Should I Tell the Roommate that I'm the Landlord?

[Jacob Zivanovich]

As described by the title, what are the pros and cons of telling your house hacking roommate that you're the landlord? 

Some say to never tell them and let a real estate agent show the house and what not, but I feel that I would have a hard time not being completely transparent with my roommate. Of course, I would keep my distance in terms of them being a close friend, due to any unexpected complications. I just think that I would operate better if I told them up front... What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

[Steve K.]

Quote from @Michael Smythe:

@Steve K. nice opinion. Glad you found what works for you.

What would you do if a tenant you evicted, who was part of a biker gang, looked you up online and visited your personal residence with his gang? You weren't home to have an honest conversation with him & his gang, but your wife and kids were and they were traumatized by their threats. Oh, and they were gone by the time the police got there.

Just curious how your honesty policy protects your family?

Also, legally, if a property is in an LLC you are not the owner. Many courts won't even let the owner of an LLC represent their LLC in court, requiring them to hire an attorney. So, there is no LIE as you keep emphasizing.

I’m not some naive beginner. I have the most ridiculously crazy tenant stories I can share with you. There’s no avoiding craziness in this business. That type of person you mentioned would find me whether I lied about being the PM or not. They’d probably come get me if I served them the notice to quit posing as the PM, so it wouldn’t matter if I lied to them about being the owner. Crazy people are crazy. Don’t rent to crazy people would be my advice there. Screen properly. Over the years I’ve gotten better at screening, my class C properties are under management and I only manage my Class A’s and B’s so I deal with far fewer crazy people now. But you can’t avoid crazy people altogether in this biz IME. I’ve had inherited tenants that were crazy. I’ve had good tenants whose exes got out of prison and moved in with them that I’ve had to deal with who were crazy. I’ve had great tenants whose kids grew up and became gangbangers and I’ve had to deal with them. So screening well is the most important thing but only helps so much. Every time I’ve treated these people with professionalism, honesty, fairness and never let it get personal to the point where they would want to bring me personal harm. I’m firm but nice, just like I am with my children. “Sorry, it’s company policy”, end of conversation. People understand that usually, and I don’t get into their personal lives or make it personal, or get into situations where people would want to attack me. I did get a concealed carry permit when I was managing a lot of apartments in a rough area, luckily never had to use it. I do have my properties in an LLC so when I used to evict personally it was the PO box for the LLC on the paperwork, and that’s probably the biggest benefit of having an LLC. These days I hire an eviction attorney and don’t interact with the tenants after that. I keep it professional. Always friendly, never friends. The OP is asking about house hacking so I don’t think he’s going to have biker gang types as house mates. You can use more personal discretion when picking house mates, as fair housing laws usually don’t apply so you don’t have to accept just anyone that meets the criteria. Choose wisely, be professional, have company policies that you stick to.