Joan Patterson from Inland Empire Real Estate shares her experience as a landlord with the ups and downs it brings. I highly recommend you go to the original article and read the comments to get some incredible advice if you are thinking of renting your home or buying investment properties.
For experience residential property management in Fairfield County call DMK Property Management, Darien, Ct.
203-858-3193.
Do You Really Want To Be a Landlord?
I had a client ask me yesterday if it were a good idea to rent their existing home and purchase another home because the rental market was so hot right now.
I told them that there are pros and cons to renting out your home. The cons are that you don't really know how the renters will take care of your home and if you have put in a lot of upgrades, when they move out, you may be very disappointed at the damage that was done to your home. Renters are not always bad, but I have had 2 homes that I have rented out and I have had 50/50 chances as to what I would find.
Take for example a nice 3 bedroom home that I had in Moreno Valley. I had spent thousands of dollars making it into a home that I lived in for 4 years. It was an average home when I moved into it, but I put in new cabinets, new bathrooms etc. I had one tenant that treated it great, another that ruined the kitchen cabinets by hanging wet towels on the nice cabinets. I had the cabinets fixed and rented to another couple that then proceeded to not pay the rent on time. They thought since I was renting this to them that I must be rich and could carry the extra mortgage-NOT!!!! The last time I saw this couple the husband came to the door with his shirt off and had a gun in his hand. I backed up and ended up calling an eviction service. I hated having to do that, but I am not the bank and needed to pay the mortgage on this rental.
When they left, I was so sad to see the damage they had done to the house. They spilled top ramen all over the floors, put gum on the carpet along with dye and oil. Kicked holes in the walls and kitchen cabinets. Broke the glass door on the master shower. I basically had to come in and redo everything again. And, the real estate market had not come up in price still from the time that I had purchased the house, so if I sold it, I would still be at a loss.
We had another home that we rented out and those people took care of it like it was their own home. When they moved out, we sold both homes, but took a loss on my house in Moreno Valley.
Being a land lord is not fun, it can be quite challenging getting phone calls that the toilet won't flush at 10:00 p.m. and you drive out to see the problem and all it was wrong was the chain had come loose in the tank. I would get a property management company to manage any rentals to avoid this and they will also check their credit and basically do everything for you.
If I had to do it over again, I would hire a property management company. They save you a lot of time, stress and worry!
After I went over both scenarios with my client, I am not sure if they want to be land lords or not. Only time will tell if they have the desire!
If I can be of any help, give me a call at 951-204-1864 or visit my website at http://inlandempirerealestate.kwrealty.com
~ David A. Popoff ~ Licensed Connecticut Realtor ~ LEED AP Homes accredited ~ Cell (203) 228-0646 ~
~ www.DavidPopoffCT.com ~ DavidPopoffCt@Hotmail.com ~ http://davidpopoffct.wordpress.com/ ~
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