Questions for rental property owners....

[Dancing Fire]

tell me the problems you have with your tenants.

do they pay their rent on time ?
did you have to kick them out ?
did they mess up your property before they leave?

 

[Haven]

We''ve never had a problem with ours.

Looking for a posse, DFire? Do we need to kick someone out of one of your places?

 

[Steel]

tell me the problems you have with your tenants.

In my experience, tenants bring out the CRAZY in landlords, which sure is a problem. I think it is the LORD in landlord that stimulates a dormant CRAZY gene.

So I suppose if you are planning to be a landlord or are one already you should be tested for crazy, in case it pops up unexpectedly. (Not all landlords have this gene, but just call me - I sure can pick ''em!)

 

[Tacori E-ring]

do they pay their rent on time ?
no
did you have to kick them out ?
yes
did they mess up your property before they leave?
yes

Let's see what problems...where should I start?

One burnt the house down (on accident). No joke. Another broke a window on Thanksgiving no less because she SHE forgot her keys inside. Another parked his motocycle *INSIDE* on brand new carpeting. One seemed to believe he was above paying rent b/c he's had a tough life don't you know. What's the saying, possession is 9/10ths of the law. Boy did he believe that. Another ran into the garage door and lied about it. One kept having pluming problems. The plummer found all sorts of goodies that were flushed by her kids, car keys, pencils, plastic knife, my favorite her very large BRA! They also decided to spray paint a dresser of theirs hot pink but didn't know (I guess) you need to take the dresser OUTSIDE. There was hot pink paint on the walls and carpeting. Another favorite is the tenant who started a grease fire on the stove and got angry with MY DH and demanded a new one. The list goes on and on. These are just some of the reasons we no longer buy and hold. It's a major headache.

Be VERY careful in CA. My parents had ONE rental (the house we used to live in) and spent 7 long years in legal fees, mediations, trial dates and stress trying to evict her. The house is in San Franciso and the laws unfairly favor the tenant. I would NEVER own rentals there. Learn the laws in your state/city. It is NOT always easy as people think to evict someone. Trust me.

 

[Mannequin]

Tacori, what a nightmare! I am so sorry you have had that much trouble. Renters can be a rare breed.

Between FF and I, we have three rentals.

One of his renters never pays on time and regularly gets months behind, only to save her behind with income tax returns. His other renters are new as of summer and are paying on time. Neither of these two have many issues with the houses - the occasional plumbing issue or broken thermostat, etc. I''ve helped renovate both of these homes. The condition of one house before we began to rent it was terrible. It easily could have been condemned and torn down. FF updated everything to code and gutted the place to the studs in some places.

I rented out my condo when I moved to live with FF. My renter seemed a bit high maintenance in the beginning, with repairs getting deducted from the first two or three months of rent, but has not had any issues since and pays on time.

 

[neatfreak]

We don''t have renters, but I volunteer at a tenant/landlord resource center. We help mediate disputes and give advice. And let me tell you it is NOT something you should get into unless you really are willing to invest the time, money, and effort. It''s not the easy money many people think. There are some horrible tenants out there, and combine that with landlords who don''t know their responsibilities and you are asking for trouble.

 

[Pandora II]

We've been lucky so far.

- We take references on all tenants in advance. (We require a minimum of two, but preferably four - this does eliminate a lot of problem tenants: We had a lot of recent immigrants interested who wanted to rent a two bed property between 6 of them (luckily it is illegal for us to do this even if we were prepared to do it so we had a simple answer!)

- They pay a month in advance plus a months deposit in case of damage. A full inventory is provided when they move in detailing every item and it's condition. The tenants have to sign off on this when signing the lease. The deposit is held by a third party (by law) who will mediate in the case of disputes over deductions.

- They must set up a direct debit to pay the rent.

- The tenants are expected to leave the property in the condition they found it. A term of the lease is that they pay a professional cleaning company to come in when they leave.

- We joined the London Landlords Association who are great in case of problems, and took out a good insurance policy.

Our current tenants were flooded out of their last property, so the old landlord's insurance company are paying their rent. They have a 6 month lease which was paid upfront by the insurance to us. If the old place is fixed in a couple of months and they move out, we still get to keep the whole 6 months. Hooray!

They seem very nice - and like our property better than their old one, so they may choose to stay on with us.

The property is our old house, and when we did it up we did so with rental in mind. So we did things like put in solid granite worksurfaces in the kitchen (can't be burnt by hot saucepans), wooden floors not carpets, and made the place as nice as possible - travetine bathroom etc

London has a lot of rental properties and we wanted to make sure that ours was somewhere that people would want to live in. Hence we can be picky about the tenants and also not risk periods when the property is empty.

If you are able to be choosy about who you rent to, your chances of problems are greatly reduced. The better condition your property is in the more chance you have that people will look after it.

 

[vespergirl]

Date: 1/2/2009 9:35:00 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
do they pay their rent on time ?
no
did you have to kick them out ?
yes
did they mess up your property before they leave?
yes

Let''s see what problems...where should I start?

One burnt the house down (on accident). No joke. Another broke a window on Thanksgiving no less because she SHE forgot her keys inside. Another parked his motocycle *INSIDE* on brand new carpeting. One seemed to believe he was above paying rent b/c he''s had a tough life don''t you know. What''s the saying, possession is 9/10ths of the law. Boy did he believe that. Another ran into the garage door and lied about it. One kept having pluming problems. The plummer found all sorts of goodies that were flushed by her kids, car keys, pencils, plastic knife, my favorite her very large BRA! They also decided to spray paint a dresser of theirs hot pink but didn''t know (I guess) you need to take the dresser OUTSIDE. There was hot pink paint on the walls and carpeting. Another favorite is the tenant who started a grease fire on the stove and got angry with MY DH and demanded a new one. The list goes on and on. These are just some of the reasons we no longer buy and hold. It''s a major headache.

Be VERY careful in CA. My parents had ONE rental (the house we used to live in) and spent 7 long years in legal fees, mediations, trial dates and stress trying to evict her. The house is in San Franciso and the laws unfairly favor the tenant. I would NEVER own rentals there. Learn the laws in your state/city. It is NOT always easy as people think to evict someone. Trust me.

Ditto all of Tacori''s answers - I was renting out my house in FL when I moved to DC, and I was renting to a family, who came well-referred. They always payed rent at least 15 days late, eventually stopped paying entirely, stole my furniture, and then it cost me about $5000 in legal fees to evict them. Even though I won the judgment, and they are supposed to pay me back rent and legal fees, the pig of a wife quit her job so that they could avoid having the judgment collected (since they have a minor child, they won''t garnish the wage of her husband, the primary breadwinner).

After them, I rented to a houseful of unveristy students who took care of the place and paid on the first of every month, never once late. It''s funny, because renting to a family turned out to be a nightmare, but a houseful of college students were a pleasure.

Either way, after going through the eviction experience, I would never own a rental property again. Maybe a vacation rental, but not residential.

 

[joflier]

Date: 1/2/2009 2:25:59 AM
Author:Dancing Fire
tell me the problems you have with your tenants.

do they pay their rent on time ?
did you have to kick them out ?
did they mess up your property before they leave?

1. Rarely

2. Sometimes

3. No. Dirty sometimes, but never trashed or vandalized.

My pet peeve right now is that we have some tenants that keep stealing the lightbulbs out of the basement to put in their own unit, so theres never any lights down there.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 1/2/2009 9:35:00 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
do they pay their rent on time ?
no
did you have to kick them out ?
yes
did they mess up your property before they leave?
yes

Let''s see what problems...where should I start?

One burnt the house down (on accident). No joke. Another broke a window on Thanksgiving no less because she SHE forgot her keys inside. Another parked his motocycle *INSIDE* on brand new carpeting. One seemed to believe he was above paying rent b/c he''s had a tough life don''t you know. What''s the saying, possession is 9/10ths of the law. Boy did he believe that. Another ran into the garage door and lied about it. One kept having pluming problems. The plummer found all sorts of goodies that were flushed by her kids, car keys, pencils, plastic knife, my favorite her very large BRA! They also decided to spray paint a dresser of theirs hot pink but didn''t know (I guess) you need to take the dresser OUTSIDE. There was hot pink paint on the walls and carpeting. Another favorite is the tenant who started a grease fire on the stove and got angry with MY DH and demanded a new one. The list goes on and on. These are just some of the reasons we no longer buy and hold. It''s a major headache.

Be VERY careful in CA. My parents had ONE rental (the house we used to live in) and spent 7 long years in legal fees, mediations, trial dates and stress trying to evict her. The house is in San Franciso and the laws unfairly favor the tenant. I would NEVER own rentals there. Learn the laws in your state/city. It is NOT always easy as people think to evict someone. Trust me.

just as i thought Tacori...
that''s why i don''t wanna be a landlord, don''t wanna go to jail for murder.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 1/2/2009 12:22:14 PM
Author: vespergirl

Ditto all of Tacori''s answers - I was renting out my house in FL when I moved to DC, and I was renting to a family, who came well-referred. They always payed rent at least 15 days late, eventually stopped paying entirely, stole my furniture, and then it cost me about $5000 in legal fees to evict them. Even though I won the judgment, and they are supposed to pay me back rent and legal fees, the pig of a wife quit her job so that they could avoid having the judgment collected (since they have a minor child, they won''t garnish the wage of her husband, the primary breadwinner).

After them, I rented to a houseful of unveristy students who took care of the place and paid on the first of every month, never once late. It''s funny, because renting to a family turned out to be a nightmare, but a houseful of college students were a pleasure.

Either way, after going through the eviction experience, I would never own a rental property again. Maybe a vacation rental, but not residential.

b/c mommy and daddy pays the rent. believe me, i know

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Dfire, haha! I am sure the thought has crossed my DH''s mind. At the most we were up to 15 rentals. Talk about stress! Only ONE of them not only paid in time but MAILED the check. He would have to run around picking up money from everyone else. PITA! Even when he has evicted people it takes time and money. Not like you can just change the locks and throw them out. My Ils have 2 rentals in a college town and have the same experience as Vesper. I think they have more fear/backlash if they screw up (from their parents) than other people. It is so sad how many adults play victim. Like they are ENTITLED to live free, demand things, pay late, destroy property, etc...but then again the rentals we have/had are mostly in lower end neighborhoods. I am sure in a more upscale neighborhood you might have a different experience.

Still I urge anyone who is thinking of renting a home to get familiar with the laws! Otherwise it can be an expensive mistake.

 

[joflier]

Date: 1/2/2009 1:57:06 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Dfire, haha! I am sure the thought has crossed my DH''s mind. At the most we were up to 15 rentals. Talk about stress! Only ONE of them not only paid in time but MAILED the check. He would have to run around picking up money from everyone else. PITA! Even when he has evicted people it takes time and money. Not like you can just change the locks and throw them out. My Ils have 2 rentals in a college town and have the same experience as Vesper. I think they have more fear/backlash if they screw up (from their parents) than other people. It is so sad how many adults play victim. Like they are ENTITLED to live free, demand things, pay late, destroy property, etc...but then again the rentals we have/had are mostly in lower end neighborhoods. I am sure in a more upscale neighborhood you might have a different experience.

Still I urge anyone who is thinking of renting a home to get familiar with the laws! Otherwise it can be an expensive mistake.

This made me chuckle, cuz I just got off the phone with DH who is doing this as we speak. (needless to say, he''s a bit testy) So far the collection day has only rounded up $200.

Probably out of $2000-3000...

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Date: 1/2/2009 3:27:05 PM
Author: joflier

Date: 1/2/2009 1:57:06 PM

Author: Tacori E-ring

Dfire, haha! I am sure the thought has crossed my DH''s mind. At the most we were up to 15 rentals. Talk about stress! Only ONE of them not only paid in time but MAILED the check. He would have to run around picking up money from everyone else. PITA! Even when he has evicted people it takes time and money. Not like you can just change the locks and throw them out. My Ils have 2 rentals in a college town and have the same experience as Vesper. I think they have more fear/backlash if they screw up (from their parents) than other people. It is so sad how many adults play victim. Like they are ENTITLED to live free, demand things, pay late, destroy property, etc...but then again the rentals we have/had are mostly in lower end neighborhoods. I am sure in a more upscale neighborhood you might have a different experience.


Still I urge anyone who is thinking of renting a home to get familiar with the laws! Otherwise it can be an expensive mistake.

This made me chuckle, cuz I just got off the phone with DH who is doing this as we speak. (needless to say, he''s a bit testy) So far the collection day has only rounded up $200.

Probably out of $2000-3000...

How annoying! Also DH and I look very young for our age so his tenants NEVER knew/know he is the owner. He just pretends to work from him. Works out better this way but they STILL try to bargain with him.

I''ll have to ask DH how many we have now. I don''t hear him complain as much. That''s for sure. 15 was WAYYY too many.

 

[joflier]

Date: 1/2/2009 3:57:45 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring

Date: 1/2/2009 3:27:05 PM
Author: joflier

Date: 1/2/2009 1:57:06 PM

Author: Tacori E-ring

Dfire, haha! I am sure the thought has crossed my DH''s mind. At the most we were up to 15 rentals. Talk about stress! Only ONE of them not only paid in time but MAILED the check. He would have to run around picking up money from everyone else. PITA! Even when he has evicted people it takes time and money. Not like you can just change the locks and throw them out. My Ils have 2 rentals in a college town and have the same experience as Vesper. I think they have more fear/backlash if they screw up (from their parents) than other people. It is so sad how many adults play victim. Like they are ENTITLED to live free, demand things, pay late, destroy property, etc...but then again the rentals we have/had are mostly in lower end neighborhoods. I am sure in a more upscale neighborhood you might have a different experience.


Still I urge anyone who is thinking of renting a home to get familiar with the laws! Otherwise it can be an expensive mistake.

This made me chuckle, cuz I just got off the phone with DH who is doing this as we speak. (needless to say, he''s a bit testy) So far the collection day has only rounded up $200.

Probably out of $2000-3000...

How annoying! Also DH and I look very young for our age so his tenants NEVER knew/know he is the owner. He just pretends to work from him. Works out better this way but they STILL try to bargain with him.

I''ll have to ask DH how many we have now. I don''t hear him complain as much. That''s for sure. 15 was WAYYY too many.

I think we''re broaching the 20 mark right now........and he''s in process of buying several more.......whatever floats your boat, right?

 

[Dancing Fire]

my sister had a rental house her tenant always pay on time,then one evenning she saw her house on the local news her tenant got busted for dealing drugs. she said...no wonder they installed an alarm system at their expense.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

I own a condo in Evanston Illinois which I rented out when I decided I wanted to move back to Naperville. And I also own a percentage of a medical building.

I never had a big problem with my tenates. Since my condo was pretty big, I ended up with 3 girls (friends). They always pay on time, treat my home like it was their own home and not like it''s just an "apartment".

The medical building is another story. Luckily we are rented out through 2015. But, its so complicated with codes and bathrooms, and the general public using the space...

 

[Tacori E-ring]

joflier, wow 20! Is this his full time job? I agree...if he is into it people will always need a place to live (this economic climate for sure) Now is a great time to buy and hold if you can get loans (which as you know gets tricky when you have more than 5 loans in your name).

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 1/2/2009 5:45:31 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
joflier, wow 20! Is this his full time job? I agree...if he is into it people will always need a place to live (this economic climate for sure) Now is a great time to buy and hold if you can get loans (which as you know gets tricky when you have more than 5 loans in your name).

but...if tenants lose their jobs can they afford to pay rent?

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Date: 1/2/2009 6:27:33 PM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 1/2/2009 5:45:31 PM

Author: Tacori E-ring

joflier, wow 20! Is this his full time job? I agree...if he is into it people will always need a place to live (this economic climate for sure) Now is a great time to buy and hold if you can get loans (which as you know gets tricky when you have more than 5 loans in your name).

but...if tenants lose their jobs can they afford to pay rent?

well the way I see it is people''s homes are going into foreclosure at an alarming rate. Many of these people are hard working who just made some bad financial decisions or got over their head. They will HAVE to rent and most likely to a private landlord vs. apartment complex (b/c of credit checks). They might not be able to afford their $2500 mortgage but maybe they can afford $1000 rent. So if you can and want to buy property now at a LOW price, rent it out for 5, 10, 20 years...even if it is vacant a few months a year your profit will be huge. Also there is always section 8 housing (well, that is what it is called here) where you get the rent check directly from the government. Those tenants were always a favorite of DH.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

My mom had 10 rental houses at one point. Most paid on time, but she experienced the worst possible case one can have in that she rented to a guy who became a squater. He lived there for six months without paying rent and when my mom finally got into the house w/the sherriff, the living room was piled high with legal books which guided him along the way. It was a disaster and the guy destroyed the home and my mom was totally screwed.

For DH and me, we had one rental house and we rented it out to two friends and they mostly paid on time and moved out when we decided to sell the house. They took excellent care of the house while they lived there for nine months.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 1/2/2009 6:36:15 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring


well the way I see it is people''s homes are going into foreclosure at an alarming rate. Many of these people are hard working who just made some bad financial decisions or got over their head. They will HAVE to rent and most likely to a private landlord vs. apartment complex (b/c of credit checks). They might not be able to afford their $2500 mortgage but maybe they can afford $1000 rent. So if you can and want to buy property now at a LOW price, rent it out for 5, 10, 20 years...even if it is vacant a few months a year your profit will be huge. Also there is always section 8 housing (well, that is what it is called here) where you get the rent check directly from the government. Those tenants were always a favorite of DH.

my BIL rented to one of those section 8 tenant. they remove the aluminum sidings from the house and sold it for scrap.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

MC, yup, DH has had a squater too...I can't believe it took her 6 months. In our county once they are 2 months late you can take them to court and then they have another few weeks to vacate. What state does she live in? With my parent's SF house the tenant lived there for TWO YEARS w/o paying.

BTW when my parents evicted her (or tried to) I should say it was considered a LEGAL eviction (we were going to move in). It boils my blood to think of that whole horrid situation

DFire, hmmm...here section 8 will revoke their vouchers if they did stuff like that. Most people aren't that stupid. They are in close contact with the tenant (to make sure the property is up to their codes) and the landlord (to make sure the tenants are behaving). Really a win-win (except you do see abuse of the system).

ETA: DH says he still have 7 rentals.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 1/2/2009 6:36:15 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring

Date: 1/2/2009 6:27:33 PM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 1/2/2009 5:45:31 PM

Author: Tacori E-ring

joflier, wow 20! Is this his full time job? I agree...if he is into it people will always need a place to live (this economic climate for sure) Now is a great time to buy and hold if you can get loans (which as you know gets tricky when you have more than 5 loans in your name).

but...if tenants lose their jobs can they afford to pay rent?

well the way I see it is people''s homes are going into foreclosure at an alarming rate. Many of these people are hard working who just made some bad financial decisions or got over their head. They will HAVE to rent and most likely to a private landlord vs. apartment complex (b/c of credit checks). They might not be able to afford their $2500 mortgage but maybe they can afford $1000 rent. So if you can and want to buy property now at a LOW price, rent it out for 5, 10, 20 years...even if it is vacant a few months a year your profit will be huge. Also there is always section 8 housing (well, that is what it is called here) where you get the rent check directly from the government. Those tenants were always a favorite of DH.

I can''t tell, but are you being sarcastic here? There''s Section 8 where I live too and they always seem to be the worst possible tenants - I''ve heard horror stories similar to Dancing Fire''s from (too) many of my clients.

DH and I don''t have any rentals, and never will, but we have been tenants. Having a good landlord is such a blessing. We''ve had our fair share of both worlds.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Diva, no I was being serious. He has a handful of section 8 tenants. They must be stricter here than in other places. I know if the tenants get complaints they can have their voucher revoked. No way some used siding is worth more than free rent.