All Forum Posts by: Lauren Kormylo

Instead of Florida, consider a condo in Phoenix/Scottsdale for your winter getaway.  It's not humid here, but our winters are wonderful, and we have palm trees and flowers year round.  I think your wife would love it.  And we're only a 13 hr drive from Denver.

Ocean City MD is one resort city where renters are expected to bring their own sheets, towels, toilet paper, soap, and other consumables. It’s been that way for decades, before AirBnB and VRBO existed. The real estate companies still rent that way, although I see some AirBnB hosts offering to rent out linens for an extra charge. I believe they have to do that to become a SuperHost.  I’m staying in a million dollar plus condo there this summer, and I have to bring my own sheets, etc. 

I've had a rental in Phoenix (so a warm climate) for the last 8 years that has a fireplace.  I had a chimney sweep clean it when I first bought it.  I've asked each of my tenants as they moved out if they ever used it (thinking I might need to have it cleaned again), and I think the sum total for all of them was 2 times.  So it's really just a decoration.  Most tenants don't want to bother with buying wood, then disposing of the ashes, buying fireplace tools.  

Even if you xeriscape the front lawn, there will be upkeep, such as spraying for weeds regularly and removing leaves and debris blown into the property. I live in Phoenix, and have a rental with xeriscaping and gravel front and back. We pay a landscaper to come once a month, and build that into the rent.  I can’t rely on renters to keep the weeds pulled.  I say keep the lawn and pay for cutting. 

We pay a landscaper to take care of our rental house's yard once a month.  It has desert landscaping, so no grass.  But we include front and back yards.  It keeps the place looking like a homeowner lives there, instead of a renter.  We build the fee into the rent.  It's a selling point for renters when they find the yard care is included.  If you want the renter to take care of the lawn himself, I would definitely put in a storage shed, even if it's one of the plastic Rubbermaid ones.

I find the best response rate from house-for-rent signs on the lawn (with a box of flyers with pics of the interior and other info), and on the main street two blocks away, directing them to the house.  Way more interest that way than with anything else.  If that's legal in your neighborhood, try it.