Why not disclose that I'm the landlady?

Question

Hello 👋🏾! 1st time excited House-Hacker 😊...Why is "frowned upon" to let my tenant/roommate know up-front that I'm the home owner?

Account Closed · Answer

This is a subject that is discussed all the time and I strongly argue against hiding who the owner of the property is. I think most landlords hide who the owner is because they have some sort of fear of rejection,  or because they are too chicken to enforce their own rules and think they need someone to do their dirty work for them.

I am the total opposite. I immediately tell every tenant that I am the owner and if they have any type of situation they can't resolve then I want my tenants to know they can come directly to the top dogs. Sure, we get phone calls ate 3 in the morning because a kitchen light blew out, but that is very rare and even though I get a little angry it is still a nice feeling to know that my tenants have the ability to resolve problems when they get no satisfaction from managers.

My wife and I carry separate cell phones for our tenants to call us.

To manage our properties, our lease agreement is 24 pages that consists of all our rent payment and eviction policies. We stick with our policies to the letter of the 'T' and have no problem facing tenants when we evict them.

Greg M. · Answer

20+ years ago it was different. Today I can type in your name or the property address in an internet browser and figure out you own it within a few clicks. No use hiding it.

Account Closed · Answer

The key to being successful with managing, collecting rents and giving legal notices and evictions is to have written policies that detail exactly how you handle late rents, evictions, etc. and then you go over these details before you sign a lease agreement. For example, I explain to my applicants that rents are legally due before the 1st of the month, most landlords state their rents are due on the 1st of the  month and we give you a grace period to 5 pm on the 3rd of the month. If you pay your rent 1 minute after 5 pm you had better include your late payment with your rent. If you do not pay your rent by the 3rd of the month we will give you a 3-Day Notice To Pay Or Quit on the 4th of the month even if you promise to pay us some time on the 4th. If you don't pay your rent by the due date on the 3-Day Notice To Pay Or Quit we will not call you nor text you to ask for your payment. We automatically send your file to our attorney for eviction. If you want to stay in your unit you will need to pay your rent, plus the late charge plus a minimum of $250 we paid to our attorney.

Looking your tenants in the face is super simple because you have made your rules super clear and now you tell your tenants that 'business is business' and you need to stick with your rules because if you break your own rules then you will have problems. I tell my tenants that the sooner I give them their legal notices the sooner I get them out of my unit because if I wait to give them their notices then they get too deep into my pocket. I also tell my tenants I have partners I have to answer to (not true) and I have bank audits where the bank wants to know if I am managing my property properly because my bank has an interest in whether or not I fail.

When you have everything clear in your own head, in advance, then it is easy to be hard on your tenants and look them square in the face. I asked an attorney at a real estate club what I should do if a tenant becomes terminally ill and can't pay their rent. The attorney fired back with, "you evict the tenant" and I thought he was rude and crazy at the time, but it does make sense since every time someone gets terminally ill you can lose tens of thousands of dollars and cripple your business. So, that is something else to be mentally prepared for and with our rental units we have tenants who are terminally ill no less then two times every year and we make no bones about collecting rent, or asking them who is going to pay their rent for them. We can't afford to hold off from collecting rent while some people are in hospitals for 3 to 4 months and then wait another 3 to 5 months to get them out.

Scott M. · Answer

@Colin Reid there is nothing to be ashamed of to begin with.  You know yourself and you are playing to your strengths and that is great.  A lot of people online will try and talk someone into being who they aren't VS doing the right thing and that is finding a solution that matches who you are.  Good on you.

Colin Reid · Answer

I told my PM that we wouldn't disclose that I'm the owner, but we won't lie about it if the tenant asks.

I have a PM in place for my house hack for several reasons.

1. My W2 has me out of town a lot, sometimes with little or no ability to communicate for hours or months.

2. I know myself. If I self-managed, I would be a pushover. I would give them a couple days on rent, or let that dog stay, or whatever. So I hire someone else to be my "bad guy," and I'm not ashamed at all.

Joe S. · Answer

For some people it’s best just to hire Property Manager. At this stage in my investing I am putting all new rentals with a property manager. It’s not so much I’m afraid of tenants it’s that I have so much going I do not take action fast enough when the tenants get behind in rent. Also I am a real target for tenants singing sad songs if you know what I mean.

Jay Hobdy · Answer

Im a newb but own an unrelated business.

Putting yourself as the owner opens yourself to all the sob stories, special requests etc.

I have commercial clients that owe us and I always tell them, look my bank loooks at my AR and it affects my LOC. Thats partially true. It allows me to be tough and blame someone else.

yeah they owe us money and I shouldn't have to zig zag but we have to keep the relationship as they spend quite a bit with us. Ironic thing is my other business primarily sells to multi family...

For real-estate I wouldn't hide you are the owner. It's easy to find out. But I would say you have partners and lenders that affect the decision making process. That will make some of those tough conversations easier.

Eric Janson · Answer

I would be upfront and not hide it.  They will eventually figure it out on their own and then you have lost trust with them.

Why not disclose that I'm the landlady?

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