Going to be a brand new landlord on 12/28... would love advice!

[Brian H.]

Hey everyone,

So I am about to close on my fist rentals.  It's insane. I completed my first flip, it went through three potential buyers that all ended up with lending issues, and finally is just now selling a year later. Made of nicely though.  Very grateful.  I had had my goal to sell that flip and start another before 2019... but had finally just accepted that the property may not sell until 2019, but it sold! So yay!  

My new 2019 goal was going to be getting ONE rental property under my belt and another flip as well. Well, the stars aligned in some odd fashion and now on 12/28/18, I close on a 5 property rental package. 1 quadplex, 3 duplexes, 1 1br/1ba little blockhouse. So, 2018 is ending in a much grander fashion than I ever expected. I thought maybe this time next year I would have a duplex or something. So, yay! :)

Anyways, to the issue at hand.  I am going to be a brand new landlord. The units (11 total between the 5 buildings) have a really decent rental history. 8/11 are rented out. One tenant there 12 years, another 7, two others 4 years, two others 2 years, one 1 year, one new.

These are C-class - B-class.  Good history of on-time payments too.  So. I need advice.  Would love some people to just talk to and go over my rental application, lease, etc.

Any general advice anyone can lend here for multi-family rentals or just rentals, in general, is so very appreciated.

A couple specific questions (though I would love any and all advice):

• How do you handle communication? Did you get a separate phone for your tenants to contact you? Do you have that phone number on all the time (as in do you have the ringer on and at the ready all night and what not or just have it available during "business hours")? I was thinking Google Voice. Any ideas?
• How do you handle payments?  Most of the current tenants are older folks and when I walked through I did not see a single computer. So, I know a lot of people use things like cozy.co...but what are your other best options if now that? They are about 45 minutes from me so I can always drive down once a month to collect... or give them all a bunch of self-addressed, self-stamped envelopes?  
• What are your favorite addendums for your lease? Any that have really saved you before? Any that you now have that you REALLY wish you had had before?
• Any tips for starting/maintaining good tenant relationships? I know, through my agent, that the tenants are a little anxious. They are worried I am coming in and flipping everything upside down, which I totally understand and do not plan to do. Even without my doing that, I still want to really get off on the right foot. I want to be approachable and friendly, while still treating it all as a business.

Thank you all!!

[Nathan Gesner]

@Brian H. Congratulations!

I seriously don't mean to insult you but it sounds like you need a good foundation of information which is hard to get from one post with a lot of questions. It's like a 12-year-old asking Shaq how to play pro basketball. There are literally hundreds of things to know and Shaq couldn't possibly begin to answer the questions even if he spent an entire day talking.

I recommend you build a foundation of knowledge by reading books and studying your state law. Every Landlord's Legal Guide by NOLO is my personal favorite with a ton of practical advice from marketing to screening to deposits to handling non-payment of rent to handling security deposits and more. They also provide sample documents and (most importantly) links to all your state-specific laws. Once you have a solid foundation, then you can come back to the boards with specific questions that help refine your knowledge.