Biggest headache with rental properties?

Question

I plan to get into this business and I’m wondering what your guys biggest headaches are in dealing with it. I plan to use a property management company to handle that aspect. I’m interested in Las Vegas which is where I live and know the area. Any advise is appreciated!

Casey Powers · Answer

LOL. Whining tenants are the bane of my existence. Someone always looking for an excuse to “demand” free rent etc. The worst tenants always seem to be the ones who come with the property when taking over management from a DIY landlord. They’re next to impossible to retrain from all the bad habits they were used to getting away with. If you don’t know how to, or don’t like making people follow the rules, you will need a good PM to do it.

And like @James Wise said, poop and trash.

@Bill Brandt From my own experience, better properties definitely = less poop, less trash, fewer problems.

Oh. Beware the renters who need to move ASAP and/or offer a few months rent in advance. Whatever train wreck they’re running from will become your train wreck if you rent to them.

James Wise · Answer

There are a lot of headaches in the property management business.

For example we've got poop. Poop is really friggin annoying & you are gonna deal with it a lot more than you think.

Terrell Garren · Answer

11 years, 18 SFHs, self manage - For sure I've dealt with late payments, posted a few quit or pay notices and told tenants to handle maintenance issues. Never an eviction, 2am call or significant damage to a property.  Combination of good luck and decent judgement in vetting applicants I guess.  Biggest current problem - Cozy emails me every time a deposit is made into my checking account.  Gets downright annoying.

Jonathan R. · Answer

You want problems. Problems are good. It means you’re doing something. You’ve got to be bigger than your problems.- T. Harv Eker

Kristopher Hanks · Answer

@Brandon Arnett

Everything is a headache in this business. The biggest one for a hands-off owner is making sure the property manager has enough reserve cash from you to take care of problems without having to call you and collect more money from you for repairs, turnover and vandalism. Looking at your bank statement can be the biggest headache.

James Wise · Answer

Beyond poop trash is really annoying as well. Sooo much trash man, it's wild. Some people live like absolute savages.

Bill B. · Answer

Tenants that pay late but pay consistently even with late fees. Followed up by real estate is a really slow business. There’s almost nothing to do in buy and hold. screen right and you should be golden. 20 years with 13 properties with zero evictions, 1 lease broken, zero disaster zones at move out. I think higher rents and houses versus apartments tend to eliminate some of the disasters you see in posts above that might be more common in cheaper areas or apartments? Or it’s just better screening.

Theresa Harris · Answer

If you are going to use a property manager, make sure you get a good one as they will be handling any day to day problems.  Buy a place that will attract a good tenant, usually a home in good shape in a good neighbourhood.

Kelvin Tam · Answer

@Brandon Arnett it is all boil down to the type of tenant you are getting. You will have big headaches when your tenants are not taking care of your properties. The best way to avoid it is by sreening them. There're many topics and guides in this forum, try to search for it. Hope it helps.

Casey Powers · Answer

My company is not large. I don’t let the tenants get away with crap. The tenants almost always hate me when taking over management of a property formerly run by a DIY landlord because I actually enforce the rules of the lease. They are always a giant pain because they’re used to getting away with paying late, rent discounts when they complain about frivolous nonsense, and more.

Typical example: DIY landlord let tenant get away with constantly paying late, never paying late fees, demanding rent credits for ridiculous nonsense, then finally gets tired of it and hands it over to me. I immediately start making tenant pay late fees and/or NSF fees, enforce the rules, refuse their demands for free rent when there is a repair issue, and of course the tenants hate me, call me names, think I’m evil, threaten to take me to court, etc etc. All because the owner let them get away with everything.

The other typical example is the owner finally hands it to me when they’re 2+ months behind on rent and I have to evict and then clean up and repair trashed property.

Most landlords would be much better off hiring a good PM instead of futzing around with it themselves, and losing much more money than a PM charges.

Biggest headache with rental properties?

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