Rental Season in Full Swing: Landlord, Do You Value Peace of Mind?

Rental Season in Full Swing: Landlord, Do you value Peace of Mind?

My landlord days started in the 80's.  Prior to that, I was a Property Manager for 3 years.  I surely learned a lot from mistakes and from other's guidance.  Occasionally, I deal with individuals who  should not be landlords and that is when I feel propelled to share my advice, so others may be spared stress and aggravation.

If you are a landlord who cherishes peace of mind it behooves you to pay attention to these pointers:

  1.   If you are not capable of being objective and keeping your emotions under control, you should not practice property management, but hire a professional service to do that job and pay them.  This is not a healthy way to save money!

2.      When a professional gives you her or his opinion, listen and do not think that you know better.

3.      If you decided to accept what you later come to consider a low rent, do not come back months later asking the tenant to pay for anything that was not written in the lease.  All contracts have to be in writing. If it is not in writing that the tenant pays for the repairs, the tenant is not obligated to do so.
 
4.    Do not be a Monday night football coach admonishing yourself and others for accepting a low rent on a long term lease, if you chose to do that.  That means as the landlord you need to take responsibility for your decision and live with it. 
 
5.      Apartments and homes require maintenance - that is part of being a landlord.  It is less costly and time consuming to replace old appliances rather than paying for repeated repairs.  Not to mention the good will created for the tenant, that is in most cases are reciprocated.
 

If the landlord's and the tenant's issues culminate in confrontation, I suggest the following:

• Do not bother the tenant with repeated telephone calls.  If you have an issue such as needing to inspect the property once or twice a year, send the tenant a letter and ask when will be the best time for him to have an inspection and state your time frame.
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• If you do not get a response send first a certified letter and then a return request letter that the tenant is required to sign that he is in receipt of the letter.
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• If the tenant understands that there will be an inspection regardless, he is going to cooperate. If not, a landlord has recourse.
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• A landlord should not involve other people to call or harass a tenant.  This only will intensify the tenant’s opposition and increase the confrontation.
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• Threatening with legal actions and police is the wrong way to resolve minor violations, especially if the tenant is paying rent on time.
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•  Any reasonable person might think, now who in his right mind would behave so foolishly?  Believe me.  I know people who have done exactly that and worse.
• So, to be a content landlord who attracts good tenants, make sure you follow these rules. And it goes without saying that a landlord needs to be responsive and maintain the rental properly.

If you are considering renting your property, now is a perfect time to get your house on the market in the DC Metro Area!

Contact me at 240 506 2370, or by email, and I will show you how I market and rent properties in a timely fashion for top market rent.