Hello folks, this is primarily going out to the other landlords out there. Doesn't really matter if you still live in the unit and rent a room, or if you're renting the entire house and living elsewhere. I just am hoping to pick your brain a bit!
Not a landlord? Feel free to chime in and share your opinion too!
So, to start out with, those of you who live in the same unit and rent a room and/or an attached house. When it comes to non-renewal of a tenant's contract how much notice do you tend to give? The reason I ask is I am currently attempting to get a tenant out of my house. I gave a full two week notice before the end of his lease 6 month lease, and let him know ahead of time I was going to give him a full 30 days past the end of his lease to finish finding a new place and move out. This means I basically gave him a full 45 days. Well, now he's basically telling me he didn't have enough time and needs ANOTHER two weeks. It's not something I'm able to give him though, as I'm moving out of the house and turning the entire house into a rental property. Am I being an asshole by denying him the extra two weeks? I feel like 45 days is plenty, but maybe I'm wrong.
For those that rent an entire house (as I'm about to), do you rent with a management company, or do you manage everything yourself? Do you have experience between the two for pros and cons? I'm letting a management company take over at a 10% commission since I travel a lot for work generally, and I want renters to have problems dealt with quickly.
Lastly, I'm not keen on pets, so I'm only allowing service animals. I had plenty of animals growing up, so I'm not looking for how not understanding I am. I know first hand how much damage they can do. And yes, I know kids are bad too, but I can't exactly limit children. Do you find just shrugging and taking the possible damage losses worth it?
Cheers, Isaac
-------------------- I live in the middle of nowhere, where nothing grows.
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On background... My family has made the bulk of its living on income property, and I am the sole manager for a residential four-plex, duplex and a home with a separate small studio in the back. I contract a more complex twelve unit property out to a third party management firm, because it's 10x as far away from my home as the rest of the lot (and more maintenance due to the age of the property and the mix of tenants).
Notices to vacate the property likely vary depending on your jurisdiction. Here in California, the minimum requirement is 30 days advance notice, and 60 days if the tenant has lived there for more than a year. I have never had to ask any of my tenants to leave, but I opt to provide at least 60 days notice for major changes such as rent increases. Generally speaking, if you select your tenants carefully and you treat them with respect, they will be more likely to take better care of your property and maintain better communication in the event of any types of problems, whether they be related to potential maintenance issues or personal issues that they are facing which could result in temporary difficulties to pay rent. Tenant selection is truly the most important aspect of property management, and it's something that necessarily requires some experience to get good at. Crash course: make sure anyone you rent to can provide prior residence history, contact them to ensure they were civil and paid rent on time (sometimes you'll find young people who haven't rented before -- talk to their parents, and get their parents to co-sign on the lease agreement), and secondly verify employment income and security of employment by talking to your applicant's employer personally and requiring them to furnish paystubs in advance of your conversation with their superior.
With regard to outsourcing management to a third-party, keep in mind that the 10% base commission does not include hidden costs that you will undoubtedly incur. The management company I use on my twelve unit maintains in house employees that I'm certain they pay much less than what they bill me for on their hourlies (this is known based on what I pay my guys - or what I do myself - on the properties I personally manage for similar procedures). In addition, their contract allows their maintenance employees to bill for hours spent travelling to and from the property, including time spent for trips to the hardware store, as well as bonus commissions for each vacancy they fill. Property management can be a pain in the butt though, so if you have enough of a profit cushion, it can definitely be a big stress reliever to let someone else handle the nitty gritty of day to day operations. For a single home, I would encourage you to try your own hand at it first, because you won't have as many moving parts, and seeing as you have lived in the property, you probably have a good idea of what may need work in the impending future.
On pets, I allow cats on all hard floored units without much fuss. Dogs I inform the tenant that they must inform me of the breed and I must meet the dog personally before they are allowed to live on the premises (I am also more hesitant to rent to a dog owner if they cannot provide a prior property manager reference for where they have lived with the dog, to ensure that the dog was well behaved, didn't destroy things or bark too much). Regardless of the type of pet, I also require the tenant to sign a "Pet Agreement" addendum that indemnifies me against any liability from their pet and also requires them to place an additional deposit (typically around 50% of the monthly rent) to cover for any damage that may be incurred... and I have had to deduct from a pet deposit before, so I can understand why you may not want to allow it. But people love pets, and this is going to be someone's home, so for me, I have a hard time not giving my tenants a chance to be responsible pet owners in their home.
As a final mention, I'll just say that you'll figure it out as you go along. As long as you're not outright negligent, you should do fine, even if it may be stressful in some moments. When it rains it pours, but most of the time, it's smooth sailing. I rent a parking space at my own home to a family friend who lives in Estonia and bought two properties here in the Los Angeles area for income. He shows up about once every six months and has no manager for his properties. So that just goes to show you, it can be done in a lot of different ways. You'll have to figure out what works for you...
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-------------------- ┼ ··∙ long live the shroomery ∙·· ┼ ...╬π╥ ╥π╬...
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