it takes longer to rent

them. Normally we have a lot of inquiries, so far on this only 1. It likely won't rent till school

is out. In the spring I need to scrape and paint the garage windows and doors, hubs still is going

to redo the electric in the garage, outside hook up in bad shape, but we can do both with tenants.

To wet, cold, and rainy for me to paint. He is going to try and work on the electric.

We have one more house to get ready its in town and needs a lot of work, likely will be year

end before we get it done, keeps him busy. All our other places are rented with good paying

tenants.

[countrygirl2]

I have had 1 inquiry, another call 2 guys working at the power plant wanting to rent

a "room" for a couple of months, say what??

Today an inquiry from a young woman, yes, I research on facebook and automatically

rule some out. People really should be careful what they put on facebook. You

can get a good feel for what kind of people they are, I wonder if they realize prospective

employers and landlords look at that stuff, I sure do and it helps me decide.

It's still on the market.

[countrygirl2]

The thing I am seeing here from the prospective renters I'm getting is very young women having kids, and all
they seem to have is a series of fiancés in their lives, sometimes through 2 or more kids. The guys are young, poorly

educated, low paying jobs. They have preempted their educations and are in a position they can't even rent a house

for not a smaller sum of money. This is going a bit of a different direction, but seems what they must be doing is

getting welfare and still having a "man" in their life somehow. They have sat themselves up for a lifetime of poverty.

This is a nice house and here renting for only $600 a month.  It has a new kitchen, flooring, AC, ductwork, furnace

about 5 years old and energy efficient.  The house has mostly new windows, insulated, Bedford stone on the outside,

it includes a w/d, dishwasher, fridge, and stove.  The garage is 2 bays with another bay for storage.  Both have metal roofs,

garage is concrete block.  Hubs is putting new electric service in garage as pole was rotted.  This was his folks house,

1/2 was signed over to us over 20 years ago and we didn't know it, the other half we bought out from ex SIL so not

that much for it. We paid about $25k and put in about $18, but it would sell for at least $65 and possibly more, so we

won't lose anything.  It is rural not far from where we live so appeals to only some people.  But here many like living

out.  It's a little community that used to have a grain elevator so about 7 houses there, all old folks but 2 younger families

and we hope to add another.

I have taken to checking facebook for prospective renters and oh my, some of the stuff you see.  Like no we don't have

pets and then you see oh I can't live without my dog, snake, cat, lizard, etc.  Or no I don't smoke and see big beer parties

with smokers, so well duh. 

It's been on the market longer then any house we have rented yet, we rent most of ours for $500 but they don't have

garages or a 1/2 acre of land and water furnished.  Just have to see may have to lower to $575, but I sure hate to.  They

call and oh I can't really afford that, well duh then why did you call.  Oh, I have to have a deposit and the first months

rent plus pay for the remainder of the propane in the tank, like this is all a big surprise. 

Oh well, someone is out there. It's just been on since end of December, then off a bit and we are getting calls, the right

one will come along.

[debthaven]

We sign the first set of papers next Fri (March 16). We should close by end of June. Can't wait to pay off the house repairs and knock out most of the debt in my signature (hopefully everything but the other rental loan)!!!

[debthaven]

countrygirl2 , I get tired just reading your posts LOL. Don't you think maybe it's time to start enjoying the fruit of your labor, rather than continuing to buy and fix up rentals? As well as take care of your MIL and your DD on a regular basis, and your DS/DDIL/DGS sometimes?

We have 4 rentals. If this sale works out (it should), we'll be going down to 3. I'm 58, DH is 61. Our rentals have been hard work (except for this one, ironically, but we need the money to fix up our own house). Our rentals have done a LOT for us financially over the years. But we're both very tired of dealing with rentals and renters. We're younger than you, and we both still work.

I really look forward to the day we have only two left.

[Bonny]

Mar 6, 2018 16:49:49 GMT -5 debthaven said:

countrygirl2 , I get tired just reading your posts LOL. Don't you think maybe it's time to start enjoying the fruit of your labor, rather than continuing to buy and fix up rentals? As well as take care of your MIL and your DD on a regular basis, and your DS/DDIL/DGS sometimes?

We have 4 rentals. If this sale works out (it should), we'll be going down to 3. I'm 58, DH is 61. Our rentals have been hard work (except for this one, ironically, but we need the money to fix up our own house). Our rentals have done a LOT for us financially over the years. But we're both very tired of dealing with rentals and renters. We're younger than you, and we both still work.

I really look forward to the day we have only two left.

Lol, and even with two there will be problems!

I didn't update this thread while I was in AZ but today I got a nasty gram from my last tenant in AZ. He moved out a month ago and got the balance of his deposit on Feb 28. This guy did pay on time and left the house reasonably clean but never lifted a finger otherwise. He (a physician) and his wife, a nurse practitioner, didn't even pick up their three dogs' poop but hired a person who came once a week. He never changed the heater/AC filter, water filter for the fridge or even a lightbulb (there were 30 burned out lightbulbs!) despite these items being covered in the lease, providing a supplement to the lease and DH doing a personal walk-through with him.

The failure to maintain the systems in the house cost hundreds of dollars in service visits and supplies. I wound up deducting about $800 from his $3,500 deposit. I'm still shaking my head that I would have to tell a physician and nurse why they would need to pick up dog feces daily and change the air filter in the furnace.  Yes, they were homeowners and are in their 50s.

Oh and he left a box of medical records and vials of Botox.  I could have gotten him in some real trouble if I reported him to the authorities.

The good news is that from the tone of the letter it doesn't sound like he will try to take me to small claims court. I thought he might he was so angry at the time of our move-out walk-through.

So glad to be rid of him and get some nice new tenants instead.

[debthaven]

We signed the first set of papers last Friday. The buyer has 10 days to back out, but we don't think he will. He seems highly motivated, and he already owns a rental in the same (very well-managed) subdivision. Having two rentals in the same place makes his life easier, and he's well aware of that. 

We should close by mid-June. Fingers crossed but I'm feeling optimistic. I can't wait to knock out most of the debt in my signature (hopefully everything but the rental loan)! 

[countrygirl2]

I can sympathize, I was so glad to get rid of the duplex.  

We likely could have gotten more money, but in the long run

it was fair and we were done down there.  


We have good tenants now, but are having trouble renting his

moms house.  Location is the problem and also having trouble

getting the information out there.

[zibazinski]

Im so happy to be done with rentals and tenants. It was great when i was younger and needed that cash to subsidize my teacher salary to provide for my kids and myself but now theres just me and no hassles.

[countrygirl2]

Well hubs enjoys working on the houses and having something to do.  So until he can't maintain them we will keep them.  We can use the income and keeps him out of trouble. We have good positive cash flow on all of them, just taking all the money out to redo a house, have one more
and think we are done then. He is going to have to relent and raise the rent on a couple of them though, it won't be much but you need to keep them near our market to offset increases in taxes and insurance. Once we decide to quit, we can sell one a year, they will be priced right for this area, so will be affordable.  We have them in great condition and should be for many years.

We are getting a lot for $200 and may fix it to put rental RV's or just slots on it so workers from the power house can use them, that would just be
sporadic when they have turnarounds.  We need quite a few here, workers have to drive a long way when they work here.  And when we have any festivities no place for them to camp. Either for that or a mobile, will decide later, one thing at a time.

The fixed costs are the same so each time we finish a place just ups it for the rent and not paying the utilities, so that's a good thing. We have them all bought and paid for.This year net if we didn't reinvest the money would be $25k, next  year will be $32k,  so that will really really help us.  This is what we planned for additional income anyway, just taking hubs longer to get the houses done and he is doing volunteer work.  Not high dollar places like the city, but what the market really likes here.  If we held them off the market longer could maybe get $50 to $100 a month more but you would have churn with lots of folks in and out, rather rent for less and keep them long term.

[countrygirl2]

Hubs is about done with electrical at the newest rental, I'm going to help today, need to hold the fan boxes downstairs so he can

attach them in the attic. He is putting in a new main service too.  He is finishing this as its getting hot and he wants to get done in the attic. We can insulate it this fall, he

said it needs done.

Then he has to stop again, and is working either here at the house or at the festival, he dug and set tanks for them yesterday at

their kitchen, health department made them. They will have them pumped after the festival.

[resolution]

I am glad the home remodeling is finally working out for you.

[bean29]

May 10, 2018 10:07:09 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

had my 5 year tenant give notice.  he's being a gem helping get service people through for random touch ups/etc.  He'll be getting all of his deposit plus some extra sweetener from me for handling that for me.

did an open house and found a great tenant.  signed lease last night and collected first/last.  they seem great.  for me, the market analysis of rent i did between tenants resulted in raising the rent about 30% to get us back up to market price.

On another front, after three years of feasibility studies and permitting, i'm in the throes of building my mother in law/accessory dwelling unit at our primary home property.  i'm GC on this one, so it's particularly stressful right now, but i hope to have the thing finished this fall and then we'll either rent it out for a year to save up some money for the home remodel, or move into it and dive straight into our house remodel.

lots of progress, but it's a lot to keep moving.  meeting a plumber in an hour for the underslab piping, hopefully that works out and we can get this thing done and finish the foundation work and start framing.

How did you do the Market Analysis of rent? Is it discussed in this thread? I have always had a hard time comparing properties to mine.  Glad you found a new tenant, and good luck on your MIL unit.

[bean29]

May 11, 2018 0:16:49 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

May 10, 2018 15:14:03 GMT -5 bean29 said:

How did you do the Market Analysis of rent? Is it discussed in this thread? I have always had a hard time comparing properties to mine.  Glad you found a new tenant, and good luck on your MIL unit.

the most important is comps, and when listing, (vs in a renewal period), I look at similar homes that are for rent right then, and adjust for condition, location, and any weird conditions they have (weird lease terms, etc).

I priced near the top of the range this time, and still had great candidates.

We have a rental that is on a busy street, and across from a foundry. When the foundry is stamping metal the whole building shakes. DH is well aware of this b/c he used to have his office in the building. It is in a mixed use business district with lots of single family and multi family rental units around it. I am going to petition the city to convert it to a residential unit. Right now it is considered non-conforming but it is allowed as a rental. Also, the foundry has paid to replace windows in many of the neighboring buildings. We need to see if they will pay for new windows for our building.

But anyways, it is somewhat hard to compare buildings to ours - We have a backyard, 2 car garage etc, but DH has always wanted to keep the rent low b/c otherwise he feels the tenants will leave after a short time due to the annoyance factor.

I am trying to decide if I want to sell it. We will struggle for the next year or two with very tight finances, then a boat load of debt will be paid off and our youngest will be done with college, so I will have a lot more give in my budget. Maybe we should just raise the rent - I am sure DH has it way too low.

[zibazinski]

Get really good windows. That helps a lot.

[Miss Tequila]

May 11, 2018 10:16:00 GMT -5 bean29 said:

May 11, 2018 0:16:49 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

the most important is comps, and when listing, (vs in a renewal period), I look at similar homes that are for rent right then, and adjust for condition, location, and any weird conditions they have (weird lease terms, etc).

I priced near the top of the range this time, and still had great candidates.

We have a rental that is on a busy street, and across from a foundry. When the foundry is stamping metal the whole building shakes. DH is well aware of this b/c he used to have his office in the building. It is in a mixed use business district with lots of single family and multi family rental units around it. I am going to petition the city to convert it to a residential unit. Right now it is considered non-conforming but it is allowed as a rental. Also, the foundry has paid to replace windows in many of the neighboring buildings. We need to see if they will pay for new windows for our building.

But anyways, it is somewhat hard to compare buildings to ours - We have a backyard, 2 car garage etc, but DH has always wanted to keep the rent low b/c otherwise he feels the tenants will leave after a short time due to the annoyance factor.

I am trying to decide if I want to sell it. We will struggle for the next year or two with very tight finances, then a boat load of debt will be paid off and our youngest will be done with college, so I will have a lot more give in my budget. Maybe we should just raise the rent - I am sure DH has it way too low.

Yikes, I agree with your husband on keeping the rents lower.  I have passed on several otherwise good properties that were in locations that would be annoying (very limited parking, noisy, etc) because I think it would be tougher to find tenants. 

[debthaven]

We close on the studio on 12 June.

We will pay off the 41K house repairs (to our house, not listed in my signature), reimburse DH for what he took out of DS3's college fund (DS3 is still in college), and pay back my sister. Hopefully we'll pay off the kitchen loan too, although that's still unsure. But we'll at least pay it down.  

We'll still have the rental mortgage though ... AND money in the bank! 

I can't wait!!!!!!

 

[TheHaitian]

1 bedroom condos in HCOLA?

Would that be a good way to enter the real estate market in a fairly urban area?

Being DC it will not have a shortage of young professionals that are starting out and would prefer a 1 bedroom vs a roommate situation.

Downside : HOA fees but have met a few people that have maintained their condos as rentals after moving on but off course you don’t know the balance sheet.

Opinions?

[debthaven]

TheHaitian Objectively I think it could be a good idea, but I don't think it would be a good idea for you at this time. You need to have funds available for when something goes wrong (and I promise you, it will). I don't think you're there yet.

IMO you shouldn't do rentals if money is tight. 

Look at the people we know of on this board who own rentals ... Bonny, Phil, Countrygirl. They all have plenty of cash for a rainy day. Alas, we did NOT. We had major issues with our own (paid off) house, so we had to sell a studio at a (small) loss to pay for the repairs.

DH and I started buying rentals when we inherited from our parents. We could never have afforded them on our own salaries. Globally, yes, they have been a good "second job" for us (ie me). But we are older, we don't earn much, and we bought them when we inherited from our parents in our mid/late 40s. 

Some rentals are trouble-free, some are a PITA. Unfortunately, we couldn't manage to sell the PITA one we wanted to sell, so we had to sell the trouble-free one instead.

ETA: I realize I never updated on this thread ... we DID close, and we paid off everything we owed except for the two items in my signature. I paid down (but not off) the kitchen loan.

That was a very happy day!

[TheHaitian]

Jul 5, 2018 16:24:52 GMT -5 debthaven said:

TheHaitian Objectively I think it could be a good idea, but I don't think it would be a good idea for you at this time. You need to have funds available for when something goes wrong (and I promise you, it will). I don't think you're there yet.

IMO you shouldn't do rentals if money is tight. 

Look at the people we know of on this board who own rentals ... Bonny, Phil, Countrygirl. They all have plenty of cash for a rainy day. Alas, we did NOT. We had major issues with our own (paid off) house, so we had to sell a studio at a (small) loss to pay for the repairs.

DH and I started buying rentals when we inherited from our parents. We could never have afforded them on our own salaries. Globally, yes, they have been a good "second job" for us (ie me). But we are older, we don't earn much, and we bought them when we inherited from our parents in our mid/late 40s. 

Some rentals are trouble-free, some are a PITA. Unfortunately, we couldn't manage to sell the PITA one we wanted to sell, so we had to sell the trouble-free one instead.

ETA: I realize I never updated on this thread ... we DID close, and we paid off everything we owed except for the two items in my signature. I paid down (but not off) the kitchen loan.

That was a very happy day!

Not for me but within 2-3 years yes, I would like to do that very much and looking at our options.

[raeoflyte]

We've come into our 2 rentals by not selling our existing homes when moving up.  That way we got the properties with low money down and good interest rate terms, and just had to qualify for the new loan on our existing income basically.  It's worked out for us, but we've always had a safety net in that our most expensive property (a triplex) we own with my parents so we're not on the hook for all of the expenses ourselves.  We sold our first condo a few years ago which I regret.  That would be making some really good income right now.  I prefer the triplex because we always have income coming in.  When the house (or previous condo) was empty, we have to carry everything including expenses until it's rented out again.  I'd rather have more multi-family units then single family. 

Last year we had a really tight spot for a couple months as everything came to a head at the same time and I did take out a loan just so we didn't drain our accounts.  It worked out and we paid off the loan right away, but it could have gotten ugly too.  

Rentals are a real pita when you have to deal with them, and can be really great come tax time and I hope really great come retirement.  I'm glad we have them for the most part.  We don't take monthly income from our properties.  Any income they generate goes into an account for that property to pay the expenses.  Once every year or 2 we look to see if we can take a distribution.  Taking a distribution queues the universe to bring a significant expense it seems.  

The market is so high right now I'm almost tempted to sell one of our houses and invest the money.  But rentals is what I know.  

[zibazinski]

Feb 27, 2018 21:35:51 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

The thing I am seeing here from the prospective renters I'm getting is very young women having kids, and all
they seem to have is a series of fiancés in their lives, sometimes through 2 or more kids. The guys are young, poorly

educated, low paying jobs. They have preempted their educations and are in a position they can't even rent a house

for not a smaller sum of money. This is going a bit of a different direction, but seems what they must be doing is

getting welfare and still having a "man" in their life somehow. They have sat themselves up for a lifetime of poverty.

This is a nice house and here renting for only $600 a month.  It has a new kitchen, flooring, AC, ductwork, furnace

about 5 years old and energy efficient.  The house has mostly new windows, insulated, Bedford stone on the outside,

it includes a w/d, dishwasher, fridge, and stove.  The garage is 2 bays with another bay for storage.  Both have metal roofs,

garage is concrete block.  Hubs is putting new electric service in garage as pole was rotted.  This was his folks house,

1/2 was signed over to us over 20 years ago and we didn't know it, the other half we bought out from ex SIL so not

that much for it. We paid about $25k and put in about $18, but it would sell for at least $65 and possibly more, so we

won't lose anything.  It is rural not far from where we live so appeals to only some people.  But here many like living

out.  It's a little community that used to have a grain elevator so about 7 houses there, all old folks but 2 younger families

and we hope to add another.

I have taken to checking facebook for prospective renters and oh my, some of the stuff you see.  Like no we don't have

pets and then you see oh I can't live without my dog, snake, cat, lizard, etc.  Or no I don't smoke and see big beer parties

with smokers, so well duh. 

It's been on the market longer then any house we have rented yet, we rent most of ours for $500 but they don't have

garages or a 1/2 acre of land and water furnished.  Just have to see may have to lower to $575, but I sure hate to.  They

call and oh I can't really afford that, well duh then why did you call.  Oh, I have to have a deposit and the first months

rent plus pay for the remainder of the propane in the tank, like this is all a big surprise. 

Oh well, someone is out there. It's just been on since end of December, then off a bit and we are getting calls, the right

one will come along.

Yup the boyfriend moves in for free and your rental gets trashed.

[countrygirl2]

We rented it for less then we wanted a couple months ago.  I got a very nice single man, he drives a truck long haul driver and is rarely home.  He was paying $725 a month for a hole in the wall at a town east of us but included all utilities He said a total   the only reason he wanted a house is he has 2 kids and he gets them when he is home.  Very nice kids, the son is autistic, the little girl is 14 and very shy.  He is neat as can be.  Has very little furniture, we loaned a table and chairs, I think he is picking up some things.  He was going to rent from us before and had to have surgery, another with no health insurance and was indebt and another that declared bankruptcy because of health care bills. I pull credit reports so I know their circumstances.

He is so proud of the place he is like a kid.  Worries about everything.  He PM's me while on the road, sometimes sending pictures sometimes just telling us where he is.  Hubs said the guy gets at layovers and gets bored or probably doesn't know many people I don't think.  He is young enough to be our son.  He has had a rough life I think.


One couple not married with a 10 year old lives in our mobile.  We have a couple moving in the next town where the little girl goes to school.  Here she rides the bus first on, last off and there she could walk to school.  We have offered the house coming up for $50 a month less then we are renting it.  They too are very nice, have always paid their rent on time.  This will work very well for them.  Then we will rerent the trailer for $50 a month more and net out the same. The house is small but not as small as the mobile, its really suitable for a couple or single, so they are absolutely thrilled.  We like happy renters!!  The guy renting the house is going elsewhere, he does not want to live in town but in the country, we did not expect him to stay long.

[zibazinski]

Jul 5, 2018 0:03:22 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

1 bedroom condos in HCOLA?

Would that be a good way to enter the real estate market in a fairly urban area?

Being DC it will not have a shortage of young professionals that are starting out and would prefer a 1 bedroom vs a roommate situation.

Downside : HOA fees but have met a few people that have maintained their condos as rentals after moving on but off course you don’t know the balance sheet.

Opinions?

You’d be smarter to rent your basement

[countrygirl2]

Don't do it Haitian, your repairs, maintenance, etc will likely eat you alive.

We are careful to be in areas where hubs can do his own work. He is a stickler and very good at all of it so that saves us a fortune.

Also he likes doing it, so that helps. If not for that, I doubt we would have bothered.

We helped our tenants move from a mobile to a house, they are thrilled, we took $50 off that house and added $50 a month to the

mobile so it will balance out.  However, I knew she had a lot of stuff and wasn't the cleanest person in the world, but she had tons

of stuff. She is always saying they don't have money. I can sure tell you where it goes, we moved with a trailer and her family, car loads

of junk. Why do young women do this now?? We have to much too but my house isn't all cluttered, basement is but getting read

to get rid of down there.  They are wasting money they could be saving, so sad to see this and you can't say anything. Oh well, there

will always be large pools of renters out there.

[countrygirl2]

We are waiting for them to get the rest of the junk out, she said she will clean. Somehow I doubt the poor girl knows how. Hubs and I

will wash down walls and scrub everything in it.  However, she had so much stuff in the mobile she couldn't clean. This common too.

We hope to have it on the market next week end unless there is something unforeseen there. We are going to then start on the other house

in town, once again.

[buystoys]

So.

We unexpectedly became landlords.  Due to some neighbor/neighborhood issues, when the house across the street was put up for sale and we knew who wanted to buy it, we felt compelled to purchase it ourselves.  We want to reduce the likelihood that additional parking problems will arise and property damage will be contained to what we already see.

It's a 3/2 mobile home sitting on a little more than an acre.  We just went under contract yesterday and already have had someone come by to look at it and is interested in renting it as soon as it's ready.  We were surprised when we heard how much she pays in rent for a third floor apartment.  Now we know that what we thought we could get as rent is probably a little lower than market.  Or we just ran into a person who is paying more than market.

We're going to use a property manager as we don't have good contacts for a lot of services.  It also keeps some distance between us and the renter(s).  There are some minor clean up things that need to be done (carpet removed/replaced, painting, etc.) before we rent it.  If we make the same rent the young lady is currently paying, everything, including purchase price, insurance, and property taxes, will be paid back in a little less than 5 years.  Hopefully we'll be completely in the black in less than six years. 

This wasn't a planned path, so we'll see how it turns out.

[Bonny]

Aug 4, 2018 17:31:16 GMT -5 buystoys said:

So.

We unexpectedly became landlords.  Due to some neighbor/neighborhood issues, when the house across the street was put up for sale and we knew who wanted to buy it, we felt compelled to purchase it ourselves.  We want to reduce the likelihood that additional parking problems will arise and property damage will be contained to what we already see.

It's a 3/2 mobile home sitting on a little more than an acre.  We just went under contract yesterday and already have had someone come by to look at it and is interested in renting it as soon as it's ready.  We were surprised when we heard how much she pays in rent for a third floor apartment.  Now we know that what we thought we could get as rent is probably a little lower than market.  Or we just ran into a person who is paying more than market.

We're going to use a property manager as we don't have good contacts for a lot of services.  It also keeps some distance between us and the renter(s).  There are some minor clean up things that need to be done (carpet removed/replaced, painting, etc.) before we rent it.  If we make the same rent the young lady is currently paying, everything, including purchase price, insurance, and property taxes, will be paid back in a little less than 5 years.  Hopefully we'll be completely in the black in less than six years. 

This wasn't a planned path, so we'll see how it turns out.

We found that keeping rents on the lower side kept tenant turnover down and when we did have to put a unit up for rent we had a larger pool of tenants from which to choose.

Good luck I hope you have a good experience!

[buystoys]

Thanks Bonny!  We don't mind staying on the lower end of competitive rent, but we also don't want to be too low.  There are some rough characters who live in this area.  There are also some really good tenants who take care of the home like they own it.  Of course, we are hoping for the latter.

[zibazinski]

Aug 5, 2018 19:21:32 GMT -5 buystoys said:

Thanks Bonny!  We don't mind staying on the lower end of competitive rent, but we also don't want to be too low.  There are some rough characters who live in this area.  There are also some really good tenants who take care of the home like they own it.  Of course, we are hoping for the latter.

Being as it’s across the street from you, I think you’ll have good tenants.