All Forum Posts by: Susan Herschell

Yes, and with eviction moratoriums popping up in larger cities, how will this impact landlords? Where is our safety net in all of this?

I love the dialogue this started and I appreciate everyone’s contribution to my question. 

I think I might experiment with “property owner”. Although I also manage my own properties, I believe in full transparency with my tenants so I’d prefer to be upfront and say that I am the owner and not just the property manager.

Thanks for all your contributions to my question. And please keep the conversation going!!

@Hai Loc love it! Lol

@Mindy Jensen Great question. I think there’s a social stigma attached to the word “landlord”. Whether it’s the bad rep “slum lords” bring to the industry or the fact that the Google dictionary defines it as : ‘

“a person, especially a man, who rents land, a building, or an apartment to a tenant.”

Being a woman in the real estate industry, this is somewhat discouraging. It seems like those of us who are trying to build trust with our tenants (customer) should be looking for terms that better define that relationship. 

I heard your podcast, Neal, and really enjoyed your story. My husband and I are newbies at this and over the past 2 years own and manage 13 units and growing.  I would love to meet you and some of the other local Portland investors in the area. Thanks for organizing this.

Susan

Looking for some fresh and innovative ideas to replace the term "Landlord". Anyone using something different out there to describe yourself to tenants? 

Hi there, I'd love to attend. Is there an RSVP required?

Good point @Will Gaston regarding tenants lying about having pets. Curious to know how common this is and if anyone else has experienced this. 

We allow pets on our properties because everyone has a dog or cat in our market and if we didn’t allow them, we’d have a lot more vacancies. We charge a $25 / mo pet “fee” and tenants sign a pet addendum. You have to be careful how you present it as some states don’t allow you to refer to it as pet “rent”. We’re also considering requiring tenants to carry pet insurance. Anyone else do this? What’s your experience? 

@April Friedl. Yes, our buyer was able to get a conventional loan from a bank.

I like @Brian Adzadi’s idea of selling to a flipper or someone who looks at these imperfections as opportunities and is possibly coming to the table with a cash or private money offer. You might have to tweak your marketing strategy to attract an investment-minded person rather than the home-buying market. Good luck with whatever path you choose.

Hi April, Welcome to the world of real estate investing. It’s a crazy but very rewarding ride. Your post reminded me of a very similar situation my husband and I had with our first home we purchased together that I wanted to share in hopes to give you some perspective . We owned a 2 bed 1 bath that we purchased in 2006 and shortly after buying it we learned from the city records that the 200 SF bonus room was not a legal addition and the walls were basically poorly mortared cinder block on a concrete floor that was covered up with drywall to make it appear like a finished space. The foundation began to crack and we learned that if we wanted to do ANY remodeling to the house, which we were planning to add a bathroom to add value, we’d have to bring the entire room up to code which basically involved tearing it down and starting over. We lived with it for a while and kept it as storage/ laundry, but it was always the black-eye of the property. We eventually moved on to a larger house, but because we we were still in a down economy we kept the original  house and rented it out for a few years hoping the walls didn’t come crashing down on our tenants! It was always a pain point, but it was a bad time to sell. We broke even for a few years, but then the market got really hot.  I’m not sure what it’s like for you in your area of Texas, but Portland, OR is a boom town right now. We decided to capitalize on this and put the house up for sale. Our strategy was that buyers in this market are more willing to overlook imperfections like foundation issues so now is the time to sell. We were very careful to disclose EVERYTHING with the buyer so that they were going in eyes wide-opened. We got an offer on the house in the first week and was able to do a 1031 exchange and purchased a  multi-unit apartment building that generates more cash flow than the  original house ever did PLUS  we can sleep at night knowing that the property is in good shape and not about to fall down on our tenants! Based on my experience , Id sell it now in this sellers market and buy up into something that will generate cash flow and not a liability. Hope this helps!