how to be a successful landlord (i.e. right way to choose tenant and avoid problems)

[Anonymous]

Foreigners in work visas are great renters usually. They don’t have the entitlements of some born and bred Americans and they don’t want any trouble.

[Anonymous]

I know there are some horrendous slumlords out there but some of these posts still seem like trolling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a long time renter our big red flag is landlord. We only rent places with a management company. We rent SFH in the 5-7k range for multiple years (currently in rental for 5 years). We will not deal with a landlord directly. We have in the past and they lead to problems due to their feelings rather than referring to the contract they signed.

Can you provide some examples of this bad behavior from a landlord?

DP but after 20 years of renting, the only bad landlords we had would ignore our emails (there were few and mostly as they were selling and we were preparing to move out) but they were happy to email us with requests for help as they sold their house - which we did. Treat people well. If someone helps you, have the decency to respond to their questions too. If they go above and beyond , say thank you. They were only nice when they needed something but otherwise blew us off. Now they’re happily wasting our money with needless cleaning even though the house sold as is and we had it professionally cleaned.
Use your head. Be reasonable. Communicate. Of your rental agent seems crazy, get a new one - they will create problems that don’t exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t need credit checks, background checks, criminal checks, references, etc etc. etc. etc. etc. and blah blah blah. I’ve been renting houses in NW DC for 10+ years and have never done any of these things and have never one time had a tenant problem and I have over 80 tenants at any one time. All you need is google. Search the prospective tenants sent to you by management company via “images.”

So you’re a racist. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just references—you want to talk to at least the last two *landlords*. (Two because the current one may lie to get a problem tenant out of their hair.)

Never did and I never have problems with tenants for the last 15 years.
I only need good income, great credit history and background check.

Good for you. I'd take the last two landlord refs over almost anything else.

[Anonymous]

Tenant selection is critical. Read up on horror stories by landlords. The reality is that a tenant can stop paying rent, trash the house, and force you to go through a months-long eviction process just to remove them. You can’t afford to make a bad decision.

Do extensive background investigation on tenants and if you have a bad feeling about someone, trust your gut. Never give a reason for rejecting someone.

Try to find tenants via word of mouth or other non-public means. For instance, every university has visiting professors each year. If you have a contact at one, tell them you’re renting a house and see if they can find someone in need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Picking tenants is tricky, some things I look for as red flags that often cause me to ghost them

Too nice of a car (if you’re renting with a 60k plus car)
More kids than adults esp teens
Single moms
More than one pet
Any public assistance
History of multiple 1 year only rentals
Stay at home spouses

I hate to see posts like this. I was a single mom (divorced with 2 sons and a dog). I had a REALLY hard time finding a rental after my divorce. I'm sure that it did not help that I was black. I am a lawyer and make WELL into the 6 figures and when I was finally able to find someone to rent to me, I had to show w-2s, divorce settlement, I paid 1st and last months rent and a security deposit.

When I moved (I ended up marrying a neighbor and we bought a house in another neighborhood), I painted, had all of the carpets cleaned and had the house professionally cleaned. I didn't the landlord to discriminate against another tenant. I left the house significantly better than it was when I moved in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just references—you want to talk to at least the last two *landlords*. (Two because the current one may lie to get a problem tenant out of their hair.)

Never did and I never have problems with tenants for the last 15 years.
I only need good income, great credit history and background check.

+1 I actually lost a great tenant the first time we rented our house out because their current landlord took a week to get back to me. In the meantime they found another rental. Gross annual income of at least 40 times the monthly rent, credit over 650, and clean background check has worked for us for almost ten years with six properties. Price it a bit below market so you get a lot of applicants to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My biggest lesson learned in DC was that we should have hired a management agency. We had difficult tenants and it would have been worth every penny for us to be anonymous to them and have a management company deal with them. I also would never be a landlord in DC again.

We hired a management company. I don't understand why people don't want a middleman. I don't ever want a tenant to call me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great start!
I own a rental house and manage it myself, it really has been pretty smooth. I'll ignore those who say a landlord managing a property is a problem, we treat the rental as our own and are quick to address and resppond to any problems. All our tenants have shared that most rental management companies are not very good to deal with.

Follow your gut also in regards to picking a good tenant and always be sure to actually meet them in person. When showing the house do they seem to like it or are they already complaing about things? The complainers are a red flag for me. We prefer families over groups/students it's just easier to manage and usually brings more stability.

Depends where you live but most jurisdictions have sample rental templates with all the needed legaleeze to use. Montgomery County has one and other necessary forms that one is obliged to give a tenant. Very user friendly and then simply create an addendum if you have additional things. You need to pull a rental license and a lead inspection at least from Montgomery County. Check your homeowners insurance and let them know it will be rented.

Make sure the house is clean and move in ready-everything should be in working order. Doors-new locks, plumbing, blinds, kitchen appliances, laundry

Anonymous wrote:We are buying a new house and are contemplating renting out our current house. I put together some advice that I've picked up by searching this board, but I would appreciate any other helpful input. Thank you.

1. obtain credit check, references, criminal background check, and evidence of income or funds (W2 for past two years, two most recent paystubs)
2. get a deposit equal to one month's rent
3. do not explain reasons for not accepting the application; do not deny application while showing property; always say there is other interest
4. advertise on military by owner (other good platforms to find solid leads?)
5. get a good contract (where can I find some good templates?)
6. get a handyman on speed dial
7. do I need to buy additional insurance?
8. what are some things that we should fix (e.g. fix a leaky faucet, have windows washed) and should not improve (e.g. no need to paint doors if they are decent, no need to replace windows if existing windows are functional)?

Thank you.

You’re the exception but unfortunately not the rule. I think a lot of landlords aren’t as diligent as you or don’t have the time or temperament for it.

[Anonymous]

We've been landlords for 19+ years in 2 different places. We manage them ourselves. We have not had any major problems in either place. We live across the country and it can be a pain to arrange service calls but the money savings is worth it to us. I'm a SAHM so the management is basically on me. I arrange the service people to come out and meet the tenants for repairs.

For our higher end ($5,000/mo) rental we used a realtor to find/screen tenants. We've mainly had foreigners here for work assignments and their company paid the rent. We've had some annoying ones asking for things that were totally unreasonable (moving an outside railing because the wife couldn't fit her car in the garage easily) but we shot them down quickly. Most were good and easy multi year tenants.

The lower end one ($1800/mo) I found tenants through Facebook and friends.

The key to being a good landlord is to respond to any issues quickly. Even if you can't have it fixed immediately, respond so that they know you're trying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Picking tenants is tricky, some things I look for as red flags that often cause me to ghost them

Too nice of a car (if you’re renting with a 60k plus car)
More kids than adults esp teens
Single moms
More than one pet
Any public assistance
History of multiple 1 year only rentals
Stay at home spouses

I hate to see posts like this. I was a single mom (divorced with 2 sons and a dog). I had a REALLY hard time finding a rental after my divorce. I'm sure that it did not help that I was black. I am a lawyer and make WELL into the 6 figures and when I was finally able to find someone to rent to me, I had to show w-2s, divorce settlement, I paid 1st and last months rent and a security deposit.

When I moved (I ended up marrying a neighbor and we bought a house in another neighborhood), I painted, had all of the carpets cleaned and had the house professionally cleaned. I didn't the landlord to discriminate against another tenant. I left the house significantly better than it was when I moved in.

Most people won’t rent to lawyers. I had a group house when young in 20s and everyone turned us down as two of us were lawyers. So we left them off lease

[Anonymous]

Treat your client (tenant) well while maintaining boundaries and they will treat you well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Treat your client (tenant) well while maintaining boundaries and they will treat you well.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Picking tenants is tricky, some things I look for as red flags that often cause me to ghost them

Too nice of a car (if you’re renting with a 60k plus car)
More kids than adults esp teens
Single moms
More than one pet
Any public assistance
History of multiple 1 year only rentals
Stay at home spouses

I hate to see posts like this. I was a single mom (divorced with 2 sons and a dog). I had a REALLY hard time finding a rental after my divorce. I'm sure that it did not help that I was black. I am a lawyer and make WELL into the 6 figures and when I was finally able to find someone to rent to me, I had to show w-2s, divorce settlement, I paid 1st and last months rent and a security deposit.

When I moved (I ended up marrying a neighbor and we bought a house in another neighborhood), I painted, had all of the carpets cleaned and had the house professionally cleaned. I didn't the landlord to discriminate against another tenant. I left the house significantly better than it was when I moved in.

Most people won’t rent to lawyers. I had a group house when young in 20s and everyone turned us down as two of us were lawyers. So we left them off lease

The lawyer thing blows my mind. I’m a lawyer and we were by the books, model tenants when we rented. Only pushback I had was making sure the lease reflected what the manager told us about allowing to have pets (lease said no pets, manager said small pets ok with approval).

I’ll bet some of my colleagues are awful, but unethical behavior can and should be reported to the Bar.