Tenants don't pay - My landlord journey may come to an end?

[Austin Smith]

Hey all! 

I'm not sure if I've come to a crossroads or a dead end in my real estate investing journey. 

My wife and I have been building our portfolio over the past few years via house hacking and we're at 17 units currently.

Last year we hit the $30k in net profit from out rentals (only had 13 units at the time). We were happy to see how we would continue to grow. 

But it's pretty much been downhill since then. 1 tenant stopped paying (hasn't paid in almost a year), then another(3 months), and now another (recently). 

In a state like NJ, I pretty much can't get a court date for eviction until next year most likely due to backlog. 

I'm not naïve to think evictions aren't part of the game, but when your standard business practice of "simply" evicting tenants who don't pay has been stripped away, your left a little helpless. 

I definitely don't want to sell, the properties have great equity that I can use to scale, but at the same time I don't think I can go through another tenant not paying without the opportunity for effective and efficient recourse.

Keep in mind I have NO PROBLEM with cash for keys but it hasn't been effective thus far. 

Would love your input and feedback!

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Austin Smith:

This is common with new real estate investors. Investing is pretty easy . . . until it's not.

Your first problem is that you allowed the tenant to go so long without paying before deciding to start the eviction process. If you're going to thrive in this business, you need solid policies and procedures to prevent problems from getting too big to handle. I start the eviction process 10 days after rent is due, not 12 months.

Hire an attorney that is very experienced in evictions. Pay whatever it takes to evict these tenants. Watch how he does it, read the law, take notes, and be prepared to handle it on your own next time. Refine your processes so that the eviction process starts the very first day the law allows.

You shouldn't give up on real estate. You need to give up making amateur mistakes. Anybody can put money into a house and look good as long as there are no bumps in the road. Being able to tackle the bumps is what makes you a pro.