How to manage my situation and house hack

[Kevin Phu]

Hey BPers,

I'm in need of some solid advice/guidance in my situation.

I currently have a SFR primary residence in which I rent out two of the rooms. For my W-2 job, I travel a lot and am often times out at sea for weeks at a time.

I am currently out to sea and there have been some problems the have sprung up at home.

-Coworker who went by the other day noticed the main toilet is leaking at the base

-One tenant just emailed me saying the dishwasher won't drain and smells like death

There have been previous problems such as the shower clogging (which I cleared) and the washer drain line backing up. These two problems I was luckily in town and got them resolved right away.

How do I go about managing these problems in the future/now while I am away? Find a jack of all trades handy man? Are they willing to wait for payment when I get back or online payments if available? Bite some of the cost and get a property manager?

What do you guys do? Stressing out here...

[Aaron K.]

Yes there are many vendors who will accept online payment, you don't even need to find a single person if you can assess the problem from a distance.  A Property manager might be more difficult to find because you are renting by the room and presumably have different leases with each tenant.