Which is worse: dealing with contractors or tenants?

Question

I've heard it both ways. "I flip houses because I don't want to deal with tenants". "I rent houses for the monthly cash flow". WeIl guess what? If you flip houses you have to deal with contractors, and if you rent houses you have to deal with tenants. Which is worse? I've flipped and I've rented, and have an opinion but wanted to get BPs input. I'll get the thoughts started. No tenant has ever cost me $40,000. Contractors.

Jim Adrian · Answer

Contractors are worse because they are looking to make an extra buck!

Deanna McCormick · Answer

Contractors.. are worse,, if you get a bad one.. tenants if kept on month to month are at least limited in loss expected.

Deanna McCormick · Answer

Contractors.. are worse,, if you get a bad on.. tenants if kept on month to month are at least limited in loss expected.

Josh Mente · Answer

Erich I was in the same boat as you on the buy and hold strategy. But I have shifted mindset on this and basically buy very small niche rentals. I make sure that cashflow will support a property management company taking 5-8% of the rents for managing it. Leverage it out and have someone else deal with the headaches. Just buy it well enough that you can do that.

Good contractors are like unicorns. If you find one lock him away and make sure you take good care of them. When interviewing contractors I dont focus as much on price (big believer you get what you pay for) I focus on asking them questions about how they run their business. You can go on site to see a started project and finished project to see what the work looks like. Its the headaches of a poorly run business from their side that you have to avoid

Jassem A. · Answer

Depends on the tenant or contractor. Both can cost you a lot of time and money. A good property manager can deal with both of them for you and some will have their own maintenance people. In terms of flips, a good general contractor with fair pricing would be the least hassle.

Thomas S. · Answer

The are both about the same. Once you stream line your business dealing with either becomes very simple.

You set up a reliable team of contractors you use every time, you screen tenants to get the best and have a strict no exceptions policy for dealing with issues. New flippers and hobby landlords face the most problems.

The bigger issue I have with buy and hold is dealing with the maintenance issues on the property. With my flips its done and gone, move on to the next one.

Which is worse: dealing with contractors or tenants?

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