we have a couple of rentals, we charge first and last month rent and 1 month deposit so that usually leads to a better renter but I always keepin mind that these people generally have a different mindset about property care than an owner
Thoughts on new venture
- Thread starter Ky hills
- Start date
Rented the house I had from my first marriage for a while and swore never again. Stripper pole in the living room screwed right down thru my heart pine floor. Place was completely trashed although a bit of a local legend for the parties thrown there. Got rid of them and rented it to an employee. Turns out he and his buddy were hauling off all my equipment for drug money on the weekends. Smoked in the house but didn't get lucky enough for them to burn it down so I could at least get some insurance money back out of the deal. Got it sold finally and I am certain the income from a rental is not worth the murder charge that would be soon to follow me being a landlord again.
LOL, I have two houses I need to rent, but I don't know if it is worth it. Several houses around here rented to college students where the college pays direct. I may check on that. On one house I have had at least 30 people contact me about renting and just gut feeling I wanted none of them. Had a family in one that were pretty wacky, a mother and her two kids and the kids were 50+. They paid good, but the son was a drunk and the daughter like pills. The mother died first, and the two kids wasn't far behind.
We have a lot of Amish families around here and more wanting to move in and I thought about putting a price on them and see what happens, but one house is pretty close mine and may come back to haunt me.
Last edited:
Dave
Well-known member
I never ever had a desire to be a landlord. Doing that would mean I would be involved with people. I prefer humanity with a lot of space between them. Other than church on Sunday I average talking to less than 2 people a day and that includes my wife.
OP
OP
Ky hills
Well-known member
You can sure have some stories to tell being a landlord.
I've seen a lot just from ours and heard countless horror stories from others.
A friend that did electrical and plumbing work, was hired by another friend of his to go do some work in one of his rental houses. Guy told me he walked in and right back out. Called him and told him he couldn't do it, said their was wall to wall dog manure and it stunk so bad he almost threw up before he could get back outside. He was a strong sort of man had been a medic in the army during wartime.
Individual houses are bad enough I don't see how these folks manage the cheap end apartment complexes. There's a few here in town, we used to work a feller that drunk like a fish. Had known him for years and was good worker as long as he wasn't drinking or getting the notion too very bad. He was a mess and the apartment complex was full of characters more questionable than him.
Roaches , bedbugs no telling what else was all over those places. Even had a multiple drug related killings there a few years ago.
I can say from experience never rent to anybody that works for you or that your friends with. You'll find out the hard way just how loyal and respectful they are not.
There are some exceptions of course but few and far between.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
Best renter I ever had was an ex-con who from day one told me he wouldn't pass the background check, didn't have the 2nd month rent or security deposit. But he worked his butt off and never had one bit of trouble, always paid on time, and the house was better when he left.
Worst renter I ever had was a older retired couple who passed a background check, had no problems paying the bills,and had glowing references. House was neglected and gross when they left.
Worst renter I ever had was a older retired couple who passed a background check, had no problems paying the bills,and had glowing references. House was neglected and gross when they left.
Travlr
Well-known member
We rented our first house when I started chasing paychecks with an outfit building substations.
It was built in 1904 and had been used as a rental for college kids. Actually it wasn't in terrible shape, but it needed work. We'd spent a lot of time taking apart the old fashioned locks and door hardware and getting them working right. They had layers and layers of paint on the locks and the beautiful porcelain door knobs, etc.
So we rented the place to a nice couple, our first ever renters... and they asked if they could do a little painting. And we said yes.
What do you think they painted?
When they moved out they had painted all the locks and doorknobs... and nothing else except the door frame between the front door and the screen door. (facepalm)
I mean... WTF???
It was built in 1904 and had been used as a rental for college kids. Actually it wasn't in terrible shape, but it needed work. We'd spent a lot of time taking apart the old fashioned locks and door hardware and getting them working right. They had layers and layers of paint on the locks and the beautiful porcelain door knobs, etc.
So we rented the place to a nice couple, our first ever renters... and they asked if they could do a little painting. And we said yes.
What do you think they painted?
When they moved out they had painted all the locks and doorknobs... and nothing else except the door frame between the front door and the screen door. (facepalm)
I mean... WTF???
CowboyRam
Well-known member
Dad had a renter that was supposed to transfer the electric into their name; I am sure dad gave them plenty of time to do so. I don't remember how long he waited, but he turned off the power and locked the electrical panel. He told them they had no lights, or heat, only cold water and they were to move out. About 10pm dad turned on the power so that they had light. Early the next morning dad when to check on the unit. They had opened every door and window; they were trying to freeze up the place. Dad caught it before anything froze up. This was in the middle of January.
Little Joe
Well-known member
One of the key elements to owning rental properties is a good contract that has been drawn up by an attorney. State all expectations in the contract. Mine does not allow for smoking even on the porch. How good the renter is snd how well they pay determines how strict I enforce the contract, but I'd never allow smoking in the house for any reason.
OP
OP
Ky hills
Well-known member
Yeah contracts are a good idea I believe, but I was told by somebody years ago that if you had a contract it could be even harder to evict renters. Something about it took longer. We actually did have a contract with those particular renters, the only time we've ever had a contract.
With the potential renters that we met with we decided that we better try to cover our bases.
Funny thing about smoking is that around here pretty much majority of renter type folks smoke. It was tobacco country here and when I was growing up a majority of of people regardless of background smoked and people were very defensive about their smoking.
It hasn't been but maybe 16 years or so that they passed a ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places throughout the county. Still some places openly violate that or enforce it. I will say that I've noticed that I can fairly accurately guess somebody's socioeconomic circumstance particularly younger generations by if they smoke or not these days as fewer folks do smoke now.
I told my wife it was so ironic that pretty much at least one person from every family that rented the house had been smokers, or they had people around that were.and the first time we required nonsmoking the house got burned down by cigarettes.
The man didn't tell the truth about that he smoked when we were going over what we expected and the contract.
We found out later that he did smoke because we saw him in his vehicle smoking.
We thought well they pay on time and seem ok even though we didn't appreciate being deceptive about the smoking.
