Is It Time To Rent?

[Karen Martinez]

We've been holding a rehab for about ten months while working with a realtor to sell.  One deal fell through and we've reduced the price several times.  Our contract is about to expire.  Is it time to rent or should I try to sell it on my own?  I live about 100 miles away-property manager/no property manager?

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Karen Martinez:

Thanks so much for your feedback. I will research PMs in the area. 

 Karen, if you would rather sell it, I think you should keep working on that.  Tenants will do damage, even if it is minor damage.  So, if your real goal is to sell it, you'll have work to do on it again.

I would not hire a PM.  There are too many unknowns and costs associated with PMs.  The majority of the time they cost you money.  Sure there are exceptions, but I think you can manage this property.  

Just because you are a couple hours away, does not prohibit you from managing it effectively.  Most managing just requires phone calls or emails.  And you will know that house better than a PM.

Example: My daughter had a PM for a house that was her residence for several years prior to renting it out.  Tenant calls the PM and says the breaker keeps tripping.

Now, you would probably ask, "Well, what do you have plugged in?  500 hot irons?  Well, you can only plug in one at a time."  Problem solved.

What her PM did, was send their maintenance guy over there (and charged it against the account) and the PM supervised this (charged the account), maintenance guy says a new breaker box is needed and an electrician needs to come put one in, and they called one and had him put one in, (and charged against the account the electrician and new breaker box, and time for their maintenance man to supervise the electrician, and the PM to supervise them all).

And they never called my daughter who would have said - "Just tell her she can't plug in 500 hair dryers at the same time." But, they didn't call her and they said it was an "emergency" which gave them permission to do all of the above without calling my daughter, because the contract said they can make decisions using her money - if it's an "emergency."

Just saying.  If they call you and say the toilet is overflowing, what would you do?  Call a plumber?  Walk them through how to turn off the water and use a plunger?  

If they call you and say a window lock is broken?  You talk to them about it, and arrange for someone to go fix it - over the phone.

You don't have to drive 100 miles every time a tenant has a problem.

So, just manage it yourself and keep control of your investment.  It's not hard to do.  You'll need to learn some landlord-tenant law.  I loved the Nolo California landlord book.  But, they may have info for wherever your property is, too.

http://www.nolo.com/products/landlord-tenant/landl...

If I can be of help, feel free to PM me.  Good luck.