Being a landlord sucks sometimes
 

So today we got a note from our tenants that they'd mailed a partial payment today (about 3/4 of the total), and they'd send the rest at the end of the week. No fun.

This doesn't put us in a major financial situation, but we can't afford for them not to pay the rent for very long. And I'm a total sucker for any kind of sob story (not that I don't believe them when they say why they can't pay), so if it comes to it, I'm going to have a hard time evicting them. :-/

sorry to hear that. I dread that very much for my 2 different tenants. This is why I have a property manager. I don't have to deal with the dirty dealings of having to evict someone. I've done the process before and they paid before it got ugly. It still wasn't pleasant as a teen knowing that I was going to be putting someone and their family out on the street.

Just remember that you have to protect your family and your interests as well. This is strictly a business deal and nothing personal. You can give a little, but you can't free ride them.

good luck.

I'm toying around with the idea of buying a rental property. Having to deal with the dirty work like that is something I don't look forward to.

That is a sucky situation, but remember only one party can get screwed. It will be unfortunate if it's your tenants, but how bad will it be if it's you?

"we can't afford" - you can't be sad for too long..

Cynthetiq, how'd you find a property manager? I've wondered how that works and how much of a cut they take.

My parents have a property manager for their rentals. Otherwise, it's just too much of a pain in the ass. If it's just one home, that's different, but they have quite a few scattered around Florida and Georgia.

They still get screwed every so often though - tenants tearing up the place, taking the refrigerators and ovens, light fixtures, doors, etc. And when there are repairs to be made, Ma's gotta pay for 'em out of pocket as they come. Deductibles are high for each home. They have quite a few vacancies atm too. Not good.

But most importantly, partial payments aren't accepted lol. It's all or nothing. And you won't have to deal with the sob stories. Those are for the managers lol.

Around here, most of the large real estate firms have a property manager function. For a percentage of the rent, they will manage the property, including rent collection, maintenance contracts, advertising for new tenants, etc. The more properties you let them manage, the lower the percentage (but I think it can be fairly steep if you only have a single or few apartments/houses). They have the advantage of economies of scale because they manage a lot of properties, and get competitive bids for maintenance and such, and it gives them a steady cash flow.

Found them through the Yellow Pages. I interviewed and looked at many contracts before I signed up with these fellows. I've been with them for 8 years.

Exactly. 10% is what I pay him. No renter, no payment. Because I bought my last property through him, and I referred another person to him who bought a property, I got a 2% discount for 1 year. The week before Thanksgiving I got a call because a pipe burst in the bathroom, they let me know just in case they needed additional authorization over $250, and to find out if I had a home warranty which covers most issues. Since I do not have one any longer as they are about $200/year, I pay out of pocket for damages for one property. The other I have a warranty because it's a large house and there's more to go wrong.

we've had tenants here in florida for 8 years and never had a bad one. now that we're spending more time down here, we've got a couple in our other rental unit who have been there for four years and are as good as gold; rent's always on time; he does most of the trimming and yard work; and they really feel guilty if they have to call about a leaky faucet or some other minor situation.

i can remember back when i was younger dad used to have to resolve disputes between the upstairs and downstairs tenants in the farmhouse we rented out, but nothing major ever occurred.

i suppose if we had three or more rental units, we might want to consider an agent but as it stands, we really don't need one at the moment...