landlord burnout in SF

[Constantia Petrou]

Hello,

I was wondering if any of you could share your experience with landlord burnout and how to manage it. I own several properties in the San Francisco Bay area and the tenant pool that has recently been attracted to one of my vacant properties has been utterly entitled- as evident from their visit all the way through to their references (in cases where we get to the application stage). I have reviewed and rejected more than 20 applicants because they are either unqualified financially or because they lie or disrespect boundaries through the property showing and application process showing that they would be nightmare tenants (overly demanding, combative and aggressive). I tried to delegate to an agent to put some distance from this highly entitled pool of candidates but that did not work. I found that the agent attracted financially unqualified people who thought they could squeeze through because the agent would get them in. On the other hand when I took over, I attracted financially overqualified people who thought they can lie, push boundaries and screw me since they assume that as a small landlord I'm naive.  The San Francisco bay area is extremely tenant friendly. Also, with the economy booming, people moving into the area for new jobs are now making double and triple their salary from what they were making before in other areas in the country. Both these factors are breeding extreme tenant entitlement which is causing me to feel burned out. Have any of you experienced burnout before and how did you manage it? Thank you all

[Mary M.]

Since you are feeling burnt out , maybe you can hand the reins over for a time to a property manager.  Give yourself time to breathe and then come back with a fresher outlook..

I would not be selling any bay area property. (I sold mine in 2015 and while it was a great price, i wish nowadays that i hadnt sold)  The bay area is a goldmine. Dont give your gold away.