Anybody own rental property?

roscoe

Supreme Mariner
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Oct 30, 2002
Messages
21,657
The property needs to be empty and vacant, locks changed, and pass your
walk-thru inspection BEFORE you close the deal to purchase. . . that 3 periods. .
If that isn't part of your purchase contract, you have a very difficult uphill battle ahead of you.
 

Brian 26

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
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574
Some more thoughts I have:

The guy that sold me my building was a long time land lord, 100's of commercial and residential units, and one of the last words of advice to me were "high rents are overrated, keep your rents low and get good, long term tenants". Boy was he right. A little old lady at $1,000 per month that stays for 10 years is un-measurably better than a group of 20 something guys at $1,200 per month having parties every night, parking on the lawn, breaking stuff and on and on....

Paying rent late can be a good thing, I had one tenant that paid 3-6 days late every month, and always paid the $50 late fee.

You mentioned smoking, I had two chain smokers in a unit for one year. When they left (stop paying rent and left their junk behind) the walls, ceiling, and mini blinds were coated in a sticky yellow residue. Painting does not cover it up, you have to use special primer to coat over it, then paint. That story reminds me of all the days and nights I spent working 7am - 4:30pm at my day job, then 5pm to 11pm working on the apartment building, then up at 6am to do it all over again.

Both of my posts on this subject have negative tones, however I had some good times too, the money is alright and when I sold the building I got paid for all the work I had done.
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
Some more thoughts I have:

The guy that sold me my building was a long time land lord, 100's of commercial and residential units, and one of the last words of advice to me were "high rents are overrated, keep your rents low and get good, long term tenants". Boy was he right. A little old lady at $1,000 per month that stays for 10 years is un-measurably better than a group of 20 something guys at $1,200 per month having parties every night, parking on the lawn, breaking stuff and on and on....

Paying rent late can be a good thing, I had one tenant that paid 3-6 days late every month, and always paid the $50 late fee.

You mentioned smoking, I had two chain smokers in a unit for one year. When they left (stop paying rent and left their junk behind) the walls, ceiling, and mini blinds were coated in a sticky yellow residue. Painting does not cover it up, you have to use special primer to coat over it, then paint. That story reminds me of all the days and nights I spent working 7am - 4:30pm at my day job, then 5pm to 11pm working on the apartment building, then up at 6am to do it all over again.

Both of my posts on this subject have negative tones, however I had some good times too, the money is alright and when I sold the building I got paid for all the work I had done.

There is nothing at all wrong with a pragmatic tone. Those are actually really good points and advice.
 

bruceb58

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Mar 5, 2006
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I had a heavy smoker in each of my units. Amazing what paint will do!
 

gm280

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Jun 26, 2011
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I had a heavy smoker in each of my units. Amazing what paint will do!

My father in law was a heavy smoker. And after he passed away years ago, I thought I would repaint the inside of their house to help my mother in law out. WOW It took three coats of quality paint and the smoke stains still came through on the ceiling. So I had to get Kilts and prime them first before they would cover properly...
 

bruceb58

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Mar 5, 2006
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My father in law was a heavy smoker. And after he passed away years ago, I thought I would repaint the inside of their house to help my mother in law out. WOW It took three coats of quality paint and the smoke stains still came through on the ceiling. So I had to get Kilts and prime them first before they would cover properly...
To be honest, my painter is the one who painted after them so not sure exactly what he did. He probably already knew what to do first before just repainting over the old.
 

MTboatguy

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If you are painting a house that a smoker lives in, you need to use kilz primer before you paint, don't even think about painting with paint before had, because it will bleed, before kilz we used to actually varnish the walls so the smoke would not bleed through. Of course, you need to wash the walls first if possible.
 

RGrew176

Commander
Joined
Mar 20, 2002
Messages
2,088
It will be a new experience for us but one I have had in the back of my mind for years. I've never rented personally before and so it surprises me the extent of the invasiveness of the question that are on the rental applications I'm researching online. I'm happy to see that those questions are just standard. The current renters are extraordinarily bad housekeepers (that is as nice as I can put it) who have brought in multiple large dogs and they smoke as well having taken advantage of the kindness of the owner.



Don't know about your state but here in Michigan you can say no to renting to smokers. They are not a protected species the last time I checked. When I did rent that was one of the questions I asked. I would not rent to smokers period.
 

RGrew176

Commander
Joined
Mar 20, 2002
Messages
2,088
I had a heavy smoker in each of my units. Amazing what paint will do!



When I bought my current home a condo the seller was a smoker. I hired a company to come in and clean everything. By the time they were done there was absolutely no smoke odor left behind. They sanitized everything. I don't remember what I paid for the service but it was worth every penny.
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
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Don't know about your state but here in Michigan you can say no to renting to smokers. They are not a protected species the last time I checked. When I did rent that was one of the questions I asked. I would not rent to smokers period.

Sure, you can specify no smoking here.
 

Harritwo

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
586
JKust,

i am one of the accidental landlords, Bought a house, market fell out, moved cross country, couldnt sell for loan value and elected to keep it. I have had it continously rented since i left, i am currently on a month to month with the tenant since he is in the process of looking to buy a house. He is also a Law Enforcement Officer and has been a tenant for 2 years., When his lease ran out, i elected to go Month to Month with him.

The Best Advice for me is Select a Property Manager to do the screening, and maintenance, evictions if necessary, etc.. My current Property Manager gets 10% of the rent for this service and to me it is well worth the hassle and effort.

I allow pets on a case by case basis and charge a Non-Refundable Security Deposit of 30% of the deposit, I do not allow smoking in the house. As i did not want a Sex Offender moving into my house, I elected to not rent to anyone who has been convicted of a felony within the last 10 years.

I also use a Maintenance Agreement with a local company, I pay $400.00 a year and all appliances, plumbing, A/C Heat, etc are covered with a $75.00 Call out fee.


The Property Manager does all the accounting for me, and sends me a 1099 at the end of the year for tax purposes.

George
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
JKust,

i am one of the accidental landlords, Bought a house, market fell out, moved cross country, couldnt sell for loan value and elected to keep it. I have had it continously rented since i left, i am currently on a month to month with the tenant since he is in the process of looking to buy a house. He is also a Law Enforcement Officer and has been a tenant for 2 years., When his lease ran out, i elected to go Month to Month with him.

The Best Advice for me is Select a Property Manager to do the screening, and maintenance, evictions if necessary, etc.. My current Property Manager gets 10% of the rent for this service and to me it is well worth the hassle and effort.

I allow pets on a case by case basis and charge a Non-Refundable Security Deposit of 30% of the deposit, I do not allow smoking in the house. As i did not want a Sex Offender moving into my house, I elected to not rent to anyone who has been convicted of a felony within the last 10 years.

I also use a Maintenance Agreement with a local company, I pay $400.00 a year and all appliances, plumbing, A/C Heat, etc are covered with a $75.00 Call out fee.


The Property Manager does all the accounting for me, and sends me a 1099 at the end of the year for tax purposes.

George

I appreciate all of your great advice. As it turns out, the location of the property precludes a management company as to my knowledge there aren't any operation in the area. It is located in a popular vacation destination but am not aware of anybody doing property management unfortunately. The property management craze hasn't quite made it there yet. I know folks who can do work for me and respond to maintenance issues who live local to the area however.
 

jakedaawg

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Messages
4,275
Just a thought for you--I have had several rental properties over the years. When I have a problem tennant that I want out I take five $100 dollar bills and rip them in half in front of him. I give him the other halves. I tell him that if he moves out by the end of the week without doing anymore damage he gets my halves to tape back together. This ends up being his deposit to go get over on some other landlord. It has yet to fail me!
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
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Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,454
And what if he doesn't move out and give you back the other halves. Didn't you just lose $500? What am I missing here?
 
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64osby

Admiral
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Jul 28, 2009
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Or what if they trash the place move out and don't return the halved bills.
 

NewfieDan

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 8, 2011
Messages
383
Check your local jurisdiction. Many have landlord/tenant agreements that govern the specific laws in your area. A quick read will tell you what your rights are as a landlord, and what the rights and obligations of the renters are. In these cases accurate knowledge is power.

We had a rental property for about 3yrs by accident. Same reasons as above, housing market dropped and couldn't afford to sell at the reduced price.
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
Closing is soon...the renters have stayed 10 days past their end date and won't leave. This is going to get interesting.
 
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