BiggerPockets

I also hate painting, but my husband likes it, so it's ok.

What bothers me the most is prospective tenants not showing up for a showing when THEY picked the time to be there.

I have painted part of one unit in my life. It sucks!!! i hire this Mexican guy (I speak Spanish so it works out) for $10 an hour. He is in charge of this crew who each work for $8/hr. I am not sure he pays them $8/hr, but the work gets done fast. Most painters I've met suck. These guys work hard and are always on time. The bad part is they are not insured so I am taking a risk. I only let them work inside. Hire painting out and your life will be so much better. Also hire out the cleaning of your units to the same crew. My guys are fast and do a better job then most tenants do. Work smart.

Jeffrey - It's funny you mention hiring out the painting. I did that this past weekend with a "day laborer" and he did a great job. Very hard working and did all the painting, pressure washing, etc I didn't want to do. I turned 30 last year, and doing all-day manual labor isn't as easy as it used to be.

Jon - I keep hearing landlords saying they are getting stuck paying unpaid utility bills on this website. Is this something that is regional? I'm from Tennessee and have never heard of having to pay the tenant's utility bill if it's in their name.

In a lot of cities / counties across the US you can file some sort of water affidavit or water responsibility form to get the water to be treated like gas/electric and follow the person not the house. Call your city / county and see if they have it. Not all do though.

I do just what Jon said - I tell them to call me 1 hour before the appointment and if they don't call I don't show. It is very shocking the number of people who don't call.

I hate seeing the abandoned pets that the scumbags leave. It makes me sick the way these worthless scumbags treat their pets. I think they should be flogged and then thrown in prison!

Mike

I've found a better way to show rentals. rather than making appointments to show a rental so people can dick around with you....
.......HAVE AN OPEN HOUSE!!

Have a couple during the work week, 4-7pm, and one on saturday 12-4pm. Advertise the open houses. DO NOT show the rental outside of those open house days/times!

People who are really serious will show, if they don't, they don't!

Another advantage is that you will end up with more than one prospective checking out the place at the same time. Causes competition. "Look, others are interested in this place! Better take it before they do!"

Have each open house visitor fill out a rental application. Then pick the best one!

There are two items that are tied and they are sanding and deaing with cloged plumbing fixtures, ie years of hair in the shower trap only discovered after tenant moves out. I never have encountered someone leaving behind a pet, mostly becuase I do not allow pets, but I agree that they should be flogged and put in prison.

For me, it's sanding drywall. THAT'S real labor, and not to mention the dust! Plumbing and electric I sub-out to friends. Everything else I can pretty much handle, having worked for a contractor for 10 years. My basement is "tool central". You name it, I probably have it (somewhere down there).

Problem now is, I've become the one everyone calls when something needs to be done...I.E. Kitchen and bath for "better halfs" mother last year, and deck around a pool for "better halfs" brother recently. They're calling me "Norman the Foreman"....NOT GOOD!!

"After cooling down from seeing that poor kitten yesterday..."

It's nice to see you have a soft side Mike (: So what happened to the kitten? (hopefully, I didn't just set myself up with that question LOL!). In all seriousness though I too would be absolutely outraged and people like that don't deserve to have pets. It's makes me just sick.

So far what I don't like the most is also painting. The last time I did almost the entire house (except ceilings) by myself and let me tell you my fingers/wrists were cramped up for weeks. It was weird. I think from holding the roller and all that repetitious motion. I won't paint again...next time I'll hire someone else to do it.

Do you do this call one hour before on luxury units also?

My units aren't luxury units, but they are on the nicer end of the rental spectrum. That's probably why I have pretty good success with the 1 hour call ahead. I'm guessing some of the landlords are probably dealing with lower income prospective tenants. This probably has something to do with the high rate of "no shows" after the 1 hour reminder phone call.