Tenant enjoys working on my house...I’m I nuts or super lucky?

Question

Hey everyone! My first post on BP so I hope shots fired! Allow me to explain in short how my current tenant and I seem to work out.

My tenants are from Brazil and have been amazing. My monthly profit is maybe $100 and do I think I should have set my rental price higher? Yes or should I say Sim but maybe no...my tenants are so grateful and so kind that it’s blowing my mind! They go above and beyond with little repairs/touch ups and I guarantee the house is clearer than it was when I was living in it. I’m enjoying the ride and of course I know anything could happen so I have the OH S%^*! fund ready for major repairs, ect....

My question: The current blinds in the house are in rough shape and so I was over there talking with my tenant and he mentioned if I bought blinds for the house he will install all of them for free￼￼. Should I do it!? I don’t see them wanting to leave and a part of me does not want to increase rent but maybe just increase with inflation next year￼.

Jim K. · Answer

From the great humorist Franklin P. Jones: "When you get something for nothing, you just haven't been billed for it yet."

You are having your honeymoon on Fantasy Island. Your tenant is a professional tradesman. Yet he is doing quite a bit of work on your property for free. You are allowing this and counting your blessings. That this guy isn't getting paid for his work is not the natural order of things. It is, as you yourself put it, "crazy."

Sooner or later, there's going to be a misunderstanding, the tenant is going to feel that you are ungrateful and unresponsive to his needs, when he has shown you nothing but gratitude and a giving heart, and your honeymoon will end. It happens to every inexperienced landlord who loves his something for nothing. May you have a long and pleasant honeymoon, and may you get off cheap at the end. But sadly, this is really one of those things where almost everyone gets the shaft because they really, really, really want to ignore the point.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

Good point, there are cheap options. Steelers or Penguin banners are better than the foil I see at some properties. Marginally better, but better, haha.

Jim K. · Answer

We do $4 Walmart blinds, dollar store curtain rods, and fire-sale sheer panels. It adds up. I wish I could do like you, Joe, but I end up with Steelers and Penguins banners covering the windows or 400-pounder al fresco displays.

Bill O'Donnell · Answer

@Justin Rea

Sounds great, but check with your insurer and attorney.

If the tenant gets hurt, you could be liable.

Always cover your behind

Michael Noto · Answer

The wheels will eventually fall off with this setup, but enjoy it while it lasts as long as their work is quality enough where you won't have to pay to get it done again once they vacate down the line.

Patricia Steiner · Answer

First, congrats on your first posting but even more so for having selected such great tenants.  And, yes, I would graciously accept his offer to hang the blinds.  Hang drywall?  Install appliances?  New flooring?  No way - no how - but install blinds, how great is that.  Blinds can be replaced relatively inexpensively as you well know and if installed incorrectly, the fix is minor.

My only recommendation to you:  buy a lottery ticket.  You're a jackpot hitter!

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@Justin Rea given your very low profits on this property and under market rents, I would explain you don't have money in the budget for blinds. I do not provide window treatments at the houses I rent. We leave what is there and what tenants add over time.

Curtis Mears · Answer

@Justin Rea

I have many excellent tenants who will do small tasks like hang shelves, paint rooms, wash the siding. Only difference is my tenants pay,market rates. I also raise my rents every year, but only small amount like $25 to $50. There are thousands if good tenants out there willing to pay market rates. Our job is to find them.

Justin Rea · Answer

@Patricia Steiner

Great information! Thanks for such quick reply. Heads up I’m moving next week to Tallahassee. Pitched a transfer idea with the Boss and looks like I’ll be searching for my next one in the state of Florida(while living in moms extra room, wish me luck!)

David M. · Answer

@Justin Rea

For small things, I'd go with the tenant perhaps.  The issue really becomes on somewhere between their skill level and their idea of a "good job."  I made the mistake earlier in my career of letting a tenant paint a room figuring painting is easy.  Well, they hit the ceiling (the roller going too high), the cut-ins were horrible, and they left some drips/runs.  I've got another tenant now which I think is going to "cost me."  They have their own ideas of a what a landlord should be operating, so they figure that I'm going to repaint the walls anyway between tenants, because that's what landlords do irhgt?, so they've already repainted without telling me and hung up lots of stuff with large nails...

Same goes for just about anything else.  This is where we talk about "homeowner special" improvements vs. "professionally done" improvements (which doesn't prevent one from hiring a bad worker..).  So, good luck.

Tenant enjoys working on my house...I’m I nuts or super lucky?

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