First Time Experiences with Landlording

Today i learned a important lesson about landlording. As this is my first rental and i have only been learning the art of property management for 6 months I am sure i will make many mistakes similiar to this one, but with help of bigger pockets hopfully i can prevent a lot of them!

I try and follow all the advice i can, so i got a rental that was close to home for property management, and always try to be very responsive to my tenants needs. They have never been late with the rent to the point of late fees, and keep my rental nice so i always try to treat them fairly. I even changed the shower handle stem for free when their kids wore out the washer. I am trying to under promise and over deliver so they will do the same.

I went by a few days later to put extra washers in the mailbox becuase the tenant knows how to do it himself and i was trying to give him no excuses for the next time, when I noticed the mailbox was broken. I honestly thought that maybe I had done a poor job installing it, so i got my cordless and some screws, went over there and took care of it. I txt'ed my tenant that i had noticed the mailbox and fixed it when i had dropped off the washers. He txt'ed me back saying thanks, that he had ran into it with his massive truck pulling into the driveway the week before! I was wondering if he woulda ever said something to me if i hadn't noticed. I wanted to charge him for it now, as our lease states, but i knew he was going to tell me something like, "ohh you didnt even give me a chance to fix it myself".

So i never said anything to him about paying me for the repair, but i atleast came away with something more then a dead battery for my cordless. Definetly always ask about something before you jus st go repair it trying to be a good landlord. Also never assume tenants are taking care of your property, I beleive its a must to check in on it quarterly, as even my tenant who has never been late, is very clean, very nice, and works hard doesnt take care of my property. Also, next time i do a repair such as this, he is definetly getting charged, I was way to lienant, but i have learned a lot from just a broken mailbox!

A quick note, here is my quarterly schedule to check on the property and make sure my tenants are keeping the place up.

1) Have my a/c friend go clean upper unit and change the a/c filter. I have him write the date on the side so i can check it later and make sure they are changing it, or i will charge them when my a/c breaks.

2)Spring time check-up i let them know I am going to check some things in the attic, gives me a chance to view the house and make sure everything is being kept up, also a chance to view the a/c filter.

3)If my tenants have been great and pay on time, ill send my lawn guys over 1 week and have them do the lawn for my tenants, they really appreciate it in July.

4) Have a pest control friend come out to the property and spray inside and out, and always tells me how it is lookin when I pay him.

All these things are very cheap in the scheme of things and keeps me up to date on my property and let the tenant know that i am taking care of the property and they need to as well. I am sure there will be many more things i will pickup along the way this is just one of my first experiences as a landlord but i learn quick!

Steven