Investor · Fontana, CA · Member since 2020 · 128 posts · 94 votes
A friend told me I should not even tell them I'm the owner but just say I'm the property manager. So many people I know have voiced their opinions about my situation, but none of them are even Landlords. So I figured this would be the best place to get some advice!
Rental Property Investor · Twain Harte, CA · Member since 2019 · 20 posts · 20 votes
5y
@Tammy Mason
We live next door, and I mean right next door, to a fourplex we own and manage. I’m up front with our tenants about our ownership but don’t disclose details. They just know I’m one of the owners. You aren’t obligated to share your ownership percentage position, etc. When there are at times difficult discussions and decisions, I will sometimes indicate that I will take the issue to “the family” to decide. That’s the wife and our two labs of course. Some insulation, especially in close quarters, is beneficial.
Tacoma, WA · Member since 2015 · 14 posts · 2 votes
5y
I have found calling myself the property manager instead of the owner makes things a lot easier. I have never lived next to a tenant though so you may have some extra obstacles to jump through there.
Rental Property Investor · Twain Harte, CA · Member since 2019 · 20 posts · 20 votes
5y
@Tammy Mason
We live next door, and I mean right next door, to a fourplex we own and manage. I’m up front with our tenants about our ownership but don’t disclose details. They just know I’m one of the owners. You aren’t obligated to share your ownership percentage position, etc. When there are at times difficult discussions and decisions, I will sometimes indicate that I will take the issue to “the family” to decide. That’s the wife and our two labs of course. Some insulation, especially in close quarters, is beneficial.
Investor · Fontana, CA · Member since 2020 · 128 posts · 94 votes
5y
@Ladd Brunner I feel we are pretty similar based on this response. I appreciate this response. I'm slightly jaded by the inherited tenant I had before. After months of reno were listed and I'm hoping to have a better start to this.
A friend told me I should not even tell them I'm the owner but just say I'm the property manager. So many people I know have voiced their opinions about my situation, but none of them are even Landlords. So I figured this would be the best place to get some advice!
Honesty is the best policy. I tell everyone because I want them to know the buck stops with me. It gives me complete ownership and responsibility when I need it, and it also holds me accountable to myself.
Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
5y
@Tammy Mason, honesty is the best policy. I have never lied to my tenants, but don't always give them the whole picture. It really depends on you. If you are the type that has no trouble with conflict or challenging conversations, then no reason to say anything other than you are the owner. But if you are more comfortable being able to play the nice person, and using a "hidden" party as the bad guy, then I recommend using Ladd or your friend's approach.
You are not lying to them that you are the property manager, since you are managing the property. Obviously, if you don't own in an LLC, then you might as well just tell them you are the owner, since they can typically look up public records, and are making checks out to you personally each month.
Investor · New Orleans, LA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 944 votes
5y
I bought my personal duplex 9 years ago. I'm always upfront that it is my house and I live on the other side. For Orleans Parish, not only is it public record, but it's available online also. It would take someone all of 30 seconds to see I own the property, if they were so inclined. Someone lying about that, either outright or by omission, would put a really bad taste in my mouth if I was a renter. So I'm not going to do that to one of my renters.
In fact, when I have a vacancy for the tenant side, I even include in my rental ad that I live on the other side. I have found this to be a win-win for two reasons. It can potentially scare away sketchy tenants who might be trying to hide something. And good tenants like it and think that is a "plus". They assume (and rightly so) that, if I live there, then I will also take especially good care of the place.
I did have one set of tenants, early on, who were definitely looking for a situation to take advantage of and I was the "mark" they found. But that was a mistake I made more from my inexperience at the time of being too soft (in general) then being too soft because they lived next door. This was not their first rodeo and, at the first sign of my hardening with them, they did a midnight move-out just 4-months into their tenancy. One day after rent was due and still owing me $600 from the month before, of course.
It was a major wake-up call that I learned from and became a much better rental owner, with all my properties!, after that.
In a nutshell. It's free to be friendly. It's free to be sympathetic. But I am running a business with high costs. I will listen to a tenant's tale of woe and am genuinely sympathetic...while also serving them with a 5 Day Pay or Quit notice. Usually on the third day someone is late with the rent. But if late rent has historically been a problem with a tenant, that notice is served the day after they are late.