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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It's not unethical behavior they're worried about, it's you knowing your rights and being willing to enforce them.

[Anonymous]

I never had a problem renting as a lawyer, but I never rented from slumlords.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make sure the lease specifies that drain clogs and garbage disposal jams are paid by the tenant (because they are always caused by the tenant).

Retire the tenant to keep the yard maintained, or to allow you to send a landscaper regularly.

Avoid roommates if you can -- they will become a never-ending cycle of chasing rent payments, people cycling through the house and absolutely zero cleaning.

Avoid tenants whose parents come with them to see the place. You are legally allowed to refuse to rent to tenants who need mommy and daddy to cosign to qualify.

I agree with not renting to lawyers -- they will send back any standard lease form marked up with ridiculous changes. But they are hard to avoid in DC.

Make regular, announced in advance visits to the place to change air filters, check the furnace, whatever. You need to see inside more than once a year. I once visited and found two twin mattresses laid out on the living room floor, along with personal effects piled up on the window sills. The two roommates who rented the place (a 2BR/2BA TH) had decided to lower their costs by adding two more roommates. That lasted exactly a day.

I don't know where OP's property is.
Virginia law requires landlords to give at least 72 hours notice for routine maintenance. I'd be surprised if any state allows less than 24 hours, except in the case of an emergency (and changing an air filter is not an emergency.)
Tenants have the right to privacy.

That's why I said "announced visits" -- whatever notice the lease/jurisdiction requires, give it and go there. Three days is plenty of time to straighten up, but not enough time to evict the extra two unauthorized roommates or the illegal cat.

Not exactly. In college my roommate and I were allowed 2 pets but we ended up finding a street dog and bringing him home. Days when the landlord would come he’d go to a friends house or the groomer for the day. Nobody ever knew. We even got back our pet deposit.

[Anonymous]

OP, we’re relatively new to being landlords, and our third tenants move in next week. Our rental property is a SFH in Virginia that we lived in for 20 years. Here is my experience.

Tenant 1 - Military couple, two young kids, husband deployed at the time, so I only dealt with the wife. Super nice, and understood that I was doing my best. We had a rocky start as the basement flooded every time it rained, within a month of them moving in (it never had previously), and I was there helping to dry everything out, and putting up a temporary solution, until a long term one could be put in place. Waived a month’s rent for their trouble. Will rent to them again in a heartbeat.

Tenant 2 - Military couple, 4 older kids, and turned out to be surly, unfriendly people. Everything was a problem that required an emergency response. They were so bad I offered to let them out of their lease early, since they seemed so unhappy (I don’t really want unhappy tenants). When I went with the agent to show her the house, we were shocked at its condition. They were two boxes of crap short of being hoarders. There was barely enough room to walk around. I still don’t know how every wall from floor to ceiling had handprints and scuff marks.

New tenants- Also military. We couldn’t exactly list the house in that condition, so we put it up as ‘coming soon’ with pictures we had used previously. New tenants had been in town to look at houses, they had only a day left when our listing hit, they did a drive by, put in an application with a very sweet letter, and signed the lease without setting foot in the house. I value the trust they have placed in me, so the house has been repainted, every small item I could find has been fixed, and it has been professionally cleaned inside and out. They seem like reasonable people, and I hope we will both act in good faith.

All three tenants were found through agents. They all have excellent credit scores. Prior landlord references were good (where applicable). Sometimes it’s just luck.

[Anonymous]

If in DC, make sure you have the tenant sign the Lead Disclosure form and the Tenant Bill of Rights form. You'll want to get a business license and the rent control exemption if you rent less than 4 units in the city.

GCAAR has a good standard lease template. Ask any real estate agent friends for it.

[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

Yikes. Wait, what is wrong with stay at home spouses?

[Anonymous]

Meet the people before you decide to rent to them and absolutely check references with a phone call.

[Anonymous]

I have three successful rentals in the 5k / mo range. I have a good formula but it took me a long time to get there. You should make your house look as good as you can. Clean every inch and make it shine. Offer lawn service - raise the rent to cover it. Get someone to clean the gutters twice a year - tenants never do it even though it’s usually in the lease. Be respectful and business like with your tenants but not super friendly. Most importantly familiarize yourself with the lease thoroughly so you know what is your responsibility and what the tenants responsibilities are. If you are going to rent to military know exactly what happens if they get transferred and need to get out of the lease early. If you get tenants who complain about every little thing offer to let them out of the lease.

[Anonymous]

I had a nightmare tenant during the COVID pandemic, stopped paying the water bill because county would not turn off water, stopped paying their portion of the rent, one part was paid by section 8 voucher.
Refused to accept registered mail.
Claimed that the notice period for them to evict would be 2 months
The courts made me wait 5 months for a hearing to kick them out
Once you get approved for eviction you have to wait for the sheriff to contact you and schedule the eviction and pay for movers.

Be prepared to loose money, there are better investments than real estate. I would be happy to sell and forget about landlording but my spouse doesn’t agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a nightmare tenant during the COVID pandemic, stopped paying the water bill because county would not turn off water, stopped paying their portion of the rent, one part was paid by section 8 voucher.
Refused to accept registered mail.
Claimed that the notice period for them to evict would be 2 months
The courts made me wait 5 months for a hearing to kick them out
Once you get approved for eviction you have to wait for the sheriff to contact you and schedule the eviction and pay for movers.

Be prepared to loose money, there are better investments than real estate. I would be happy to sell and forget about landlording but my spouse doesn’t agree

Don’t even get me started. The government has taken so many property rights and tilted the legal environment against landlords as to make it a horrible investment for the individual. Landlords need to be corporate with a team of vicious lawyers to equal out the game. This is all part of the impending economic collapse caused by the American citizens consuming exponentially more than they produce set into law by the government.

[Anonymous]

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.

My main advice is, don't do it, unless you have several properties and you will manage them professionally. It is much harder than it sounds...and rarely more profitable than simply investing in the stock market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don't they get like 10-15% of the rent? That's quite substantial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meet the people before you decide to rent to them and absolutely check references with a phone call.

Not many people answer or give information over the phone anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t rent to lawyers or law students.

This.

Or military.

Price appropriately so you get multiple applications and then be choosy from those so you can’t be sued.

Prior homeowners are great ime.

[Anonymous]

DINKs with in-person jobs are best. Never home and two sets of paychecks.