Introducing Myself as New Landlord / Conditions Report

[Account Closed]

First, the question then a little background.

-Do you sit down with existing tenants after acquiring a property or just send them a letter introducing yourself? If you send a letter how do you perform a mutually signed conditions report of the apartment?

Last month I acquired my first rental property, a duplex in the suburbs of Seattle, WA. I sat down with the tenant (only one unit was occupied) to introduce myself, fill out a conditions report and sign a new rental agreement. It went very well.

This month I am closing on another duplex in the same neighborhood. This time however, I have to raise the rent on one tenant by about 15% and it would be much easier to just send a letter rather than sit down with the person and explain why I have to increase the rent.

Your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

[Zach Schwarzmiller]

Hi Grant, Welcome! I just bumped my tenants rents 20% in Snohomish County and I think they really appreciated the face-to-face meeting. We actually had a really good talk about why I needed to increase rents this much, utilities are increasing, the bill is ridiculous - they had no idea how much it was as they never met the old owner, he only sent letters. They all intend to be more conservative over the next year to prevent such a larger rental increase. And I know both of their intents is to stay for at least 2-3 more years - I've sent out letters before as well, but I seem to have much more positive feedback sitting down with them. hey had a professional property manager managing the building previously who treated them very poorly, so I don't have a hard act to follow which is quite nice. I was still able leave a smile on their faces when raising their rents +$200/month.