How did you learn to manage your rentals?

Question

Are you a DIY Landlord? If so, how did you learn to manage your rentals well? What mistakes did you make along the way?

Karl B. · Answer

I think it's a two-tier thing. I learned to manage well because I learn from my mistakes and also read a lot on BP and learned from others' mistakes as well.

But there are some character traits that are important in being a successful DIY landlord. I take pride in my properties. Although most are C-Class they're always the nicest properties on the block and I put a lot of the other landlords to shame. I attract better tenants and I also believe I tow that thin line between not being a pushover and not being a jerk. I've had prior tenants call me fair which I appreciate.

When I was new to it I let a few tenants get behind in rent - that was foolish of me. I think a lot of landlording mistakes are made through ignorance or not knowing. And some mistakes were made by tradesmen but looking back I didn't ask the correct questions or have the knowledge to make certain they wouldn't make mistakes (such as knocking down a vented chimney - that happened once and although it was on the roofer I now know I must make certain the roofers know the venting situation prior).

I'll close with this - when I worked in film and was a lowly production assistant a higher-up said "You know what I like about you? When you mess up and I tell you what you did wrong you don't make the same mistake again."

That's the approach a successful DIY landlord must incorporate. I love self-managing.

Corey Conklin · Answer

Worked for a maintenance crew for a big developer in college that managed his properties in house. I saw first hand how crazy people can be and what crazy maintenance issues can pop up in the worst times of the night. Since college I've worked as a commercial construction PM in different parts of the country. That more than prepared me for managing my own properties.

Biggest mistake? Thinking that going in to business with family was a good idea. Also renting to family or friends. Don't be like me and do this, it rarely goes well.

Khalid Bryan · Answer

I took a class from 'The Landlord Academy' now named 'Buy It, Rent It, Profit. Thats where I learned the importance of systems. From that It was trial and error making countless mistakes. My biggest that I wont make again is allowing myself to be convinced. Stick to the system, stick to the lease. If rent is late serve a notice. If its not paid go to evict. You delay and delay and delay and not youre just now starting a 3 month eviction process 3 months after you should have!

During evictions, let the lawyer handle it. Unless its about the full unpaid balance there's nothing to discuss. I've tried to "help" by letting tenants in default get out of eviction and leave voluntarily and got left with trashed properties on multiple occassions.

If your criteria says to deny an applicant. stick to the facts. You get persuaded and soon find out why the criteria was the criteria in the first place. As long as its fair, reasonable, and not discriminatory. Never rush a move in.

Dont go cheap on repairs and upgrades! Time and time again when I tried to cut costs by having a 'handy man' do a contractors job to save an owner money it bites me! Some of them take forever! They never turn down a job, they go collecting deposit after deposit showing up to do a little at a time and on to the next project. Sometimes you go days or weeks without seeing them and you spend countless hours calling, texting and tracking them dowsn to get the job done. Then when it IS done, it looks bad or something went wrong which is now another few weeks! Clearly I'm traumatized.The lesson I learned is its not MY money to be cheap with, its the property's money which should come from its repair reserves fund.Now instead of having 1 person do it all and stress me out, I go straight to the specialist for the task. I spent weeks trying to get a handy man to fix a sliding door. I called a sliding door company and they fixed it the same day, FOR LESS MONEY and had it working like new, much better than what the handy man would do.

The main lesson is to take it seriously.

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@Nathan Gesner I’ve learned through trial and error. I’ve established back-up to my systems and standards through a contractor who also manages several properties.

I had a property I bought site-unseen when I had COVID early on during the pandemic. It had problem tenants. I dealt with this for months until my inability to find a large construction company to build a double sided fire escape on this property forced me to sell it. (I just won’t own a property where there is an existing safety issue I can’t fix). The tenants in this building were inherited and paid late every month and there were some other issues as well.

I said never again and today don’t let any of my tenants get away with stuff that makes me unhappy or stressed. Live and learn.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Excellent answer!

I was the same. I started out pretty naive and learned quite a few lessons the hard way. However, I also did a lot of reading and interacting with others to accelerate my learning and avoid a lot of the common mistakes.

Jeremy Fleming · Answer

It's a double edged sword. I've managed my own properties, and I've hired property managers. I was a shitty landlord. I really was (from a hands-on standpoint). So I hired a property manager for 1 of my 10 rentals at the time, and they did just as shitty of a job as I did - except they charged me 10%. I'd say my biggest mistake was not researching the property manager properly before hiring them. And I'd highly recommend doing a once-per-year walkthrough of the property yourself, so you know the manager is working in your best interest.

Chris Seveney · Answer

Tried it for a hot second and said screw this. As I got older I realized I am not the best at everything and can find people to do things a lot better than me, and while it is an expense, in the long run it saves me time and money. What I did learn was how to find a good PM. This was based on asking a lot of questions, seeing if they answer them in a BS way, ask for referrals for some of their existing clients and research them and make sure they are in the market.

It is not easy to find good PM's but when you do they are worht their weight in gold and when you have a bad one you just want to sell the property instead of firing them.

John Morgan · Answer

Trial and error. It’s pretty easy to do though.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I often see this same question: "Should I sell?"

I advise people to hold property forever unless they can move the money into another investment that produces a greater return or moves them closer to their goals. Sometimes, our sanity and a reduction in workload is a valid goal.

Henry T. · Answer

Don't get me started...America is headed there. Mom and pops disappearing fast. Rows and Rows of apts being built by corporations.   Mom and pops cannot handle a deadbeat. You need a hundred units to hedge the inevitable deadbeats, and management to deal with it.