Got ths property, probabl be better off selling it but considering possibly keeping it and renting it out but just curious how hard it is to be a landlord in Missouri how hard it is to evict Deadbeats and so forth. I know being a landlord is never easy especially an absentee landlord but I wanna know if it's especially hard in Missouri? Pettis County thank you

I have this guy asking if he can move in he's a distant family relative w/o any pets would just live there alone. has a pension and social security, would easily be able to afford it, is Handy enough and was very fond of my late father.

I've got quite a few rental investments, residential and commercial.  The laws do tend to favor tenants more so than landlords but in my experience I'd say the job you do screening potential tenants is very important.  You'll probably think I'm crazy but I always pay attention to their shoes and the inside of their cars.  If both are clean then they'll probably be ok tenants.  Obviously I make them fill out an application and do the normal stuff but I had an older gentleman once tell me that and I haven't had any major problems since.

A formal eviction can be a nightmare and be expensive. I have avoided that so far, but just. I do a criminal background and credit check. In spite of that I have had two renters leave after several thousand dollars of damage. (note to self, never, ever, feel sorry for a potential renter)

If you are not close to the rental I would hire a management company or not rent it.

Your relatives are probably better than mine. I might let them live there free but never expect to collect rent.

Good luck. I think everyone should  be a landlord for a couple of years. One of the damnedest experiences of my life. Real educational.

I have two buddies that do, or have.
One went bankrupt before the 08-09 collapse, he was up to three rental properties, and was too nice. It took months to get tenants out legally, and if you notify them months in advance, what do you think they are going to do to your property?
The other, is up to 5, but pays a management company. He makes visits to the house, or finds a reason to, and says he is very cold and short with people, as not to make friends or any emotional connection whatsoever.

Good point about looking at their vehicle and shoes. There are indicators of how people take care of and handle things.

Thx guys

I would advise against it. I do own rental property here (want to buy...?) I also owned rental property in Montana, and had a much easier time there. If you rent here make sure you check references and run them on Missouri casenet.  I have been burned twice here in Missouri and the system is not very supportive of landlords. I say NO.

Take a look at renters warehouse

If you can't drive by and take care of it....don't do it.

everyone here saying the laws favor the tenants is full of shit.

I would always take doors and windows off site for repair. The law specifically mentions this as being acceptable. No doors in blistering heat or the dead of winter tends to get rid of assholes very fast..

Haha, awesome!

Years ago, my buddy told me he had a late night call. Long story short, neighbor got home, found extension cord hooked up to his outlet, and of course the other end was hooked up to window unit at rental property. He was essentially telling my buddy "get over here now and take care of it, before I do!".

What's the deal with insurance liability insurance and property insurance? The house has a wood stove can I possibly get liability insurance at least even if they write the policy did not cover a fire?

What are the legal requirements about that?

Having a fireplace shouldn't disqualify it from being insured.  I would check with the insurance company who insured it before.  I can't imagine an insurance company insuring a dwelling but then listing a fire as exclusion for coverage, but this is something you'll have to verify with whatever insurance company you go with.  Most generally insurance is cheaper on a rental as they are only insuring the structure, no contents.

FYI I require all of my tenants to carry a rental policy and they are required to provide me with the policy paperwork.  I give them approval on whether or not their policy is sufficient for our needs.  Some insurance companies do not cover damage to the landlords property even if it is caused by the tenant.  EX.  I had a renter who's washing machine quit working properly and caused about $6,000.00 in flood damage to one of my houses.  The tenant had a renters policy but the insurance company said they would not cover the damage as per their policy it only covered the tenants items.  There were a couple different areas in their policy that made contradictions as to whether or not is was covered.  Long story short I would have to sue the renter in order to get the insurance company to pay.  In case you're curious that insurance company was State Farm.

I own a restoration/construction company so I deal with insurance companies all of the time.  I also have several contacts with different insurance companies if you are looking for any info feel free to PM me.

I agree with Pursuit. My sister was a landlord for a bit ( Missouri ). Never again. She had so many issues and her tenant was a co worker, which even made it worse. Evicting the tenant was slow. Taking the tenant to court for damages was even slower and she has yet to see any of the $3000.00 + in damages that the court awarded her.

When I was growing up, my grandma had a bunch of rental properties. After grandpa died, she never did any repair work on them at all, because that cost money, and she grew up in the Great Depression. I helped take care of the properties, did the mowing and such (for $0.25 per acre, which she thought was lavish pay for her favorite grandchild).

Because the properties were so run-down, the only people who really looked into renting them were scumbags. Yeah, it was nearly impossible to get them evicted. We paid more in utility bills than we ever collected in rent from so many people.

One old woman turned out to be a cat lady, in a house where there were supposed to be no pets. We did a safety inspection, and there were, I shit you not, 47 cats. Not a single litterbox, either. Oh, and the toilet and bathtub had fallen through the rotten floor, since all the cat piss weakened the floor. So this lady hadn't bathed or used a toilet in months.

Believe it or not, that was the good news. We'd been trying to evict her for years. We called the city and got it condemned. Her family sent us death threats for evicting her. Not for letting her live in filth with no toilet or bathtub. It's not like her family didn't know she lived like that; she was so fat, she couldn't go down the three stairs from the front porch. So her family brought her food and whatever she needed. They knew, and did nothing.

When they moved out, they took every doorknob, plumbing fixture, lighting fixture, cabinet door, and electrical outlet.


On the other side, I've rented since I moved out of the dorms. First landlord was awful. Refused to repair water leaking into the windows every time it rained. Refused to repair walls where smoke was coming through from the smoking neighbor. Changed the locks and moved our stuff out two weeks before the lease was over because the apartment was "abandoned" when they came to show it to a prospective renter. We were in the process of moving out, so there were packed boxes, etc. Landlord tipped over potted plants and threw dirt all over, unpacked boxes and suitcases and threw clothes and belongings all over, and dumped packed dishes in the sink and across the counters. Why? To take pictures to make it look like we trashed the apartment. That was a whole ordeal, we got lawyers involved and everything.

They tried to charge us for damages that we listed in the preliminary walkthrough, that they signed. They claimed the walkthrough was invalid because, even though it was signed by both parties, we didn't sign it in their presence. Remember that leaking window they refused to fix? It caused a serious mold issue they tried to charge us for.

Also, they held our property hostage. Claimed it had all been returned, but it obviously had not. Curiously enough, the movers (not contractors, this realty company pulled this often enough they have full-time movers) moved out the valuables first. They're required by law to hold renters' property for so many days until it's claimed, but... I'm pretty sure they "move out" the valuables first and just keep it. Anyway, none of the valuables ever turned up. Wife's jewelry, hundreds of CDs, DVD player, 2-way radios, silver from my parents' wedding, etc.

After we cleaned up and moved out, we took photos during the final walkthrough. Made them sign a document stating that there was no damage to the apartment that wasn't on the preliminary walkthrough. Took photos of the apartment being clean and empty. Each photo showed their representative as well as either me or my wife. At the next meeting, they said a bunch more of our stuff was found in the apartment and that must be where all the missing stuff was, but we left it there so we must not want it, and we can't hold them liable for the missing stuff since we left it behind. They had photos of the stuff piled up in the apartment, so we pulled out pictures showing it not there when we turned in the keys.

We didn't have a lot of options, but at least we were smart enough to document everything. We ended up not having to pay for damages to the apartment, and got some money for the missing stuff, but we lost a lot of heirlooms and family stuff.

That was Investment Realty in Rolla. I hope the owners die in a fire. Slowly. With a cactus up their asses.



Another landlord seemed okay, except for the duplex having zero insulation. Until we moved out. He sent us bills for a ton of stuff, and none of it was valid. There were bills for carpet cleaning (we rented a steam cleaner, and the carpet was far cleaner than it was when we moved in), drape cleaning (no drapes at this apartment), trash removal (the place was clean, and photo documented so, and we were still paying for curbside trash service), and a dozen other items, including repair bills for items the apartment didn't have. Conveniently enough, the landlord stapled a receipt over the address on the bill... because this cleaning/repair bill was for a different address.

We refused to pay, and he sent it to collections. Got a call from collections, talked to the nice lady, and pointed out that the landlord had hidden the address. Asked if they had a fax or an office where we could bring the proof that the debt was not legitimate, and the lady said that wasn't necessary. That was the last I heard of that, except for harassing phone calls from the landlord for six months or so.



So I've been on both sides of renting. I'll tell you that dealing with someone who's less than honest, on either side, is going to be no fun. With that said, as a landlord, you have a lot more money in assets that's on the line. I feel like, as a renter, I can take some precautions to protect myself. As a landlord, there's not much you can do if someone wants to trash your house, and even if you get them evicted and sue them and get a judgement, you'll likely never collect.

Jesus Christ! to some of these stories