Talk me out of it.

Meth cooks

Hoarders

squatters



Nuff said.

It's worth it.

I recommend apartments over houses.

Makes me happy I don't have to deal with that anymore.  If I did it again, I'd have a management company deal with it.

• House fire then trying to blame it on us with the fire department, especially when they said that there were no fire alarms in the house.  We installed three prior to them moving in and noted it on the lease.   Then skipping out while we were out of state, leaving the door open in -45f weather with us holding the bag on a frozen up house with broken pipes, water damage, etc.  Completely disappeared to the point that we couldn't even find them to sue.
• Another one chainsmoked in the house against the lease.
• One pissed in the fridge while drunk but at least copped to it and bought a new fridge to stay in the rental when he moved out.
• And in general leaving shit when they move out.  Granted, we got a nice couch, a decent router, computer desk, and a bunch of other stuff out of it, but it's still annoying.
  

Hydroponic weed grow house. Had to replace the drywall to get the smell out.

My dad rented this house to a lovely family that completely destroyed everything. Broken windows, ruined the carpet, squirted ketchup on the bedroom ceiling (how the fuck?)... basically if you could wreck it, they did. Did I mention they didn't pay rent for several months during the eviction process (partially my dad's fault as it was his first eviction and I'm guessing it wasn't theirs).

Then a house fire due to the tenant running multiple extension cords and space heaters, even though they had working heat. They kept popping breakers and just resetting them over and over, finally the breaker panel had enough.

And now he's got tenants smoking a ton of weed and the other tenants are complaining about the smell. He's out. He sent me a text the other day informing me that he's selling, so I gotta get my stuff out of the garage soon.

I've never really had problems with renters even in Cali but I've seen other people go through hell.

Funniest one was a friend of mine who had 20+ houses in Ohio and his property manager ran off with a months' worth of rent and all the keys. I think he wound up in Reno and gambled all of it away lol.

Large old tube TVs left behind (evey tentent seems to have one). Trash dumped all over the back yard. Undwanted junk left behind. Dog shit on carpet and in hidden crevices. Holes in drywalls. One was wrenching on cars and building motors in the living room.  6 years of renting and 4 tentents, 2 were good. 1 was bad, 1 was really really bad. We are selling the house in Oct. I will make money, but after taxes and factoring in the time, weekends, headaches, out of pocket expense, I don't think it was worth it. I lost 6 years of my youth. Got to know when to get out.

Im out for awhile. Dont know if I will do it again.

Some of my relatives are attached to the property and just can't sell it no matter how bad it gets.

Would have made better money just selling stuff online.

Neighbor growing up rented his lake house out in the winter, 1st couple awesome people owned an insurance company needed some where to live for 6 months while their house was built. 2nd couple nice people ended up getting a divorce and moved out. 3rd couple destroyed the interior of the house, destroyed the yard, cut a bunch of trees down without permission, had to gut the house do to animal feces, and children feces. He no longer rents his house out in the winter. Neighbor took the deposit for obvious reasons, but didn't tell them in writing why, he planned to cut his loses. They sued him for the deposit, and under law they got it back, but he counter sued for the damages and also won, so they had to pay him like 10k to fix the place, less their $500 deposit.

First Apartment I lived in, rental company had to tear out the carpet, because for some reason the previews renter liked to pour water on the carpet and watch the carpet soak it up, black mold all over the underside of the carpet, second apartment, lady across the hall used to live under a bridge (fact), she also makes very bad "Friend" choices she's mentally very slow, so the cops are here every other day or so, either looking for some one, or making sure they are not dealing drugs. Upstairs people like to smoke pot as I recently saw them in the car with a bong and a joint, cops arrested them, they are back today smoking weed in the apartment.

Both of these posts are examples of the types of things that happen when you're an absentee landlord. If you rent a property to a tenant and then just expect that they will take care of YOUR property like you would take care of YOUR property, you're mistaken.

First Rule: if you're just getting started in RE, don't buy property too far away from you to reasonably inspect personally (random afternoon driveby).

Second Rule: Interview prospective tenants while you're showing them the rental. Why are you renting? Why now? Kids? Pets? How long do they think you'll rent here? Why here?

Third Rule: Credit Check. Always. No matter what. Even if it is a "referral" or "family friend" or "church recommendation". You'd be amazed at how shitty the credit is of many people.

Fourth Rule: Security deposit for the maximum allowable by state law.

Fifth Rule: The laws that protect the tenant, do so in the absence of a well-written lease. Remember that. Also, write into the lease and include an addendum that must be read and signed separately that the property will be inspected every 90 days with a landlord walk-through that the tenant MUST comply within the week of the scheduled date listed in the addendum and the lease. If no schedule can be made while the tenant is present the inspection will be made in the tenant's absence. If the locks are changed on the property it is a violation of the lease. Any violations of the lease are grounds for termination of the lease starting with a 10-day notice then court filing for eviction on day 30 of the violation.

Sixth Rule: Maintain the property. YOU replace the smoke detector batteries every year. I put a Brother P-Touch label on each one with a date. Replace smoke detectors every 3 years. Inspect plumbing fixtures, appliances, water heater, HVAC unit annually and keep a log and give the tenant a copy every time you do it.

Seventh Rule: Communicate with your tenant. Get a business only phone or a Google Voice number and txt or email with your tenant monthly. Keep them aware that you are aware of everything that goes on on your property. "Bushes need trimming if you would please". If they know you know what is going on, they'll keep it up better.

Eighth Rule: Get an American Home Shield insurance policy on the appliances, HVAC, water heater, garage door opener, etc. We had a stove take a crap last month. Tenant called, I went and inspected it, called AHS and they had a guy out in 4 hours. Stove was replaced that evening.

Ninth Rule: You'll break even on your first property, maybe make a few bucks, maybe lose a few bucks. Plan on buying and renting more.


In summary: Pre-screen. Interview. Credit check. Security deposit. Inspect. Maintain. Communicate. Insure. REPEAT.


As a property owner and landlord you're a business owner putting use of your business assets in a stranger's hands. Think of it this way: If you owned a car rental business would you just give the keys to anyone without proof of valid DL and insurance, not take a deposit, and not maintain or check the vehicle on a regular basis, or insure it? Of course not. Why would you be any different with rental property?

It's not that hard. If you're a lazy landlord you'll get burned like the examples above.


ETA: in the time it took me to type my post I see several responses and every single one of them would have been prevented had the owner not been an absentee landlord and performed regular inspections.

ETA2: I should also mention that you better not have a problem being professional, forward, and ALPHA with your tenants. You're a businessman and their problems are not your problems. They signed a contract. They will be held to said contract.

Not a landlord, but I've rented half a duplex for 4 years. This is solid advice. Maybe to add, when you interview the prospective tenants, look in their vehicle if you can. Find an excuse to show them the lawn or driveway and look in their car. Is it a mess? This is an indication of what your house will look like.

1.  Renter killed on Christmas Day.  No one notifies you of the incident till you see it on abc13.com with your phone number plastered on the 4 plex.

2.  HPD Swat raids the home because grandme let her grandson stay with her.  HPD bashed in the door and threw in 3 flashbags in the first room (surprised the place did not catch on fire).  Police punched holes in walls looking for contraband.  Found cash and drugs.  Unit completely destroyed.  Grandson was shot in a driveby next to the police substation near the 4 plex.

3.  Property management company rented houses to drug dealers, crackheads, just general turds.  She did not do a background check on the tenants and they lived there a few months without paying rent resulting in houses being stripped of ac units, piping, wiring, fixtures, door, etc.  She never sent the deposits to me.  Also churned a lot of repair request in order to keep her husband (plumber) busy.

4.  Had a former meat department manager of El Ahorro supermarket rented a restaurant from me.  She ended up not paying the second month's rent and getting locked out.  What I saw how she kept the food and cleanliness disgusted me even though I was staring at her passing inspection from the health department.

I assume you sued the fuck out of that PM company and now own it, correct?

OP rent to section 8. Nothing bad will happen, promise.

Tagged. 

About to purchase a condo to use for short term vacation rentals. 

I highly recommend it-depending on where you live

I live in NVA and own a townhouse in fairfax.  I make about 750$ on it over my mortgage every month.

I used relator to find my new tenants this  year.  THe last 2 years I kept the tenants from the previous owner of the home.  They were awesome.  My new tenants are 2 women who are again, awesomely clean and very gainfully employed.

Great hints so far

-I live 1.5 miles from my rental-easy to fix shit that breaks and I dont need to keep up w my tenants but if I did the distance is key.
-I used a realtor to find my new tenants.  It cost me 1 months rent (1800$) to do the searches and set up the lease etc.  BE picky. Take your time.  My relator and I went thru about 20 prospects before picking out the ones we went with.  Fuck singles with bad credit-dont do it.  They have bad credit for a reason.  My girlfriend is renting her condo to a single chick-without custody of her kids and bankruptcies-she is a pain in the ass-late all the time and a real legit stress maker on my gf.  But my gf felt bad for her and was impatient and went with the 1st applicant.
-Communicate-shit breaks you have to get it fixed.
-They not only have to keep the inside of the home clean but have to do yard work-make sure they are aware of that.
-Use a realtor or mgmt company-its usually 1 months rent (write off)
-Save your receipts.    You have to report your rental income as income but any fixes, repairs you can write off.

Managed my grandmother's apartment building for a few years after my sister needed someone else to take over for her.  It's not worth it if you can't get at least 30% profit a year.  Some years it was 50-55% profit and other years the building barely made a profit, and it was in a rent controlled area. If my grandmother didn't live in the building, she would have sold it a few years ago. Having property to rent in a rent control area sucks, the tenants have more rights then you do, and you typically end up with more expensive cosmetic maintenance issues that you have to follow regardless of where it is actually needed or not.  Painting the exterior of the building is one example, I don't remember how often it was required, but it had to be done more often then it was actually needed.

 Did it.  First tenant was a disaster.  Took me 4 months to get her out.  Cost me 8k to renovate after she was out.  

Now I use a rental manager that cost me $300 on new tenants and $50/month, which is well worth it.

Where is Slumlord? He had tales of sleeping security guards and dry docked stink pickles!

I own 26 townhouses. Townhouse association maintains the exteriors and any associated problems. I only worry about what's inside those four walls basically. Way easier than dealing with 1000 customers a year with their wrecked cars. Reading any "wrecked muh car" thread here on GD will confirm that.

Screen your potential tenants good, background checks, credit checks, and references.

This is very important.  

Credit check can tell you just about everything you need to know.

No fish tanks

but it's... NO FISH TANKS

but... NO

No fish tanks..... I just spent a pile of money re doing that apartment and a bunch of money fixing* damage to the first floor apt because of a fucking fish tank.

a few weeks after that im sitting in the living room and I hear drip....... drip..... drip  WTF O_o

Call her, go up there.... FUCKING FISH TANK. They had bought a 20 gallon tank and had an air stone in it and the airator on the floor... cat chewed the hose off and it created a siphon! I flip shit but really cant deal with it as I had to go back up fishing (commercial)

Idk a week later her and her bf are trying to carry in idk a 75 gallon fish tank. My ex went ballistic and told them to take it back

Told them they gotta go. So they decided to throw a destroy the house party. friends caught it on FB and shut that shit down. The pieces of shit left multiple dump loads of stuff in the apartment, closed and locked the door then broke the key off in the door knob.


Took almost a year a lawyer and many trips to court to deal with prior tenants to get them out. Then finally after all that and the sheriff had to throw them out. They tried to guilt trip me that they couldn't afford to move. My response was "Fuck you. You're a nurse and your husband works for the town. You make more money than I do. You stiffed me out of 9 months rent. You should have more than enough money to move out"  With that I called my lawyer and he went after them for the back rent and got their wages garnished to pay it back.

I'll pass lol.

Just sell my house and not traumatize my neighbors