I wanted to just post my experience from the last two years of being a landlord in Washington, D.C. In addition to being a landlord, I am a police officer.
The beginning , the first three months after the purchase I had a management company which didn't meet my expectations and I decided it was time to self-manage. Not only was I managing my apartment unit, I managed a single family in D.C. for my mother as well. It has been stated many times to make sure your lease/ rental agreement is reviewed by an attorney, that saved me a lot of aggravation in my case. More on that in a bit, I will start out with my first walk-around after the purchase.
I was excited to get to my building and see what needed to be done, I opened the door went and walked around in the one available unit that was open out of four. After seeing what needed to be done I was ready to leave and a tenant walked out let's call him "D". Of course he had all the general questions who are you etc, etc so at the point I had to make a decision so I told him I was the owner. I know people have different opinions but to date I haven't had a problem with all the tenants knowing I am the owner. I posted my google voice number and told the tenants to call when there was a problem. In the beginning when the tenants would call I would immediately pick-up the phone, I found that to be a problem. The more efficient I was the more they called so I started letting the calls go to voicemail and would call back immediately unless it was an emergency situation. Land lording on autopilot help me with setting the expectations of my tenants and explaining to the tenants when I should be called especially after hours. After about a year I implemented the program tenant cloud which reduced the calls to almost zero because my tenants can now pay online, sign their lease on line and submit maintenance request online.
I had some rough times starting with "D" although I told him I was the owner I didn't tell him I was a police officer I told him I did construction. Well "D" didn't believe that and I eventually I told him I was a police officer and he told me that he had just been released from prison for murder. This didn't bother me and since then we have had a very good tenant landlord relationship. My apartment is in lower income part of D.C. there's still a lot of crime, "D" became my eyes and ears of the apartment giving me invaluable information. One tenant and his girlfriend had an on and off relationship. They would break up and the tenant would kick her out but the girlfriend would just stand at the front door banging and yelling, she even got a knife and stabbed the door several times. One time I came to the apartment and found her sleeping in the back with a bottle of alcohol. Upon starting the eviction process with that tenant (this is where the good lease comes in) the girlfriend started calling and leaving threatening messages on my voicemail. She got arrested for that and for trespassing on the apartment property several times, eventually she got tired of being arrested and disappeared.
The good lease came into play due to a clause stating that upon signing I didn't have to give notice that an eviction was starting and could start the process immediately after the violation occurred. D.C. is very tenant friendly, that doesn't mean you as a landlord don't have rights it just means D.C. gives more leeway to the tenant. I've had one real eviction that took 1.5 years due to me not knowing the eviction process and giving the tenant the benefit of the doubt. My suggestion if you are a new landlord or thinking about becoming a landlord is to be rock solid on your lease and of course evaluate on a case by case basis but begin the eviction process as soon as you can.
I would definitely purchase again in D.C. it's tricky to navigate but there are good section 8 tenants you just have to ask lot's of questions and red flags need to be resolved before accepting the tenant. For example, the tenant I evicted during the screening process there were many red flags that I ignored because I thought I was being to strict.
One last story/tip if you are listing in D.C. and you are putting "Not accepting section 8 at this time" stop that's a big no no. It may seem like common sense to most people, but I made that mistake. At the time I had three section 8 tenants and wanted to give a market renter a chance to rent an apartment due to the high cost of living in D.C. I received a letter and had to go to mediation and was fined. Although my intentions were good you still can not put that in a listing
Sorry if I was all over the place, but there is so much more that has happened to me while being a landlord but this post is already long. If you want any tips or tricks of being a landlord in D.C. specifically send me a message and I'll give you what knowledge I can. Or if you just want to talk in general send me a message.
