We've had some threads about landlord-tenant issues, horror stories, etc. I recently acquired a property that I'd like to rent out as residence. The house is close to mine, so it'll be easy to keep an eye on it. This will be my first time as a landlord though. I don't think I want to hire a property management company unless you make a compelling arguement. In my experience as a renter, I always had a better experiences dealing directly w/ property owners rather than management companies. The rent house is in its final phase of renovation, and I already have a seriously interested party who is ready to move in before the end of the month.

Questions:
How did you go about processing applications, background checks, credit checks? Can you recommend an online service?

How do you keep tenants w/ a pet from turning into tenants w/ pets? I don't have a problem w/ animal-lovers, but I do w/ ppl who turn their homes into makeshift animal shelters.

How do you enforce tenants who bring in other residents w/o your permission? In TX, it's common a tenant will bring in an entire second family to live w/ them.

I've heard some owners will include a lease provision where the owner is responsible for replacing the home's air filter every month/quarter, something like that. The reasoning is it's an excuse for the landlord to do a cursory home inspection while changing the filter. Does that sound legit?

What tips do you have to avoid nightmare tenants?

I'm not a landlord and I assume different states have different laws. However, you should really include everything you can in the lease. Adapt the lease for the tenant you are getting. If they have one small dog, state they may have one small dog and no other pets. List the people that will be residents in the property. State that home inspections will be done with proper notice. Put as much detail as possible to avoid issues.

We have always used property managers because of all the issues the OP mentioned. We did have one catastrophe despite the property manager, who let non-payment slide because of being too soft-hearted. Don't think that's going to happen to us again. Had to do an eviction.
We pay 8-9% of gross rent as commission, to us it's worth it. We get sign-off on proposed tenants.

biggerpockets.com. Lots of resources there.

It’s not as easy as it seems.

You might try http://www.saaaonline.org, the San Antonio apartment owners association, or the equivalent in whatever area you are in.


There is a program on WOAI on weekends, some guy who will show you how to get rich in real estate, buying properties, fixing them up, get them rented for good cash flow, then refi to get your money out, wash, rinse, repeat until you have an empire. I hestitate to recommend this wholeheartedly, but you might be able to get some practical operational info poking around. Leave your wallet in your other pants, if you get my drift.

There are semi pro deadbeats who if they get to you can make life really miserable. Being able to size up other people accurately is key, but there are many pitfalls.

Good luck. Being a landlord was one of the most stressful and aggregating things I’ve ever done. I hope you fair better than I did.

You can learn a lot about human nature by being a landlord.

The last person I nearly took as tenant convinced me that I should allow her to have her little ratlike dog in my rental house. Now, I have had 100% bad results from allowing pets. Because she is the daughter of a good friend and because she assured me that the dog was housebroken, I relented. Then she let me know she also had a cat. Well, two cats. So, being an old softy a moron, I told her to bring the dog over to the rent house and let me meet him when we signed the lease. First thing the little bastard did was piss on the kitchen cabinet. I told the prospective tenant that I wasn't going to rent to her because her dog was obviously not housebroken. Now she's irate with me. Seems like she'd be mad at the dog.

quote:

I've heard some owners will include a lease provision where the owner is responsible for replacing the home's air filter every month/quarter, something like that. The reasoning is it's an excuse for the landlord to do a cursory home inspection while changing the filter. Does that sound legit?

It goes a little further than that. If the landlord is responsible for any maintenance, then it's always a chance to see how the property is doing. Any lease worth its salt to a landlord gives the landlord or anyone working for the landlord the right to enter the property to inspect, maintain and repair. There may be limitations on hours (barring emergencies), there may be a requirement for X hours' notice. But you need to be able to look the place over from time to time to prevent minor things from becoming major.

You may also want to include a clause in the lease that specifies that the landlord is responsible for all repairs. That way you can always be sure of the actual size and nature of the problem, as well as the quality of the work and the actual cost of repairs.

One question. Would you have wanted to get up at 3AM a few weeks ago if a frozen pipe had burst at the rent house? There are some problems you can avoid by making sure everything's fixed to begin with and by upgrading anything you think would be worthwhile. There are other problems that you can avoid with regular inspection and maintenance. For everything else you need (a) to be tied to the property if you're doing all the work yourself, (b) a list of 24-hour repair guys, including a plumber, electrician and locksmith, (c) a property management company, or (d) some combination of the above.

Oh, and do not rent to college kids. As far as being tenants goes, the good ones simply do not exist.

I owned as many as 15 single-family homes along with an 18 unit apartment complex over the past 20 years and my advice would be to hire a property manager. We managed them ourselves and it could be very stressful at times, and very rarely ever rewarding. Good tenants are very rare in these zero-down, low-interest mortgage days since the early 2000s. The tenants that can't get a mortgage are the ones you shouldn't rent to, bankrupt, college kids, etc.

Been there, done that. I have been selling off units for the last few years since prices have recovered and life is simpler.

Plus, the things you can and cannot do as a landlord are usually dictated by state law. Make sure you are educated on that.

Property manager. A good one is worth every penny they get for dealing with the headaches.

Being a landlord is hard work. Have a property management company take care of it. Let them be responsible for almost everything, except who moves in. Commie staters like California and NY are very pro tenant and very Con landlord. I live in NY and have two multiple dwelling properties that I rent out. Pray to god the tenant pays or it can get messy ( in NY they could live rent free for 1 year).
Good luck.

I was the landlord for our single family rental for 12 years. Looking back on it I should have had a property manager. I dreaded the phone call when something broke......

We sold it last November and that was a great day!

I'll never be a landlord again.

If you decide to manage it yourself, we (my wife and I) did several things -

Try to avoid using the local paper to advertise. We contacted our local school district (we are in a suburban area) and let them know an apt. was available. They typically begin hiring in the spring and early summer.
New teachers to the area are looking for a place to stay. They are salaried and have a college degree. Being hired by the school (you can call the school to confirm) is kind of a pre-approval interview - they like them, you have better chances.

No pets.

Clarify in the lease, if you are renting for ONE. If someone else moves in lease is null and void. If they want to stay a new lease (for more money) is negotiated.

You can leave the place empty until you find a GOOD tenant. Much grief is avoided by doing this.

I am very leery of unwed, young couples. History has shown me these relationships can be unstable = problems for you.

If more than one is moving in, INSIST on meeting everyone that will will inhabit the dwelling. I had an applicant, single mother of several children, who wanted to interview alone, no kids there. I insisted on meeting the kids. Total spoiled brats. They would have destroyed the place.

If you don’t rent to someone, don’t explain why. Some are more than happy to find a lawyer and yell “DESCRIMINATION!” Your answer to “Why not me?” goes something like this “Sorry, there were lots of applicants, it was a tough choice but...you didn’t get it”

If there aren't any really good candidates/applicants, take it off the market for a month. Then relist it. Most looking for a place will have found something or moved on by then.

Rent - better IMO to be a little high giving you room to come down a bit when interviewing the right candidate. Some (many?) select potential places solely by price. Priced low and you will quickly find a population that can barely afford that.

Here in PA, and maybe where you are, if a family with infants moves in and they stop paying rent in, say October, they cannot be evicted for lack of payment during the winter. They are in until Spring. They owe back rent but are more likely to skip out without paying. This involves court, fees and for low income tenants you are likely to get nothing.

Care for the structure - I did almost all my own work on the place. I fixed it up to a condition that I would be comfortable living there. They are to maintain it to darn close to that condition. Extra Repairs, beyond normal wear and tear, at the end, come out of the security deposit.

Finally, this place was only a duplex. I have been told that to begin making money as a landlord you need at least four rental units (income still comes in if one is empty for maintenance or waiting for a tenant). In my case it paid for its own maintenance, taxes and mortgage. At the point of sale (about now) we are breaking even. No loss, minor gain.

Your mileage might vary -

You couldn’t Pay me to be a slum lord.

If there’s equity, I’d sell and never look back. Maybe buy a boat, or an airplane. At least then you could sometimes enjoy your money pit

I’ll spare you our details. We rent out my wife’s old house at the beach.

When we moved 3 years ago I sold my house at a $15,000 loss.

That goddam rental house has cost us over twice that since. If it wasn’t part of our retirement plan it would be long gone.


My father rented out several houses when I was growing up. I remember going with him on those late night emergency repairs. He sold them all eventually, the last (a lot with a trailer on it) for a dollar I believe. He was over that nonsense by the time he hit 70.

quote:

..Here in PA, and maybe where you are, if a family with infants moves in and they stop paying rent in, say October, they cannot be evicted for lack of payment during the winter. They are in until Spring. They owe back rent but are more likely to skip out without paying. This involves court, fees and for low income tenants you are likely to get nothing

I was a witness to a civil case in Atlantic City some years ago and while waiting I sat in on an eviction attempt brought against a family with three children for non payment of rent.

It was November. The Judge refused to allow eviction to proceed, stating the children needed somewhere to live. in short, the landlord was screwed.

Oh, and don't even think of going the Section 8 route.

I've heard horror stories and more horror stories... no freakin way!

Thank you to everyone who has posted so far, especially Chris42. Thank you for going into so much detail.

People w/ children/infants are protected under the Fair Housing Act, so I can't outright deny someone for that reason.

Keep the advice coming folks! One thing I have going for me is that I'm not desperate to rent and willing to be patient in finding a good tenant. Six months w/o rental income isn't going to break me.

Everyone has hit the high points.

One consideration I didn't see mentioned was the age of the rental in relation to lead paint, asbestos or potential "hazards" (hot tubs, pools, stairways, etc).

There are people who professionally choose places for insurance fraud- for instance, ...child ate lead paint, lawsuit. ...Child leaned into hot tub and lid hit them, lawsuit, ...stairs with carpet, lawsuit...
All the house has to do is have lead paint or asbestos/popcorn ceiling anywhere present (like many older buildings/homes) and it's a lawsuit heaven.

What can I say, it's the world today.

No more rentals for me.