I'm a military landlord, and am sort of forced into out of state rentals, as we live in one place (buy a house) and rent it after we leave.
I'll caveat all of this by saying, we are planning to rent our first home in October, so these systems are untested, but it is what we have put in place.
First, the home is in my hometown (a place we already travel to once or twice a year). This is convenient as we don't have to make special trips, or take time off for rental property alone. This fact really feeds into the other systems we have in place.
Maintenance: Since we have lived in the home a couple of years, we know it is in a fantastic neighborhood and we know the problems the house has run into thus far (pin hole leak in copper pipe, leaking block window, sprinkler maintenance...etc.). For the maintenance we have done or needed help with, we used a local friend who is a super-handyman. He can fix 90% of the small stuff that pops up, and can give us really good insight on bigger projects (most things feel like big projects, but aren't). The system we set up is a profit share to put him on retainer. We made a google spreadsheet with all of the cyclical maintenance items and when they need to be done; think sprinkler blow out in fall, setup in spring, filter replacement, sump pump testing in spring etc. We totaled the time we thought it would take him to complete the cyclical maintenance, added in a buffer for unexpected maintenance items. Then we averaged out the cost based on a discounted hourly rate. It turned out to be around 12 hours of maintenance a year, multiplied by his hourly rate of $50 an hour discounted to $42; $504/year.
We then turned this dollar amount into a profit share. We (will) pull in about a $500 a month above mortgage insurance and taxes; $6000/year. Therefore; $504/$6000*100 = 8.4% profit share. Contrast this with the 10% of total payment (not profit) a property management company will charge. The profit share is a steal, and I get to employ someone we trust.
This way if the house isn't making money, we don't pay maintenance cost. Also, the more money the house makes, the more money the maintenance guy makes, therefore incentivizing him to respond quickly to requests and keep the renters super happy. The cyclical maintenance schedule ensures we have eyes on the property on a fixed periodicity to fend off anything happening without us knowing, and keep small maintenance items from growing into big ones. For example, if the tenants say the heater is struggling to heat the house, our maintenance guy can show up to diagnose and change the filter (which is the most common cause). Just to get a certified tech out to tell you it was the filter would cost $100-$150 (3 months of retainer!), and we avoid the up-sale of technicians wanting to replace the blower etc.
Tenant screening: We will be doing this ourselves. There are a ton of resources out there to ensure you are selecting good tenants. Also video calls allow us to interview anyone from anywhere. Hopefully we will only have to do this every year or two at most.
This may not be completely applicable to your case, but hopefully can trigger some ingenuity in your situation.
I'm also open to suggestions and collaboration! Good Luck!
hi
