Advice on renovating rental properties

[Bernadette Winn]

My mom is 90 years old and have about 4 rental properties in very bad shape. She doesn’t want to sale and they need a lot of work, but she doesn’t have the finances. It was suggested to me that she offer to let someone stay there rent free for a period of time in exchange for repairs. Is that a good idea and if so how should I go about that?

[Pat L.]

We tried that with a maintenance guy we inherited. Got rid of him within a year as his work got sloppy & he got too comfortable. We had a new guy come in, so we tried it again, lower rent for maintenance on a multi plus a couple of our other properties. He did an amazing job of rehabbing the unit he was occupying, but again it just wasn't working so we raised his rent to mkt rent & paid him by the job. We dictated the cost/job & it worked, but turn around time was tiresome & too many short cuts. It appears that once they get enough ready cash they sit back until it runs out or they have a large bill to pay, then they are magically motivated. 

Finally I got another guy in who had done a lot of work for me over the years, but lost everything in a divorce, (=motivation). I have him paying above mkt rent & only pay him by the job. I had him work on a lot of other rehab jobs we did & it has been a great 2 years SO FAR!!. 

In all my years I find it's tough to find someone (young or old) that gets motivated beyond a certain mount of ready cash even with a lower rent incentive.