Find a tenant or let house sit empty for now?

Question

Hello all,

I'm brand new to this forum. I'm working overseas hopefully for a year. I started work in early March 2020. I own a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house in a small city in the Idaho panhandle. It's my personal home, and I'll move back in when I return. I have moved all my personal belongings and furniture out. I'm hesitant to rent the house out at this time, mainly due to the current pandemic. I'm afraid of getting a tenant for a year lease, and then they lose their job and can't pay the rent and claim some kind of hardship and I can't get them out. Or they are or become infected with COVID-19 and can't leave or go to work, AND can't pay the rent. Or some variation of those situations. Am I better off leaving it empty for now (I have a property manager monitoring and maintaining it) and seeing how this pandemic develops? It could sit empty for a long time. I could try a short lease, or month-to-month, but those are difficult to find tenants for. I'm not that familiar with Idaho landlord/tenant law and what kind of protections I have. But depending on the direction this crisis takes, I could see laws enacted allowing ill tenants unable to work to remain in their rentals without paying rent.  Is anyone out there facing the same dilemma? I appreciate any advice anyone has about this. Thanks.

Steve Vaughan · Answer

The short term idea is great if they don't also need it furnished.

I am renting a house out short term while we wade through permitting and finishing the garage and basement. To address the eviction moratorium and risk of non-payment or holding over, I will rent for 29 days at a time, renewable.  They will be a guest and possibly not subject to tenant laws.

My alternative was a 3-4 month lease, so it was short-term anyway.  We hope to convert it to a sober living house when the extra bedrooms are finished.

I just placed a regular tenant 4/1 so am not changing my whole business model for the virus, just an idea for a one-off like yours. In general I would never let a house sit empty for a year if I could avoid it.  Get a quality PM if necessary.

Schafer Boeder · Answer

@Matt Davidson If you trust your property manager to keep an eye on things, then why wouldn't you want someone paying your mortgage for the next year while you're gone? Depending on when you plan to return you might need to offer a shorter lease (which might make it a little harder to find tenants). I don't know Idaho rental law, but I do work in Medicine and anybody getting Covid is probably either going to die or get over it within a couple of weeks at most. So the chance of this outbreak affecting them 12 mo from now is low. If you want to be safe, why not wait a month or two and see if the worst has passed. You can screen potential tenants and make sure they have steady employment. @Ramon Flores makes a good point too, consider renting short-term

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

@Matt Davidson empty houses get broken into sometimes-is that a potential problem? Maybe get a reputable PM to handle things for you.

William Bucklin · Answer

My thought is that even if a tenant left you would be in the same position you are  in if you just leave it unoccupied. And there is nothing worse than a potential asset being a Liability. I think that if for some reason there was a law suspending rent collection there would also be laws suspending costs to the landlord. I think if you have a good property manager doing your tenant screening most of your risk will be mitigated. It would be tempting to pay extra attention to those applicants whose jobs are "essential". However this could be tricky due to some discrimination laws where you can deny someone based on there income amount not their, source of income. But length of employment could be a useful gauge. Hopefully this was helpful to you

Will

Matt Davidson · Answer

Thanks everyone for your time and responses. An important piece of information I left out is that the house has been paid off for many years - no mortgage. So rental proceeds would be straight income, which is great. I do live very close to a hospital, a major employer in the area, so good suggestion to look for medical professionals. I've rented it many times in the past for 6 mo. leases, but it has always been a little challenging to find a tenant, even though the rental market where I live is tight. Not helping is that it is largely unfurnished. But this situation with the pandemic is unprecedented. My gut tells me to wait another month and see if the virus spread begins to taper off, then decide. But I'm open to more input.

Jingru Sui · Answer

Hi my suggestions is find a property manager that can help you lease it out and manage tenant. There're technology out there allow no contact showing. like rently lock etc.. the key is to find the right tenant who can proof to be able to pay rent on time. ( good credit, solid income, no eviction,etc..) these people are out there looking to find place to live in and work in.

Jingru Sui · Answer

Our STR portfolio in urban setting( atlanta downtown) has been hit very bad even tho we are close to hospitals, we were able to get some of them rented on a monthly bases, we still have loss...plus managing short term from far can be hard.

Ramon Flores · Answer

@Matt Davidson I agree with everyone and leave it empty. BTW I am not sure if you live close to a hospital or a big metro area, but I heard short term rental demands have gone up since nurses need a place to stay. You may rent it out short term and at least make some money. Just a thought.

Matthew Paul · Answer

I would leave it empty for the exact reasons you described . it would suck to come home and have no place to live .

Find a tenant or let house sit empty for now?

Most Popular Reply