All Forum Posts by: Greg P.

Thank you! Good question - I've been house hacking on this property so your question made me do some math.

Currently I rent a one bedroom studio for $1,100 which covers the $899 mortgage but not other expenses. The $1,100 has been nice for house hacking purposes but when looking at this as a remote investment your question helped to put some numbers down.

The main property leased at $1,850 in 2018/2019. I'd expect it to rent at or above $2,200 as even 2 bedroom apartments are going for that much now - and it's a house. But because I haven't rented the main property since 2019, I'd conservatively estimate $2,100. I'd expect that a 4br house would go for much more, though. Given today's market.

But conservatively, at those prices ($1,100 studio, $2,100 house) they would bring in$38,400 a year.

53% of that would go to fixed expenses ($899 mortgage @ 2.15% interest, $5.8k property tax, $4k house insurance). I estimated a property manager taking another 20% (12% of monthly rent + another 8% in way of first month's rent when tenants are placed). Maybe 20% is too rich and it's cheaper but I've never shopped property managers.

Estimating an additional 10% for vacancies and 15% repairs.

Fixed expenses + PM + 25% for vacancies/repairs = $37,996, or $404 left over.

Now I'm torn because I could put estimated proceeds ($200K or so) in a fixed income investment and earn that today without doing anything.

BUT, it is nice to have the US address as I go international, and if I wanted to come back I'd have a property. And the interest rate is absurdly low in today's environment. Decisions, decisions.

Thanks for this. That's good perspective, it's a win/win for them as long as they don't start thinking that they can make an easy buck and pass expenses on.

Do you have any experience or recommendations on best practices when screening a property management company? I would assume history, # of doors, experience and the team they bring for boots on the ground would all factor in.

Also curious if you can think of any circumstance where an issue would require me to travel back to the states. I am assuming that even in worst case evictions that it could be handled remotely between a property manager. It would be pretty annoying to have to do international travel for stuff like that though - so trying to think through any fringe use cases that "could" happen, however unlikely?

In the next six months I will be moving out of the country.

I am on the fence with my current rental property. I would like to keep it as there are two doors on the property and it would cash flow nicely with my insanely low mortgage/interest.

However, I’m leery of managing while living internationally. It would clearly require good property management. Has anyone ever done this? I have a decade of self management - all successful with some slight annoyances.
Anyone have any strong reactions to this? I would always tell new landlords that out of state management is crazy. But I know the area and units and have been able to attract good tenants in the past. Of course that’s because I’m focused on it as an owner. I’m sure a property manager would not have the same focus.

Thoughts? Thanks

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. Honestly just having a place to write this was helpful as it’s frustrating doing this on my own, so nice to have a place to get advice!

Based on the comments I plan to send a formal notice in early October notifying of ending lease January, 2025 and also offering that if they find another home in the meantime I only need two weeks notice - I really liked that suggestion.

I will also require the car removed within three weeks or towed. Has anyone towed a car as a landlord? I’m assuming towing companies have an “at the owners expense” process.

This will at least get the ball rolling and hopefully they can find some place else sooner rather than later.

Thank you, this is fantastic perspective/guidance. This will be a good opportunity to review the lease. Much of this is on me for failing to enforce the lease terms - especially around an inoperable vehicle.

Hello, would like your advice on clearing a problem I have.

I house hack a home in Texas and have a detached ADU I've rented for years. It's always been fine and worked with many tenants and never had an issue until this current one.

They are at 20 months of a 24 month lease, ending at end of January. Being close to expiration I’m going back and forth on what to do.

This tenant has just been a pain. It’s small stuff that’s compounded: first they had a non-functioning vehicle dropped at the back of the property after they totaled it. I should have put my foot down 12 months ago about removing it but I let it go. They admitted it was after a drunk driving incident, which at the time was a major red flag but I let it slide. Then there are calls about all sorts of minor stuff - and just odd behavior, like calling the gas company at midnight because they thought they smelled rotten eggs….. getting our gas shut off for a day, bringing over questionable house guests, bringing over a small dog and housing it without asking, and just overall kind of being a mess. They still manage to pay rent on time with one exception where we negotiated a late payment.

Bottom line is I’m just tired of dealing with them from the problems, erratic behavior, etc. It would be one thing if I was distant from the property but having them on my property is exhausting.

What’s the best way to deal with this, do I:

1. 1. Gut it out until the end of January with this person and either a) play more hard ball about the vehicle and other stuff b) play it softer and just gut it out with them
2. 2. Do a cash for keys deal and just try to get them out early… I’ve thought about offering that if they leave by the end of November (~60 days notice) that I’d give them November free + $500 in moving expenses and return of security deposit if left in good condition
3. 3. Look at a harder type of removal… not sure what that would look like but I’m sure would require an attorney - but suspect I may have some options given I live on the property and I’m uncomfortable with house guests + other issues

I take ownership for some of this because I let a few items slip trying to be accommodating. From all my landlord schooling I knew in my gut that wasn’t the right thing to do, so here we are.

Any advice appreciated - thanks.

Thanks.  I will look into RentRedi. 

I ended up just calling both Zillow and Apartments.com and uploading mortgage information and validating credit details with both to be able to operate on their platforms. 

Seems like they now have much tighter control over the entire ecosystem since they also manage for other subsidiaries (Hotpads, realtor.com, etc), which make it hard for an all-in-one service to manage.  Which makes sense now that they've made the markets they want to capitalize on the rental management side of it.  Not the end of the world just not the way it used to be and wondered if any experts had managed to not have to go through the bureaucratic hassle of working with the megacorps.  Doesn't look like it though and I'll just work with the multiple streams/processes.

Hey there,

Wanted to get your expertise on posting and finding qualified tenants across the various platforms (Zillow, Apartments.com, Craigslist).  I luckily haven't had to search for a tenant in three years, but need to find one now.  I'm shocked at how fragmented and frustrating the posting process is now.  It seems like Zillow, Apartments.Com, etc. have made it really hard to cross-post and are trying to drive you to use their platform as a single solution.

I used to use Cozy.com and LOVED it.  Unfortunately they closed up shop, and I am now trying to use "Avail", but their posting process is clunky and missing some settings during the listing process. 

Now I am trying to list on Zillow, Apartments.com manually, but they almost all want a monthly fee or want you to sign up for their tenant management platform, which I don't want to do. Plus, Zillow is requiring that I submit documentation on my own property to even start the listing process.  I wasn't anticipating the delay in postings due to having to navigate multiple company structures, which is frustrating.

Have any of you found a better solution?

Thanks for your feedback.