If you could hand off ONE thing about managing your long-term rental forever, what would it be? Maintenance coordination? Rent chasing? The books? I'm genuinely curious what you hate doing vs. what you just think you're supposed to do yourself.
A vacant unit in winter is where small misses get expensive. Here is the checklist I run the day keys come back. Utilities first. Transfer gas, electric and water into the owner's name the same day so there is no shutoff gap. Set the heat to a steady temperature and read your insurance policy's v...
For those of you managing for third-party owners: the 1st isn't rent day, it's statement day. Rent roll, deposits, repairs, the note explaining why the plumber cost $640, and every owner wants it slightly differently. The managers I've seen stay on top of it do three things: one statement templat...
I recently came across an interesting statistic: Renters who are satisfied with maintenance are 57% more likely to plan to renew their lease. As a property manager, I believe keeping good tenants starts with being responsive and staying ahead of maintenance issues. A vacant property can cost an i...
Self managing in itself is stressful, let's be honest. What do you find to be your biggest struggle with the day to day management of your property? (commercial, long term, vacation)
I'm not an investor. I build software, and for the last few months my business partner and I have been working on how people keep maintenance straight across more than one property. The most useful thing that came out of it has nothing to do with software, so I'm putting the whole thing here. The...
When it comes to building a relationship with a property management company, what do you value most? Whether it's communication, transparency, reliability, or just knowing your clients and investments are in good hands. Curious to hear what everyone looks for in a property management partner and ...
I recently had a tenant turnover at one of my properties in Florida. Since I self-manage my rentals, especially the ones out of state, finding ways to make turnovers easier is always a priority. One thing that's been a game changer is having Kwikset SmartKey locks installed. Rather than replacing...
Hello, my tenant is breaking his lease early and I need to find another tenant by December. Does anyone recommend any property managment companies in San Antonio? Zip code - 78220
Saturday morning I was in the middle of my workout and there was a big pop. The whole neighborhood's electricity went out. I reported the outage, and then the utility came to my house. Apparently, we were the culprit. A squirrel. It lost its life, but it shut down the system. I sent it to a buddy...
When does giving a tenant grace turn into financing their lifestyle? I was sitting in eviction court when another landlord’s situation caught my attention. His tenant’s rent was $1,500 a month, and he waited nine months to file. $1,500 × 9 = $13,500. Every month, the tenant had a new story: car t...
I’m considering RentRedi’s Latchel maintenance program for my rental properties and would appreciate hearing from landlords who have used it. How has your experience been with response times, troubleshooting, contractor quality, and repair costs? Does it reduce the time you spend handling mainten...
I used to treat response time as a nice-to-have. Then I actually tracked it, and the slow replies were quietly costing me — more escalations, more turnover, more "why didn't anyone get back to me" during renewals. Three changes that moved the needle for me: 1. Instant acknowledgment. Every tenant...
A landlord friend of mine was venting to me about rent collection. His tenant pays late every month, and he couldn't figure out why. I asked to see his lease. Rent was due on the 1st, and late fees started on the 10th. I told him, "Your rent isn't due on the 1st. It's due on the 9th." He looked a...
Hi all, I've had a property in a Class C neighborhood for about 5 years in Parramore, downtown Orlando. The last tenants were so filthy, with tons of cockroaches, food crumbs, and sewage smells. I've had massey pest control get rid of the cockroaches and I've had a professional cleaning company c...
Hi everyone, I got a property manager to run my LTR for the past 1.5 years due to things happening in my personal life. Now that things are settled, I am planning to transition back to self-management. Nothing against the property manager. Not bad but not notably amazing. For those of you who hav...
Hi, for San Diego -can anyone recommend a cleaning service or individual that has done a good job cleaning a single-family home between tenants? Thank you
Hey everyone! I am new here and looking to buy out of state and wanted to see if anyone had any advice as to how to manage your property independently, even out of state. I know it’s typically unconventional but I am not looking to build a huge portfolio, but keep a low overhead on what I do end ...
Do you include pest control as included as part of the lease/rent? Or do you leave it up to the tenant to pay for this? Our current policy allows the tenant to pay for it, or not. Its their decision. However recently we had an issue with mice in a property. After calling the various pest control ...
A lot of the owners I talk to never set out to be landlords. They inherited a house, kept the old place after a move, or took a job transfer and could not sell at the right number. Now they are handling a tenant from two states away on a weeknight. Owning a rental by accident is fine. What gets e...
While running my own numbers, I realized I was only factoring in a loss of rent for vacancy costs. Here in Columbus, service providers charge a service fee, usually around $30-$50 per gas & electric, even if you don't use any power. Add that on top of marketing costs ($100 per month), and you're ...
Hello, My name is Evan Bloom. I have run a small property management company in Kansas City for two years. I currently manage six single family residential properties in the Brookside/Waldo area for local investors. I want to grow our current operation and was curious about the best practices on ...