Letter: No, I can’t rent to you for less than my mortgage

[John T.]

Interesting letter from the VailDaily:

Letter: No, I can’t rent to you for less than my mortgage

Opinion | May 8, 2022

This is to the renters and keyboard warriors out there from a landlord. A number of years ago, after diligently watching the real estate market, I was fortunate enough to purchase an apartment that I could rent out.

My unit is not new, it is dated, but I keep it nice. The appliances are approaching their lifespan and require regular attention. The rent that I collect from my tenant covers the mortgage, HOA fees and homeowners' insurance and, yes, I do make a monthly profit. That profit is included in my annual income, and it's taxed, but no, I am not living a lavish lifestyle from this extra income. That extra income is spent on the rental unit's new furnace, the new washing machine or the after hours call to the plumber to unclog the toilet.

When needed, I spend weekends making multiple trips to the hardware store to reseat toilets and replace garbage disposals, but please don't confuse this with complaining, please understand that this rental unit is my part-time job and an investment in my future. I spend my time and energy to keep it in good working order for my tenants. Inflation, the increased cost of homeowners insurance (as a result of the increased rebuild cost per square foot) as well as regularly rising HOA fees all contribute to increasing the rent. I don't raise the rent year-to-year with tenants, but when I am searching for a new tenant, I research both the government's fair market value calculator and what the market can bear and that is where I set my rent.

Prior to every new renter, I have the entire apartment deep cleaned by a professional cleaner and the carpets are shampooed. My time is spent waiting for prospective renters to hopefully arrive at showings, answering calls from Craigslist and responding to inquiries on Facebook Marketplace all the while getting lambasted for the monthly rent.

I own one unit among the many and I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me, I am just writing to provide some perspective.

*****

Any thoughts about the letter?

[Jim K.]

@John T.

Letter: My perspective

Opinion, May 11, 2022

This is to the renters and keyboard warriors out there from a landlord.

Four years ago, my uncle dropped dead in his office at his insurance agency and left me his investment property in his will. I never like the old man, and I like the place he left me even less. It's a two-bedroom house in a sketchy hood and I wouldn't be caught living there myself -- that neighborhood is full of trash who laze around all day, selling drugs, collecting disability and welfare and food stamps, picking up free food at the food bank, panhandling anyone who they see who dresses and drives better than they do.

My time is important to me. My dad and uncle also left me significant stock market investments to manage, and I have many other interests and hobbies, like the well-rounded person I am. So I have a property manager. What I want out of him is simple, I insist my tenants Venmo me my rent every month dot on the first. If they're a day late, I have him send them a pay-or-quit notice. Gotta keep these sorry people in check, keep them properly trained up like the dogs they are, or they get out of hand. I don't listen to their sob stories, whatever they are. These people lie like the sparks fly upwards, their parents never taught them anything else. Whatever else my property manager does to keep the money coming in, that's fine by me.

Keeping the place profitable is pretty simple. I have a spreadsheet. If I make less than the amount I've decided I should make from the apartment every month, its clear the tenants are doing something wrong. I raise the rent every year accordingly. They've gotta get used to it or leave, no one told them to be tenants. Boo hoo hoo, cry me a river. Nobody ever helped me get to where I am.

Sometimes things take a while to fix. That's not my fault. The home warranty company is slow, that's all. The tenants should get used to it. And of course if they don't like it, they can just GTFO. My property manager will find other people. My tenants routinely say nasty things about my property manager. They say he gets abusive, he ignores them, he belittles them when he talks to them. That's to be expected -- tenants are always trying to get their property managers in trouble, find a way around him, like I said, these people only know how to lie.

The craziest thing I heard from one tenant was that the property manager would let himself in at all hours with his key and go through their underwear drawer. I mean, really? The property manager has the same skin complexion that I do. Good people like us don't do things like that. But that's tenants for you, always starting trouble...

Last week my wife yelled at me for asking her for something. At the same time, the property manager told me the tenants are cold and the furnace isn't working. I spent four thousand bucks on the wife to buy her something nice and shut her up, as well as the three hookers and the Mexican midget that did what she wouldn't do. The tenants can wait until next month for heat.

I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me, I am just writing to provide some perspective.

*****

Any thoughts about the letter? A LOT of us simply shouldn't own property. Let's not pretend you can't swing a dead cat by the tail around a group of landlords without hitting a saint with it.