Getting listed before upgrades done & tenants trashing property

[Katie Stone]

We just purchased a rental home that is in the process of renovations (paint, new counters & hardware), etc.  The place is a total mess right now as we have been stripping wallpaper etc.  The counters will not be installed for 2 weeks, the painting has not been started yet.... so we are probably still 3 weeks out.

It seems like with our other units it takes several weeks AFTER the posting to have it rented.  How do I not lose this valuable time? However, it wouldn't show great at the moment.  Any suggestions? Do I just wait until all the renovations are done, THEN take the pictures and list it? 

Also, a tenant from a different property just left and the place is TRASHED.  Any suggestions on how you prevent this from happening? This is the second time in a few months this has happened.  I am soooo tired of tenants leaving and then having to replace so much that is above normal wear and tear.  These tenants have been in the unit for 8 years (and I think they never cleaned a thing).  The deposit will not even cover the cleaning of the place, let alone everything else that now needs to be fixed or replaced.  They paid rent on time every month, and seemed to be nice people.  What do you all do as far as inspections etc? Not sure even how to screen differently! I am so done with people who don't care at all about my properties.  Rant over. Advice welcomed.

[Frank Chin]

I read a few recent posts here where landlords are totally frustrated with tenants post departure. In your case, it's totally trashed. In the other post, tenants didn't leave the right number of light bulbs in their ceiling fans, a broken toilet seat, broken blinds etc.

I been doing this for 35 years, and I run into this in 1 out of 5 departures. If the tenant lasted 8 years as you mentioned, I consider myself ahead of the game.

First, I consider painting every four years to be perfectly normal from a wear and tear standpoint. If I did it after 8 years, I'm already one paint job ahead. I switched from flat to semi gloss. A tenant was wondering why the walls still look so good after she's been there 5 - 6 years. I told her it's semi gloss, which she didn't realize. Originally, people tells me, it's too shiny.

Second, I used to get after tenant for holes in the wall, where they hang pictures, shelves etc.. Have them spackle. Not anymore as painters I use say they do it anyway for me and they often have to fix tenant fixes, like sanding what they did.

Third, I used to be upset over the condition of carpeting. Unless it's severely damage after 5 years, which hasn't happened yet, I consider re carpeting after 8 to 10 years pretty common. The trend now is hardwood floors, which is under the carpets, so I had the last vacant apartment floor sanded and varnished. Shows great. I'll see how it goes.

Holes in the wall. I take issue with tenants when there's more than 2 or 3, but I don't get too upset over it. 

Rat droppings and roaches. That's where I consider the apartment trashed. I had to replace a working stove with a new one. The clock on the old stove was full of dead roaches. Disgusting. But the stove was there when I bought the rental, so I only bought one stove for the rental, in 20 years. Same thing for the fridge, I replaced the one that came with the unit some 20 years ago this week.

Light bulbs missing in ceiling, broken toilet seat covers, broken blinds? I won't get too upset if I get it done for under $150.00, I'm happy. Just cost me $70.00 to fix broken blinds. The original toilet seat was there 20 years, so it doesn't bother me. 

So every 8 to 10 years,runs me around under $3,000 to redo a 2BR apartment, that currently rents above $ 1,700, I consider I doing OK. But in 3 out of 4 cases, tenants leave the unit in such good shape I could rent it out as is.

So, I look at the bright side. Every so often, I get disappointed. But after a good paint job, floor job, maybe an appliance, the place is as good as new. So now I think about how good the place looks like, the increased rent, rather than how bad it looked a few weeks before.

More important for me is tenants can pay the rents, on time, and so far I have great success. That's what I celebrate.