Rent out a condo?

[Liar Loan]

So your current tenants are now month-to-month?

Mine were 1-year. My last tenants wanted a 2-year for a small discount to coincide with graduating from UCI.

Yeah, mine have been month-to-month for nearly 2 years.  You are operating in a college market though, which is a whole different dynamic and it makes sense that you would have higher turnover, and the 1 or 2 year leases are probably a good idea.

My tenants left their last place because it was a tiny studio in Costa Mesa and I think the landlord was negligent with repairs.  I've always repaired anything that breaks asap, sometimes the same day.  Honestly, I don't think they are going anywhere unless they decide to have kids, and even then they may not be able to afford to get a bigger place.

Landlording is really about dealing with people, so you have to adjust your strategies based on your market.

 

[nosuchreality]

While I understand Liar Loan's sentiment... I feel my time is worth more than $100-200 per month and the headache of getting calls from the tenants about issues (the tenants weren't being a pain... but stuff breaks down in the home and needs to be fixed).

It all depends on you... if you're handy like LL and want to save the money, do it yourself... but if you're like me and barely have the time for my own things, you may want to look into a property manager.

Just the other side of the coin.

A good tenant may not call you, once a year.  Put a PM in, and there is no reason for them not to call, the PM will treat them like just any major apartment building and the tenant will react the same way, IMHO.  PM's can get pissy and evoke the same behavior back. 

I called my prior landlord twice in three years.  Once for pipe bursting in a wall, the second for an external gas leak.

You do the the 10% math.

We can compare notes next year.  We just leased our condo, going to do the management the ourselves.

 

[qwerty]

for all of you landlords, do you do inspections on quarterly, semiannual or annual basis or any at all? im not a landlord but if i ever was i would probably want to check the place out every 6 months to make sure you catch small issues and repair them instead of waiting for it to become a big issue and have the tenant call you later.

 

[woodburyowner]

another important point to think about is the age of the rental.  if it's a semi-new rental, it makes the chances of something going wrong even less.  if your rental is 30 years old, a PM is more worthwhile.  it's just a probability game.

 

[Liar Loan]

for all of you landlords, do you do inspections on quarterly, semiannual or annual basis or any at all? im not a landlord but if i ever was i would probably want to check the place out every 6 months to make sure you catch small issues and repair them instead of waiting for it to become a big issue and have the tenant call you later.

I don't have a regular schedule.  Once something breaks I'm in the unit and I can eyeball things pretty quickly.  If you go a long time without any repair calls maybe call the tenants proactively and ask if anything needs to be fixed.  (That probably sounds horrific to those that hate managing, but it could prevent bigger problems down the line.)

If you build your empire to a certain number of units, say 10+, I don't think regular inspections are feasible.  Maybe include the right to inspect in your lease agreements and only exercise that right on a case-by-case basis.  Anybody else have thoughts on this?

 

[momopi]

Regular inspections are good for checking up on lawn care and tree trimming, but there are other annual maintenance that should be performed.  i.e. flushing the water heater tank, treating roots in sewer lines, clean out dryer vents, replace batteries in smoke/CO2 detectors, replace air filter, clean rain gutters (and anything else on the roof, or loose roof tiles), check for leaks, etc.