Anyone a Landlord?

If there is a university or college nearby you could advertize on campus and rent only to graduate students and visiting professors. They tend to be quiet and finacially stable. Only problem is that they are not long term.

don't do it!!!!!!!!!

Just an idea for you. Check out International Living online. You may want to consider buying investment property outside the country. There are loads of people looking to get out of the US now that you could rent to. Panama, Brazil, Ecuador, etc are a few examples of places that have rapidly rising returns on investment. Just be sure to do all your research thoroughly! I subscribe to their magazine and they also have events that you can attend that are very detailed. You could hire a local person to handle vacation rentals.

I would not want to be a landlord these days with the declining economy since you cannot be sure when your renters will lose their jobs. For all you know they may look nice but turn out to be drug addicts or dirty people and trash the place. ALWAYS do a surprise visit on their home if considering them to rent. If they are decent people they won't mind. If they are dirty or have something to hide they will object. I know a woman who's rental was destroyed by mold because the people were growing pot indoors! It wasn't covered by insurance.

Hi S.,
I have had a few tenants, some with very horrible outcomes and some (the one right now ) comes with great story. My best advice is that when you meet with the person ask all the important questions that pertain - don't be afraid to ask about their financial state - especially to see proof of that - and if you get even the slightest bit of resistance or attitude, let them walk away. It will save you numerous headaches in the future.

S.,

I say go for it. With any investment there are risk. We live in and own a 2 family house. We had a tenant that came with the house when my husband bought it 12 years ago who was wonderful. He was quiet, always paid the rent on time, and spent the weekends at his girlfriend's. When he moved out I was very concerned about who would replace him. I am home alone during the day with my young son and I didn't want to feel uncomfortable with the person living upstairs. It turns out that we were able to rent to our previous tenant's brother and they both have the same good-tenant qualities. WHEW!

I definitely understand your apprehension. Make sure to screen your tenants carefully. Also make sure you can comfortably pay the morgtage if you don't have rental income for a few months. It also helps, as it does with any kind of home, if you or your husband learn to be handy around the house. Not only can you save a lot of money, but you are not dependant on someone else's busy schedule.

Good luck,
R.

We've got rental property and we've run into good and bad renters along the way. I'm very good at reading people and I always trust my impression. My hubby not so much and all the renters we've run into problems with have been the ones he's oked without me.

When everything runs well there's no problem but make sure you can pay the mortgage without rent coming in. Eviction of a bad tenant takes months and repairing the stuff they trash on their way out can add another month or two of lost rent income.

We had one woman who rented without a problem for 5 yrs and then filed bankrupcy owing us $3,000.00. Another was suppose to move into their new house and was suppose to pay week by week. That lasted exactly one week before they started trashing the place. Small claims court no help since it's hard to get they money you are awarded. One of our current tenants pays the rent an average of 20 days late with every excuse you've ever heard (didn't have a stamp to mail it, mailed it and it came back twice, ran out of checks).

Hi S.
Locally we deal with bad tenants by putting the deposit so high that usually they can't make it.
Also they make stipulations ahead of time. Ask the local bankers and real estate agents, they usually have lots of knowledge about such things.
The house we bought when we moved to a new state, had been these people's rental property. When they moved out they took the furnace with them. Who would know to put that in a contract?
God bless you
K.

I like to keep everything small. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Make sure your rental unit is close enough that you don't mind going over there in the middle of the night, if something happens. Our unit is on our property, so we are right there. Have a really good lease written up to protect both you and the tenant. Our lease allows a tenant to leave if they give us 2 weeks notice. I don't want anyone staying there that doesn't want to be there, because they will just cause more problems and headaches for you. If your unit is in a good location, you don't have to worry about finding a tenant so it won't matter if they leave. I like to change the locks every time someone leaves perminantly to protect the next tenant and my property. There should also be a clause in the lease about what happens when they miss a rent payment. Ours states that 2 months of missed rent results in an eviction withnin 30 days. (30 days is our state's eviction law.) Always ask them to fill out an application, so you can pick and choose. Put NO PARTIES in boldface on your lease. Remember they will only give you good references, but have them give them to you anyway. Ask for a 1 or 2 month security deposit plus the 1st month's rent. If you live near a hospital or university, ask them if any of their employees need housing and if they can keep you in mind. This way you'll get a more mature and reliable tenant. Consider senior citizens as well, which you can advertise for or post in the local senior citizen center. We don't bother to advertise, because we have a great location. We just pop a sign up if the university doesn't have any employees looking for a place. Ask local landlords who does their plumbing or repairs windows when needed, so you can be prepared to get the best price possible if needed.

I have owned two multifamily houses. I have had great tenants and bad tenants. With the bad tenants, you must be diligent about pursuing your best interests. You must begin the court process immediately when rent is missed because it takes time to get an actual date.

In my experience, the money lost to you is lost forever. You never get it back.

I have found that for me it was remarkably easier for me to hire a licensed real estate company to handle the management of my rental property. The fee was reasonable and less of a headache for me with repair followup and rent chase down.

I would also advise crunching the numbers before buying any property. Do your homework. How much is rent going for in the area? Would that rent cover your expenses of mortgage, taxes, insurance, water/sewer and grounds keeping? What is the absolute bottom line acceptible in rent for times like these where people's jobs are at risk at best.

Lastly, make your decisions based on the facts not emotions. Business is business.

Hi S.,

I had a rental property in Chicago for 5 years and I guess my general advice to you is that being a landlord requires a significantly higher level of administration and oversight than other sorts of investments. You need to familiarize yourself with rental contracts, landlord-tenant laws, and basic maintenance, or else hire people who can manage those things for you. The first tenant I had seemed to never be able to pay his rent...he was always throwing me $20 here and there and I had to keep track of it all month until finally I got fed up and evicted him. The second tenant was a dream. A quiet med student who always paid on time. However he called us a lot with requests for repairs/maintenance. The third girl seemed awesome until her company wanted to re-locate her for work and she broke her lease without paying us a dime. When I tried to pursue her for the money, her company sent a few aggressive lawyer letters and basically made it a nightmare for me to collect, so I gave up and still ended up having to clean up the place and find a new tenant (all of this 4 weeks after having a baby). The bottom line is there are no guarantees and you have to be prepared to deal with issues as they arise. If you have time for that kind of oversight, then by all means try it. For us, we barely covered the mortgage on the property and the headache just wasn't worth it. I don't think I'd do it again. Good luck!

I too was looking into doing this. Then I got a promotion at work and starting handling their rentals. Guess what? I changed my mind. In the state of NJ, the tenants have WAY more rights than the landlords. Our attorney sticks by the book with evictions. There are many landlords that get aways with shady evictions, but if they get caught..the fine is crazy. You can NOT evict someone because you dont like them, they are occasionally loud, blah blah blah. NJ law says it has to be for specific reasons...damage (which you have to prove they did), non payment of rent (unless you have a cushion, you are up the creek..not to mention attorney fees) and late payment of rent. However, if you have accepted late payments before, then you cant evict for this. You have to take a couple extra steps which cost you time and money before you can evict for late payments. All I am saying is unless you have a financial buffer like we do here...I would stay away from it. You could really end up screwing yourself in the long run. Be VERY VERY CAREFUL.... Dont forget you have to keep the apartment up to pare as well. I have had rentals fail inspections for a small tear in the window screens, meanwhile they are so dirty..they are getting roaches. oh and another thing. YOU cant tell them how to live and how clean to be. Its their right to do dishes every 2 weeks if they want..but guess who has to pay the exterminator bills? YOU!! Credit checks do not always show you who will be reliable either. Just be very careful. Good Luck!!

Hi S.,
I am a landlord in NJ. It is great when you have good tenants that do not damage your property and pay your rent on time. I have found over 10 years now that there is no sure way to know this. I have my prospective tenant fill out a form and i do check into credit. When I did this the credit was great and of course the references were great and the tenant was horrible, loud music all the time and fighting, many visitors, smoking and all that. Now i rent to someone
E. with no credit and no problems. Go figure.

Hi S.,

I'm not a landlord myself, but a friend of mine is, and she also happens to be a real estate agent who does a lot of work for residential landlords, so she knows everything there is to know about renting. I'm sure she'll be happy to answer your questions if she can, even if you don't choose her to buy the property/help with the rentals. She's one of the most professional, ethical and generous people I've ever met:
Laura Denise Milkowski, ____@____.com, ###-###-####.

Good luck,
K.

We just took the leap two years ago and are on our second tenant. We started off rocky with the first tenant paying 10 late the first 2 months. We ended up hiring our contractor as a manager for the property (we are about 1 1/2 hrs from the house). We pay him a few bucks a month and he would go in person to pick up the rent check and mail it to us. It helps that he is a big guy. Once we did this, the rent was on time. We did it b/c we loved the house we got and want to retire there someday but not now. Not sure if it would be worth the hassle for me if it was purely for profit.