Question About Renter Headaches?
I have the chance to buy an 8 unit building in a great neighborhood and it pencils out well. This would be my first rental property and i'm not sure if I should hire a management company to over-see it. Would 8 renters be too much of a hassle to handle myself or do you think it would be workable. Any landlord input would be welcome. Thank you in advance.
It really depends on your personlaity & temperament. My personal choice is, if it pencils out with the added cost & expense of management I would suggest delegating it to a company & concentrate on finding more deals. Management has a very low return vs. time spent.
Why dont you buy it and start the ABC Management Company. Contact your tenants and tell them you are the property management company!
Do not tell them you are the owner.
When I first started out, I did not know what I was doing. I had guns pulled on me believe it or not. Now when the tenants get mad for some reason or another and believe me they will, I tell them I will talk to the owner and see what I can do? This works best for me.
The tenants vent and I vent with them!
I always enjoy going around each month and talking to my tenants who think I am
just the property management company.
A lot of times when people think they are dealing with a property management company, they know they cant play the games they normally play dealing with
owners directly.
You need to go to Barnes and Noble and
buy some property management books or buy some on this site. You need to be
saavy to all the new laws etc.. For example did you know you have to give
a physical address when giving a 3 day notice to pay or quit now. This is California standards of course. Also, there are laws on the amount of deposit you can take etc.... One trick that has worked for me is I have in my lease agreement that the tenant pays the first
$50.00 in all repairs. When they call on
Sunday night with a broken faucet, I tell them to call my plumber who gives me a discount rate, they pay the first $50.00
and I pay usually around $15-$25 depending what work was done. If it is a water heater, then a lot more! Hope this helps.
What are your ideas Lufos??
Best Riches,
Jeffrey Adam
_________________
"The only place success comes before work
is in the dictionary."
[ Edited by JeffreyAdam on Date 02/09/2004 ][ Edited by JeffreyAdam on Date 02/09/2004 ]