Living in the same neighborhood of tenants.

[Shawn L. Honer]

I recently purchased a property in the neighborhood I live in.  I admit I was very hesitant at first, my concern is having tenants aware where I live and possibly being bothered by these tenants.  I have three investment properties in the neighborhood where my family and I live.  Would you say this isn't a bad idea, or is this a no-no?  

[Allan Smith]

We have a lot of rentals, none happen to be in my neighborhood. But,

Pros:

1. Tenants will be less likely to act up knowing the landlord is blocks away.
   It enables more of a community, where you aren't just the guy that collects checks, but gives you an opportunity to invest in shaping the kind of neighborhood it is. Better relationship with tenant, too. You can wave "hi" on walks, ha!
2. Especially if you are newer to this, it sure is nice to be able to hop by the rental for a maintenance call. You can also drive by a lot easier and keep tabs on how they are maintaining things.

Cons:

1. Yes they know where you live, and hopefully they aren't the type to take advantage of that sort of thing. During an eviction or whatever.
2. They might end up knowing more about your personal life than you'd like, just by observing what's going on at your house ("Looks like LL is on vacay...")

My personal opinion is the pros outweigh the cons and close rentals are a great convenience. I sure as heck wish I had more near me! Some are 2.5 hours away, but at least it forces me to rely on a team and scale my business.