Landlords should not ignore the fact that every rental needs to be treated for insects. So the question remains: do you hire a professional or do you DIY pest control? If you’re serious about being a successful long term landlord, doing it yourself will clearly save a lot of money. Read more…
It’s that time of year again –– the busy season for landlords. As summer approaches and leases turn over, you’re busy handling the move-out of one renter, attracting and screening the next batch, and finally –– you’ve made it. It’s time for your newest tenants to move-in. Here are the Read more…
One thing is for certain as a landlord –– you expect the unexpected. Whether that’s an urgent repair request, a tenant complaint, or resolving an interpersonal conflict between tenants and neighbors, landlords juggle a lot. Sometimes it feels as though the landlord’s job title translates to handyman, businessperson, cleaning crew, Read more…
How to Set Rent as a First Time Landlord While you’d love to get as much for your income property as possible, you must be smart about how you set the rent as a first time landlord. Don’t get carried away with overly optimistic assumptions. Setting the rent too high Read more…
We all know that getting by in life sometimes requires a little bit of compromise. As a landlord, strict adherence to your lease can be a good overall philosophy, but it does not mean that you cannot open the door to compromise when it makes sense to you. Occasional flexibility Read more…
For brand new landlords, tenant requests can be overwhelming. The tenant may be making frequent requests, or may be asking permission for things you may not have thought about. No landlord wants to be adversarial with a tenant. To keep things cordial, you may feel pressured to say yes to Read more…
Just when you think you have faced every possible scenario as a landlord, a new challenge inevitably pops up. While it’s impossible to conceive of every situation that may occur, it is advantageous to have a few guiding principles that guide your decisions when negotiating with your tenant. We have Read more…
When managing a lease agreement, with one tenant moving out and another moving in, it is a challenge to stay efficient. During this busy time of the tenant cycle, there are lots of details to keep in place. Most tenants will be looking forward to getting their security deposits returned Read more…
First impressions are always important in any new situation. This is certainly the case between landlords and their tenants. You want to project characteristics such as competence, professionalism, and confidence. The rental lease agreement that you and your tenant will sign is your introduction of your expectations in your relationship. Read more…
Once again, we welcome our contributor Elizabeth Colegrove from Reluctant Landlord to offer her personal experience on dealing with landlording stress. Recently I spent a couple of months with a prospective tenant. They were applying sight unseen, so I took at least two hours to answer their questions and do Read more…