No longer a landlord!

O

Oldtom

Joined
Jul 5, 2014
Messages
494
Location
Ceciltucky
As of today both of my class D rentals are vacant and will be sold! One is in OK shape, the other is trashed beyond all belief

Either way, I am out of the rental business FOREVER. The area has had two drug murders since May. Time to sell while the properties are still worth something.

I have a heck of a job cleaning and fixing up. The good news is I only have to do it one more time. Please join me in hoisting your beverage of choice to toast my retirement from landlording.
 
Where are these properties (not sure where "Ceciltucky" is)?

It's becoming almost impossible to be an independent landlord-- most individuals I know that rent out houses go through a property management company. Yes it will cost some money, but they have the resources to screen individuals and deal with all the crap that comes at the end of a lease (money owed, damages, etc.)

Congrats on your "retirement" by the way!
 
92Saturn - Ceciltucky is a snarky name for Cecil County Maryland. The area is a mix of rednecks and educated professionals. The two factions do not always get along. I tried a property manager with no success. The area where the rentals are has become so dangerous, only truly poor or marginal FICO people will live there. Time to hit the eject button while real estate prices are high. The deciding factor was the tenants grandkid tossing a cigarette into some trash piled out back. No apology, just a sneer. Replacing the siding was $5000, which insurance covered. The tenant was upset that I banned her special snowflake from the property.
 
92saturnsl2 said:
Where are these properties (not sure where "Ceciltucky" is)?

It's becoming almost impossible to be an independent landlord-- most individuals I know that rent out houses go through a property management company. Yes it will cost some money, but they have the resources to screen individuals and deal with all the crap that comes at the end of a lease (money owed, damages, etc.)

Congrats on your "retirement" by the way!
Click to expand...
I know many landlords that don't use a property management firm. That's usually for landlords that just have a few units. Most people I know with at least 5+ units do the management themselves. With just one or two units, they don't end up screening as many people as the landlords that have many tenants so they know what to look for after a while. Once you have handman, plumber etc, you can get away with getting a lot of things done without setting foot on the property.
 
I'm a landlord and own 2 rent houses here and In 2017 I had this one druggie who fooled me and ruined the house but it didn't really matter anyway because I was going to renovate the entire house after he left since it hasn't been renovated since the 80's when it was made.

Already told my contractor I was planning on getting new floors, bathroom, kitchen, pipes, water heater, ac, garage, ect since I before I discovered it so I was initially mad but didn't care anyway. Was fun digging through his stuff and throwing it all out. I believe I still have a USB drive of him and his girlfriend getting into some serious domestic violence and some crazy s**t like her allegedly beating him with a lamp and scratching him saying she hates him, calling him a loser and a lazy deadbeat for preferring to take unemployment instead of working and she had to get a job at Michaels to try to make ends meet.

If I find the vid I may post them on YouTube. May because I don't know how ethical that would be but it's also funny at the same time. What's sad is that he looked like he came from a good wealthy family since I saw his old childhood photos before throwing them in the trash. He also had some old server pc's but I called a local buddy and he picked everything of useble tech up before I left.
 
JavierH19 said:
I'm a landlord and own 2 rent houses here and In 2017 I had this one druggie who fooled me and ruined the house but it didn't really matter anyway because I was going to renovate the entire house after he left since it hasn't been renovated since the 80's when it was made.

Already told my contractor I was planning on getting new floors, bathroom, kitchen, pipes, water heater, ac, garage, ect since I before I discovered it so I was initially mad but didn't care anyway. Was fun digging through his stuff and throwing it all out. I believe I still have a USB drive of him and his girlfriend getting into some serious domestic violence and some crazy s**t like her allegedly beating him with a lamp and scratching him saying she hates him, calling him a loser and a lazy deadbeat for preferring to take unemployment instead of working and she had to get a job at Michaels to try to make ends meet.

If I find the vid I may post them on YouTube. May because I don't know how ethical that would be but it's also funny at the same time. What's sad is that he looked like he came from a good wealthy family since I saw his old childhood photos before throwing them in the trash. He also had some old server pc's but I called a local buddy and he picked everything of useble tech up before I left.
Click to expand...
Yeah I've had to toss lots of stuff into dumpsters from deadbeat tenants over the years. I do feel bad about tossing albums with the kid pictures but if the parents really wanted them, they wouldn't have abandoned them and left just trash behind. Usually they're gone so you can't even get a hold of them, phone disconnected and no forwarding address. Plus when they owe you thousands, they don't want to be found.

Jimmy_Russells said:
I don’t really care how lucrative it is, not something I will do, is be a landlord. I want as few headaches as possible.
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It's just part of the business. When you have several units, one or two deadbeats a year doesn't really affect things that much. And lately I haven't had any deadbeats for the last few years and the rents have been going up. Just raised rents too, figured the pandemic was over so no use holding the line anymore.
 
we have a couple Colleges nearby, folks snap up houses and flip them into College rentals ALL the Time. ALL over the map.
Going Rate is $500/mo per bedroom. and you can "convert" almost any Room into a Bedroom

Our house it realistically a 3 BR, 3.5 Bath Ranch, but in those hands.... with a little Drywall/Vinyl Flooring/Paint (slumlord basement finishing) it could Easily be 7-8 BR.
 
earlyre said:
we have a couple Colleges nearby, folks snap up houses and flip them into College rentals ALL the Time. ALL over the map.
Going Rate is $500/mo per bedroom. and you can "convert" almost any Room into a Bedroom

Our house it realistically a 3 BR, 3.5 Bath Ranch, but in those hands.... with a little Drywall/Vinyl Flooring/Paint (slumlord basement finishing) it could Easily be 7-8 BR.
Click to expand...
It’d be a better one too with the 3.5 baths. Lol.

Imagine 1 bathroom with that many rooms. 😶
 
I’m a landlord, I own a single family home that I’ve rented out for 13 years now. Three bedroom 2,000 sf home. I’ve had three different families in it over the duration, with the latest destroying the house on a daily basis. They are always a day or two late on the rent, and my wife is the one who reaches out. They get aggravated and ask for something in return...the latest being doors (that they destroyed). We reached out over the summer to replace the doors. They never responded. And now in the middle of winter they want them. Yeah, I don’t think so. We have not gone up on the rent since they moved in. And they’ve destroyed doors, carpet, fridge, some walls, paint.

I’m tired of doing this, it’s something that keeps me up nights BUT I enjoy the income. House is paid for and it nets me $24,000 a year, but taxes/expenses probably total $6,000/$7,000 every year. And there’s always the chance of something big needing repair (furnace, roof, siding). the interior is very dated. It needs probably $60,000 grand in improvements/renovations. And I’ll never recoup that in rental fees. But yet I don’t want to sell because it keeps going up in value and of the yearly income. But I HATE BEING A LANDLORD. I REALLY DO.
 
doublebase said:
I’m a landlord, I own a single family home that I’ve rented out for 13 years now. Three bedroom 2,000 sf home. I’ve had three different families in it over the duration, with the latest destroying the house on a daily basis. They are always a day or two late on the rent, and my wife is the one who reaches out. They get aggravated and ask for something in return...the latest being doors (that they destroyed). We reached out over the summer to replace the doors. They never responded. And now in the middle of winter they want them. Yeah, I don’t think so. We have not gone up on the rent since they moved in. And they’ve destroyed doors, carpet, fridge, some walls, paint.

I’m tired of doing this, it’s something that keeps me up nights BUT I enjoy the income. House is paid for and it nets me $24,000 a year, but taxes/expenses probably total $6,000/$7,000 every year. And there’s always the chance of something big needing repair (furnace, roof, siding). the interior is very dated. It needs probably $60,000 grand in improvements/renovations. And I’ll never recoup that in rental fees. But yet I don’t want to sell because it keeps going up in value and of the yearly income. But I HATE BEING A LANDLORD. I REALLY DO.
Click to expand...
Doesn't sound worth it to me.

I work in the Legal Department of a multi-family management company. We manage 300+ properties, about 2/3 "affordable". I'll just say what I always say here when we talk about the general public.....they're nuts. They don't care about their own belongings, much less someone else's property. Holding your rent check hostage for new doors? There'd be an eviction notice on the front door. They definitely need to be non-renewed.

I don't have the detachment that's necessary to own a home and let strangers come in and turn it into a disgusting, destroyed mess. I barely want friends or family in my house, so you can imagine how I feel about renters. I'd never get any sleep.

Free yourself from the shackles. There are people who seem to be born landlords. Let them take it on.
 
wpod said:
High end renters are the way to go. Low end people are well low end people.
Click to expand...
I think you may be right, the next time I'm open for tenants I'm going up in rent...high enough where instead of getting 50 applicants, I'm getting 15-20. And I'm getting enough rent where I won't care about upgrading things and improving the home. Because right now I do...I worry they are just going to destroy it, or that my profits won't be high enough to make this worth while. Taxes keep going up, water bill, insurance.
 
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