I give up on Tenants ! Left in the night again.

[uglyboywith11fingers]

My wife, her sister & brother own their old family farm, with orig farm house and 2 hired-hand small houses... all 3 are rented out. BIL looks after it all as he's the one who lives close. One small house has been rented for 3 years now to a single lady in her 50s, works for post office as a letter carrier, so makes decent money. Last fall she let a couple rent cheques bounce, so she gave BIL a new stack of post-dated cheques to pay twice a month, when she gets paid. Guess what,,, the last 2 of those have bounced. ???
They would sell to get away from renting, but there's also 150 acres rented to a local farmer for $185 an acre... now that's good money for something you don't have to do any upkeep on. Maybe soon time to board up the houses and just rent out the land.

Pete

 

[Professor Marvel]

I have the same luck with tenants as most people here have expressed. Some people are luckier or better at being landlords than others. I am certain that I could find someone with a great 30 year rental track record. The month after they move into my property they will undoubtedly fall into a huge sorrowful financial crisis and I will be suckered into holding the bag. The only thing that will ever cause me to be a landlord again is sheer desparation requiring me to rent a property.

 

[brin]

Well guys....I see I am not alone in the disappointed landlord club...The previous tenant I had in the house was there for 16 yrs. and paid his rent on time . I have a new prospective tenant and his wife and baby coming to look at it today...I would love to sell it since it is the last rental property I own and I have slowly sold my rentals over the years...I no longer willing to put up with the worry tenants bring. I can't sell it now due to the depressed real estate values...so I will have to tough out another tenant...Oh Joy !

 

[EddieWalker]

I grew up working on my parents rental houses. I hated it and resented having to spend my time after school or during the summer fixing those houses. They had one tennat who was long term and pretty good at paying on time. They where illegal alliens and where very quiet and good about keeping the place nice. We just did maintenance work there and repaired what broke from normal usage and age. The other house was always getting new people in it, and every time, it was a nightmare to clean it up and fix what they damaged.

You either have to inspect the house all the time, or realize that they don't care what happens to it and what it takes to fix what they do. I've come to the conclusion that their are two types of renters. Those who are there short term because they have goals and plans to buy their own place, and those who are irresponsible and self destructive that just don't get it that they are the problem. Sadly, those are what we had to deal with most of the time.

I will never own rent houses. As a contractor, I get hired all the time to fix them for people that think they will live off of the rent for their retirement and want to keep the houses up. Sometimes it costs them six months rent for me to fix what is damaged, and that's usually because they are in there helping and will finish it off themselves or wait until they can afford to do the rest of the repairs. Other times it's just to get it fixed up enough to rent it out again as soon as possible. I try not to judge, but I sure don't want to be in that position of having to decide how much money to put into a house that I'm pretty sure is just going to get trashed again.

Most common thing is wet clothes or stuff on the floor. Water seems to get splashed everywhere in bathrooms too, and kids either mark up walls or put holes in them. The nasty factor of what is never cleaned up or left to rot is also pretty common. Dog poo in corners of rooms so thick it's on top of older poo, or dried onto the floor so it has to be scraped off.

I think the money is in building rental units and selling them.

Eddie

 

[Mousefield]

We have had good tenants and bad, unfortunately more bad than good and even a few ugly. One tenant had a baby a couple of months after moving in who saved every diaper in garbage bags and stored them in the closets of the house. After 6 months they moved, of course not paying the last months rent. Had to get cleaners in to take out the garbage bags plus lots of other garbage. Then called the realtor to sell the property. My saying is give most tenants a tent and tell them to pitch it on the beach at low tide.

 

[LBrown59]

1*I am just starting out as a landlord.
My dad has done it for years,
2*but his property in Florida is a different market,

1*I sure do feel for you.
2*The real but is your dads time was yesteryear yours is in todays climate.

 

[LBrown59]

1*As I've heard my uncle say many times there ain't no such thing as a good renter but if you ever did find one the government will takes him away from you.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

MY advice - stay away from landlording if you can unless you have 10 or more houses to do.

Good advice. I have a cousin who has about 40 units in a college town that are mostly empty in the summers. He bought most of them in the '80s and early '90s, so they generate good cash flow at today's prices. He keeps one guy busy full time just repainting, replacing carpet, patching walls, etc.

 

[brin]

1*As I've heard my uncle say many times there ain't no such thing as a good renter but if you ever did find one the government will takes him away from you.

Amen LBrown....hit the nail right on the head :thumbsup:

 

[creekbend]

Sincerely sorry in regards to your problem with the tenant. Just a thought? Relatives will leave you hanging also. The results of being a Landlord are sometimes positive and sometimes negative. Toss of the coin?