Hey Tony,  In 13 years I've never had a tenant move out and leave ALL of their things!  But you're bound to experience everything at least once (hopefully only once).  I don't mind the cleaning, painting and misc repairs. But, it takes 2 -3 days to get everything out. And you know what, it's really eerie handling other people's things...and wondering why they left it all. We hung on to things for additional weeks, in case they came back. Thanks and have a great weekend!

Hey Rebecca, Funny thing you mentioned the book...boy is that an irony!  Do you know what...every tenant that has ever moved out or any tenants we have helped owners evict...do you know what we find on the floor?  In every single house?   Money...and usually lots of it.... change...pennies, nickels and dimes...I pick every piece of it up and keep it.  Funny...people that have no regard for money... they can't pay their rent or they get evicted.

Lorraine, I have never really had a horrible tenant experience.  This is just part of the job we do.  Some good, some bad.  I have seen many owners with awful experiences.  My family and I do all of our own work on our houses and we are used to alot of elbow grease and hard work.  Thanks and take care!

Hi Justin,  I love being a landlord.  My tenants are really good, hard working people that are just trying to make ends meet. I have only evicted 3 of my own tenants in 13 years.  In 2005 we bought 4 houses in a package deal from a friend of mine.  All 4 of his tenants were behind in rent and had to go....I evicted each one of the tenants, one at a time as we were ready to start working on each house, then we bought one house at a time.  I have helped many, many owners evict difficult tenants.  I always go with my "gut" instinct when making a decision on a prospective tenant.  And, for me it's worked pretty well so far.

Hey Leslie, You are considering a property management company for your own properties?  My husband and I take care of our rentals.  And we take turns being good guy, bad guy...I have No problem AT ALL telling a tenant the way it is!  Neither does my husband.  Business is business when someone gets difficult. You can't be nice all the time in the rental business!  Good luck to You!

Hey Rob, Isn't it funny that we have tenants with us for 4 years and they leave without notice?  I think for mine, they got into serious financial difficulty.  Yeah, they left my house filthy and full of roaches too. But, no real damage.  It's just part of doing business. Well, hang in there and all trudge ahead.  Best wishes to you!

Hi Wendy, I see that you are here in Florida.  We get most of our information from this attorney's office and their website http://evict.com/?page=main .  Go to articles and you will find some articles on abandonment.  If you go to downloadable forms you will find Florida State laws on abandonment.  There is an incredible amount of information on this website that as a landlord or property manager you should find very useful.  Be very careful when it comes to abandonment.  You can get into hot water if the tenant turns out to not really be gone. Good luck to you and best wishes!

Hi Jared, I agree with you, I have never regretted being a landlord. I believe in owning and holding real estate you create wealth over time.  It's the only way to go. Being a landlord is just like any other job, you have your good days and you have your bad days.  Best wishes and have a wonderful Holiday weekend! Happy Landlording!

Andy and Tom, I have seen many in landlords in really horrible situations.  To me this was not too bad, like you both said, considering that the rent was paid in full.  They actually left mid month and were paid through the end of August.  With the large number of tenants we place, the percentages are going to go up...on difficult situations.  Have a great day!

Hi Susan, Ouch California law sounds like a nightmare on abandonment.  With sending a 30 day notice allowing them to claim the belongings and then having to place them in storage.  Wow, what a headache for the landlord.  Thanks for the word of caution.  We are trying to follow the letter of the law in this situation.  I appreciate the information!

Hi Gail, Your thrift shop sounds like a great idea.  I will say this, everything I have picked up and touched in this house is FULL of cockroaches and grease.  I would not even consider passing any of it along to a thrift shop.  It is gross!  I also use a credit check fee, it's $50.  I did a background check on this tenant - and they came up clean.  They owned a reputable business here in town and got into financial distress. They got caught in the recession that the country is going through.  It can happen to anyone, I suppose.  I heard they owed everyone else money. They paid me a deposit also.  They were with me for almost 5 years and paid the rent every single month without fail, so I consider myself lucky. 

Hi Diane, I'll have to check and see if we have freecycle.org here.  It's funny when you say people will magically appear to take the stuff away, all of the neighbors have been hanging around, since we started working on the place, and they have all offered to take something....especially the scrappers.  They are selling the metal.  It's great!

Andrew, You're right evictions can drag on especially for those tenants that know how to "beat" the system.

Alex, A mini gypsy camp?  Ouch!  By broker has been a landlord for 50 years, at one time with over 40 homes owned.  He had one recently that they were running a "meth lab" in the trailer next door. The cops busted them!  Thankfully they were not doing it in the house at all.  So the house did not require any special remediation.  There is nothing cushy about being a landlord.  It's a lot of hard work and patience.  But, I'll probably do it the rest of my life! Crazy huh!

Laura, Best wishes to your friend, I hate to hear when landlorda are in a pickle.  Yes you are right you must keep very accurate records, document everything and take many many pictures and videos.

Cathleen, I feel fortunate.  Because, yes we did go a very long time with no problem at all with this tenants.  Things happen.  It's part of the business!  Take care!

Bryant, Oh my gosh - you didn't go back for 8 months-oh no.  I feel bad that you went through such a bad situation.  In a previous comment I mentioned that I bought 4 houses in a package from an investor friend/client of mine.  2 of the houses were the worst I have ever seen.  The owner had no idea who was even living in one of them. There were transients and bums living in it.  I evicted all 4 tenants (one at a time) on his houses, before I was ready to buy each. On one we served the notices for eviction, and the day they were supposed to be out, they were all still there and everything was still in the house.  We told them they had an hour to get out.  While my dad and husband were carrying every single thing out of the house, they were crawling around the floors picking up all of the loose change laying around.  I'll never forget that one!  When all of the stuff was on the curb, they left and the neighbors dug through everything and took what they wanted. One day I'm going to write a book about my landlording experiences.   It's truly a different world!

Hi Evelyn, One eviction/bad situation a year would probably make me re-think the business.  That is too many!  We are blessed and we have many tenants that have been in place for 5 to 7 years.  When I talk to a prospective tenant on the phone, I have a 3 red flag rule.  If they tell me more than 3 things that send up red flags to me, or don't add up, then I pass them up and move on to the next one.  I do my leg work on the front end as thoroughly as I can.  So far it has worked for me!

Kathy, I know that the laws vary from state to state, but you must definitely proceed with caution on abandonment.

Bill, I believe that they owed alot of other people in their business alot of money. That's what I was told. Therefore they were forced to leave.  But, I feel for someone that has to leave all of their belongings behind.  How sad it that!

Christina, Thanks for catching that for me!  I have corrected my typo.  They paid their rent on July 1 and were paid through the end of July not August.  Thanks for bringing that to my attention! Have a great holiday!

Hey Lane,  I agree, 4+years not missing a payment are good statistics.  I have seen houses torn apart by tenants also.  This was not one of them.  With some elbow grease and a bit of paint and new flooring we'll be good to go.

Hey Jean,  We are seeing more and more meth labs cropping up.  I have heard that the clean up can be incredibly expensive!  In a previous comment, I mentioned that my broker has been in the business for over 50 years and just recently had a tenant running a meth lab in a trailer sitting on an adjacent vacant lot next door to the house.  They were busted and taken to jail. He got lucky! 

Hey Carol, It's always a walk on eggshells when dealing with an abandoned tenant.  I hate the TRASH, TRASH, TRASH part of it.  I also hate the smelling like a dumpster part of it too.  This tenant had lots of fish in the fridge...I'm really not sure how old the fish was...but it was disgusting and stunk the property up.  The fridge went straight out to the curb. I don't mind the cleanup part of it so much. Well, take care of yourself, don't work too hard!

Hi Bob and Carolin, We were very fortunate that they paid for nearly 5 years.  I don't mind cleaning up, I just hate shifting other people's things out.  It adds a lot of extra work to the job.  And it's kind of eerie going through other peoples things.  I really don't care for that part of it.  Thanks for the well wishes!

Hi Karen, Oh uh -live fish.  That's no good!  We have about 10,000 live cockroaches and 100 spiders all over the place!  Everything we've touched is swarming with roaches.  It's gross!

Hi Pat, Unfortunately I believe that you're right -this is a sign of the times...a good paying tenant for almost 5 years, and then they had problems with their business. So as time progressed it just snowballed and they got buried in bills...business and personal.  I feel fortunate that I was one of the few they owed no money to when they left.  We'll have to hang on and see how the economy fares through our time of recession.  Take care and have a great weekend!

Hey Michael,  I have seen homes that are quite bad also.  I have spent the past several weeks with several different buyers and many of the homes are available for sale are in very very poor condition.  However, when you find a good one, there are alot of good deals to be found that require little work.  Hang in there and keep looking.  It just takes a bit more time today. Best of luck to you and your buyers!

Hey Thesa,  As a landlord the more houses you have the higher the risk, and that's part of the job.  I just figure it's a numbers game.  I would say that 98% of our experiences are good ones...so the other 2% is just par for the course.  It is truly part of the business.  Thanks for the kind words and take care of yourself!

Melissa, Yes, it is amazing how some people live, However there are many many good hard working people out there renting homes, taking care of them and paying their rent.  I started buying rentals 13 years ago and will continue to do so.  You create wealth over time by owning real estate, but you have to be able to be tough, and stomach the bad times.

Hey Bryan, I consider myself very lucky.  I haven't ever had any horrible situations like many others have.  This is just part of the numbers game of owning rentals, just like you said.  Thanks for the comment and take care!

James, That's awful and very very costly too. I have never had any problems like you mentioned (thank goodness).  And 6 month evictions???????? For us, we can usually get them out in 45 days.  WOW!  You've really got a tough job!  I'm not sure if I could be a landlord under those conditions!  My broker had a tenant that poured gasoline all over her boyfriends things in his rental house, and set the place on fire.  The house was a total loss! But, that story is for a different day, different blog. You must be in a really tough area! Hang in there and best of everything to you (you deserve it!)

Rick, Yes, I did at one time provide pest control in my rentals.  We bought the chemicals from the feed store, diluted them in water and sprayed the houses monthly.  That lasted for a very very short time.  Certain tenants became very very picky and were complaining all the time about tiny sugar ants, that are impossible to get rid of.  It got to be a big hassle.  So when a tenant moves out, we spray the house numerous times after they leave, and  then right before the new tenant moves in.  We tell the new tenant if they have any bug issues, to let us know, and we will address it and get it under control.  Once the bugs are gone, then the tenant is on their own and may hire a professional company if they choose to.  Bugs are just one more landlord hassle if you allow them to be.  Works fine for single family houses.

Hi Dale, I don't really find that Florida landlord laws are difficult to deal with.  Over the years they have become much more favorable to the landlord.  I can evict a tenant and have them out in 45 days, if they don't dispute it.  If they do, then it may add another couple of weeks to the process. However, I feel that this is quick.  My broker has been in the business over 50 years, at one time with over 40 houses at one point.  He has evicted hundreds of tenants over the years.  And he really hasn't had very many problems getting them out in a timely fashion. In my opinion, judgements against a tenant are a total waste of time.  That is what extends the eviction.  If they do not have the money to pay you while they live under your roof, they sure aren't going to ever pay you after they're gone.  So why bother? 

Hey Travis,  It goes with the territory.  Luckily it is not something that happens very often - so it is tolerable.  The more tenants you place, the higher the likelihood of getting some bad ones. It's part of being a landlord.  Most of the time, it really isn't too bad!

Hi Jim and Maria, You know, you just don't know what turn of events take place in a person's life.  I always hope that they can come and tell me when there is a problem and they usually do. But, I think sometimes things get too complicated for some, and their only way is to get out...fast.  It's really very sad, I think, for them!  Lucky for you that you've not had this happen,  Keep up the great job you're doing!

Hi Jack, I don't like doing evictions when there are children involved either.  I had to do one where I was dealing with the mother's boyfriend, who was incredibly difficult and I felt dangerous. (She moved him in after she signed the lease.)  They weren't paying...so I wasted no time in starting the eviction process. There were 2 children.  One of them was in my daughter's class at school!  It was awful! He had lots of problems in school -I really felt sorry for him!  However, they had to go.  My daughter was shocked to go in the day they left and see how they lived-it was a real eye opener for her.  She remained very nice to the boy in her class after it was all said and done.  I think the children are the worst part of the equation too.

I agree that we must understand the law.  But, my recommendation is that if there is ever any question, contact a local attorney that can help you.  I understand that abandonment can be quite touchy...some attorneys feel that it is better to evict than to call for abandonment. You must really follow the letter of the law.  Again, when in doubt, contact an attorney.

Hi Roland, Thanks for the well wishes.  We'll have it back up again in no time.

Hey Esko, I think in our time of recession some people are just getting caught in the rising costs of gas, food and everything else and are finding themselves getting buried in debt.  I hope that this isn't a sign of things to come.  I have seen tenants taking a bit longer to pay their rent in the past 6 to 9 months as costs rise.  I agree that landlording is in fact a challenge.  Take care of yourself!

Hi Chris,  I think that it is a clicking clock - the more rentals you do and the more tanants you place, the more chance there is of having a messy situation.  It comes with the territory!

In this case these people left the state, so I have no way to find them. Taking them to court would cost more than the damages. I can't speak for most people, so I don't know what others are doing.