Landlording - A Collection of Best Practices

[William Price]

I thought it would be fun to start a discussion on some of the best practices of landlording.  What do you do that makes you a successful landlord or makes your life easier when managing your properties.  Are there things that you wish you knew when you started that could save people a lot of time and headaches?

I'll start with the first tip.  I used to meet repairmen and my property in a 2-4 hr window to fix whatever was broken.  This required me to either take a 1/2 day off from work, figure out how to get the key to the company, or arrange for the tenants to be home - a real pain!

Tip #1)  I put a Master Lockbox on all of all of my units ($30 from Home Depot).  Service people can let themselves in without anyone having to meet them.  This has also saved my tenants a call to a locksmith or me when they have locked themselves out.  I change the combination periodically. 

What's your best practice or tip?