Curious how everyone's managing multiple properties & what system you're using, & actually enjoy using. I self-manage a few right now and it all lives in an Excel sheet I built myself. It works fine, but I'm manually entering everything, which is getting old. What I'd love is something that holds...
The most expensive part of a Baltimore rental isn't the rent you lose. It's the turnover between tenants. Landlords budget for a week of paint. Then the walkthrough happens and the week becomes six. **Budget the trash-out before you touch anything else.** A standard 2BR rowhouse trash-out — furni...
When a tenant calls and the person who needs to fix it isn't there, what information do you leave for that person? I used to handle a lot of calls for a roughly 90-unit portfolio, and the hard part was keeping the next step clear when a call couldn't be finished right then. I'm interested in what...
I self-manage a few rentals, and I also work on software in this space, so I'm telling you that up front. I'm not linking or selling anything here, just trying to learn how other landlords really handle this. A few things I'm curious about: Do you pick up calls at night, or let them go to voicema...
I screen listings against a hard money purchase test, and tenant-occupied rentals for sale keep producing the same answer. Houston, Harris County: 325 of them. San Antonio, Bexar County: 181. A twenty-zip corridor south and east of Houston: 25. That is 531 listings across three markets, and not o...
Property managers often sell owners on separation from tenants, anonymity (which should not be confused with asset protection), compliance & access to more responsive vendors and better vendor pricing. But hiring a PM does not automatically transfer risk. In fact, many management agreements leave...
There’s a peculiar thing about owning real estate: most of the expensive things don’t send you a monthly bill. The bank does. The insurance company does. The property tax people certainly do. The roof doesn’t. Neither does the HVAC system. Or the plumbing. Or the electrical system. Or the windows...
Has anyone had roaches in a property? Any tips? There were 6 spotted over a month. Pest control came 2 weeks ago, but since, two more have been spotted, and we are bringing pest control back. Tenants are fairly clean, but they have little kids (read: sometimes crumbs) and also use cardboard boxes...
There are some very good property management and portfolio tools on the market. My hesitation has always been the long-term subscription cost, especially when I may only need a small portion of what a larger platform provides. Instead, over time I’ve built several tools around the specific decisi...
For experienced landlords: What expense surprised you most when you first started? Maintenance? Vacancy? CapEx? Property management? Insurance? Something else? Would love to hear the expenses newer investors should be building into their numbers from day one.
For a $1,600 per month 1 bedroom apartment, is it common to get first and last month rent plus one month security deposit before move in?
I’m looking for practical input from California landlords on resolving a security deposit dispute without creating a bigger problem. A former tenant is demanding the return of their entire security deposit. The dispute concerns a deduction for excess electricity use associated with a high wattage...
I ran a worked example this week on current Texas numbers and the result is worth putting in front of anyone buying a rental on short-term money right now. The file: a single-family house bought on a hard money loan, renovated, rented at $2,412 a month (the August Houston average per HAR). Taxes ...
Finding a great tenant can feel a little like dating. Everyone is on their best behavior in the beginning. Then sometimes the red flags start appearing before you've even made it official… 🚩 Every previous landlord was “crazy.” 🚩 They want you to make an exception to just one little rule. 🚩 Then ...
I pulled every recent sale on the Edmondson Ave corridor (21229) this week. The spread on one avenue tells you the whole story of West Baltimore right now. **It's not one market — it's about twelve stacked on top of each other.** Within a few blocks you've got rowhouses trading for a few thousand...
I used to run a Real Estate Meet-Up several years ago in Soldotna for Central Kenai Peninsula investors. I would like to get it going again. If you are interested vote "YES" in the poll and message me your contact information so we can start planning a day and time in the near future.
Hi all, I'm thinking about whether and how to sell my rental in Brightwood. My goal is to cash out, pay off the liabilities and invest in another asset. Just earlier this year, I jumped through all the hoops, made a bunch of repairs and got a 2 year BBL. The house currently has tenants, most of w...
I made a post earlier and someone said to gift tenants things for new/renewal leases. What gifts work best? Are there any other guerrilla marketing techniques to attract new tenants?
For those of you who rent to sec 8 with a large number of bedrooms. What is your turnover like? How much are your make readies? Do the families trash the place?
Ok its time to replace roofs on 2 of my properties! Who has used GAF for measurements? How accurate are they? Im and out of state investor who self manages and trying to get the material pricing for purchasing to be picked up by contractor. Or any recommendations on another way?
Landlords & real estate investors — what is ONE thing you wish your property manager did better? Not necessarily something that would make you fire them—just that one thing that consistently frustrates you or makes you think, “Why can't they just get this right?” Communication? Repairs? Tenant sc...
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT / CASH FLOW September 2026 5 Signs Your Rental Property Is Costing You Money A property can look profitable on paper while quietly draining cash through vacancy, deferred maintenance, weak tenant screening, and poor expense control. Here are five warning signs worth catching b...
A "no pets” policy does not automatically mean a tenant cannot have an assistance animal. Under Fair Housing requirements, a qualifying service or emotional support animal may be considered a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability. That means the animal generally cannot be treate...
In my work with Maryland property owners, I have seen how much harder an unauthorized occupancy issue can become when it is discovered late. When a property sits empty and nobody has a record of who had access or what condition it was in, sorting out what happened can become much more difficult. ...
Hey everyone, I've been managing a few units myself while working, and maintenance dispatch has easily become the most annoying part of my day. Every time a tenant has a repair issue (like a leaking sink or HVAC problem), I find myself caught in an endless loop of phone tag. I text the tenant for...