6 Not So Obvious Tips From Experienced Landlords
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ม.ค. 2017
- If you're a newbie investor there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
Here are 6 tips to help minimize your mistakes and headaches when starting out as a newbie landlord!
- biggerpockets.com
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Here's a tip for landlords: have repairs done on time by a qualified professional instead of letting a family member that has no idea what they're doing on the cheap. You will pay more in the long run.
Amen to that! Landlords are cheap when it comes to fixing appliances and don't always hire an actual plumber.
@blues brother Yeah but that's the exception rather than the rule. 9 times out of 10 the licensed pro will do a better job for less money in the long run than the landlord's cousin Billy Bob. He might do seemingly simple electrical work for half the price but that won't help you when the building burns down 3 years down the road and your insurance company denies the $300,000 claim.
Truth.
@blues brother, he never said there was originally an electricap issue. The armchair electrician Billy would fuck everything uo somehow and creaat an electrical issue. Tbis happend to me but with plumbing that got so bad I had to leave.
None of my landlords ever fixed anything lol.
Number 1: Never rent to friends or family.
goddessmelanisia Never say never. We have friends and relatives in several of our rentals. They have been there over 10 years and have always paid rent on time and in full and they keep the properties nice.
Just depend on if they are trashy and dishonest and don’t commit to shit some people don’t realize they have a really bad family or friends
i think it should be more, don't give friends or family special treatment during the screening process, ie, screen them like you would any other potential tenant. you can use yourself as a personal reference if you know the person well, but in that capacity be as unbias and as critical as you can. i think the pitfall is people forget familial references are usually tainted with bias. of course jimmy's mom is going to give him a stellar reference
Well if your friends aren't good they aren't friends just buds, acquaintances, gal pal, etc. There is also a word for bad/estranged/distant family member. Relative! No friends and family, that is sad. Friends and family are supposed to be solid and good; if not they aren't that.
Well, family and fwends better be allowed to live somewhere. Most properties go down cuz landlords, (hear the term), won't fix
I have been an owner/landlord for 13 years. Biggest thing I have learned is it is 100% better to leave your property empty for as long as it takes to find a suitable tenant than to quickly fill the space with the wrong person. Learned from experience, you will get burned.
The truth! Only 4 years in and filling quickly always ended up with the rent not paid and repairs/cleanout costs
Very true.
Strongly agree. That’s the way, I do too.
I’m 17 and I’m trying to study and get as much info as possible so I can buy and rent out houses do you have any tips
Start with a duplex, triplex, or 4-plex. Buy as owner-occupied (lowest down payment option), live in one unit and rent the others out. Save up enough cash to move, and do the same thing again. FHA requires you live in it 2 years before moving. Do this 3-4 times, and you'll have a good cash flow in a short time. Good luck! @@wxrface5192
This is one to know. Great prospective tenants. Very personable, attractive, young. Said all the right things. Very complimentary. Nice clean expensive car. Thought there was no way could be a bad candidate. Ment applicant four times. Each time great, easy going, attentive, polite, and just one of those people that seemed a great person. Went ahead and did background check anyway as part of policy, though thought really no need. Turns out car applicant was driving had payments overdue, rent was overdue at place renting, bad debt. I was amazed. Best lesson. Now I understand why people get scammed. It is because the scammer is such a great actor. Should win an academy award. Remember to stick to your policy. Probably would have taken forever to get this prospective tenant out. Feel sorry for the next person this artist scammes. Con artist are really good at what they do. Keep alert.
I think there are people out there who have bad credit who will always pay rent. I had people steal my credit cards or identity and run amok with my credit cards or loans. Yeah they did it but it wasn't me. I was a victim.
My tip: don’t rent to anyone who tries to make you feel sorry for them. This is a red flag for me. There should be no drama. A great tenant will have good references from previous landlords, good credit, and most importantly, can easily afford my rent w/o living on the edge. Lease signed, keys transferred, easy peasy. No drama. I know it’s cold, but my rental is my asset, and I’m not gonna let just anybody in. Someone comes up to you and says “help, I need to find someone to marry, or something bad will happen to me!”, you’re not gonna just hand over your daughter, and go, oh ok, you can marry her, are you? Hell no! I have even less sympathy nowadays with the Internet being available, and people doing nothing to clean up their credit, or wanting to transact in cash only, or lie to me outright. If you don’t have the hard stuff to be a landlord, don’t do it.
Thanks for the advice!
Water mark GREAT TIP.
Oscar Elenes - I responded to a well done house for rent scam ad today. I usually can spot them! The scammer took the house photos off zillow. House is for sale. Grrrrr...
@@i.m.7710 Good to hear. :) How do you spot them?
Best tip I got from this video... What software do you guys use for watermarks?
I don't use keys, rather I use combinations for a keypad that can be changed/deleted
You can add a message to a photo with windows now. Just use the 'edit' function.
Have the notebook be a three ring binder. Encourage tenants to have a comparable binder. Have tips build on each other. Put it in the lease that any requests, etc. be in writing. When they make such a request, photocopy the request and put it in the binder. Also, consider having a digital camera. When you go to make an inspection of the home, photograph its condition. Put this in your binder.
Never put all your faith in property managers.
Can you expand on why you mention this? I plan on hiring one soon.
I watch Graham Stephan on youtube. He has rental properties, and in the past he used a property manager. In one of his videos he talked about the down side of property managers. One of the examples he used was that they charged him $7 to screw in a lightbulb. I don't use them either because I only have 4 single family units in the area where I live. I can handle them myself. I also watch youtube channels to fix anything I don't know how to. That way more passive income as well
@@karenkramer3760 if you dont mind my asking, did you go to school for Accounting or did you learn the financial management , legal, yourself? Did you ever think about holding your properties in LLCs ?
No my major wasn't accounting but I've always been pretty good at managing money. We did look into getting LLC's in each of our properties but with the help of our real estate attorney, decided against it. Each state is different and in Los Angeles it wasn't worth doing it for our situation.
A mgmt company runs the building I'm living in now and the building is hardly taken care of....I found out the Landlord lives in Japan....They didn't let me know until i signed the lease....
I wish my landlord/owner (same person) would: 1) accept electronic payments, and 2) give at least a 24-hours notice before entering my apartment, instead of a same day notice.
They have to give you a 24 hour notice unless its a total emergency. Thats a FEDERAL LAW.
Arctic Fox there is no federal landlord tenant law. However all states require landlord to give 24-48 hours (written) notice before entering or inspecting the unit. Less or no notice is allowed in emergency situations.
That said, my leases allowed for no notice between 9-9 for the last 20 days of tenancy so I could show the unit. I still gave as much notice as I could before showing. My tenants were on month to month leases.
Electronic payments have a cost associated with them right?
@@julieboston5224 with Cozy - Collecting rent is free for landlords. No subscriptions or hidden fees. Tenants can choose to pay for free with their checking accounts or for a 2.75% fee if they pay with a debit or credit card.
Wtf!! I wouldn't EVERRR let my landlord enter without proper (at least one day before) notice (phone call or txt double checking if I'm ok with it) unless it's an emergency! If my landlord would've show up without my permission, I would teach him a veeeeery good lesson. In fact, I already DID train my landlord very well lol
To tenants: Screen your landlords. Carefully. These people have keys to your homes and all of your possessions.
Andrea Anonymous yeah one of my girl friends who lives alone in an apt came home to her toilet seat left up:-)
@@harleyhartline - At least they were courteous :-)
Yup, I have found wet paint before on the inside of the living room door. I lived alone. Landlady tried to insinuate that I was either lying or insane, denied anyone being there as she had not made contact to enter the property!
Deborah Beattie if I wasn’t broke right now I’d get a nanny cam to set up by my door because I have a feeling some days when I get to my apt that something is just out of place from where I left it lo
@@harleyhartline know that feeling!
here's a landlord tip,don't think that if a tenant pays rent for 5-6-7 years the unit should look like the day they moved in,give up that security deposit and let them move on
Here they keep all deposits. Just figure its a loss.
littleblackfox1
15 years we moved into a condo that was built in the 1960s.
Still has the original flat top which works, the original double 1960s era Double ovens (still working), We still have the same food disposal we had which still works, the same dishwasher which still works and goddamnit if the refrigerator from the 1970s is still fucking working as well.
The toilet still work, the sinks and faucets still work, And fuck-me In my ass!: the bathtub and shower still working like they’re brand new!.
We don’t have a fucking dog or a bunch of kids that’re tearing up the mini blinds so they’re still in pristine condition as they were when we moved into this place!.
So I don’t know what the fuck you think wears out due to normal wear and tear but we Ain’t seeing it in our place....Not yet at least.
But we’re not young imbecilic party kids and irresponsible young adults either....Fucktard
@@Casmige so lemme get this straight.. youre seriously arguing that appliances/man made objects that one uses everyday dont ever deteriorate over time? And if they do its because youre irresponsible or a fucktard??
And I guess anyone who has ever lived their life under different circumstances and have ever experienced stuff breaking due to normal use is just stupid, and you and your wife must be the only ones doing anything right..?
Yeeaaahh ok.. good luck with that you.. err.... totally bearable person who.. umm.. must have alot of friends in real life... :/
Older appliances last for decades, whereas newer ones will not---- some people are much more damaging than others, I am in shock at how much wear and tear my sister, niece, and nephew produced over one long weekend recently. They had just walked in and one plunked down a bag catching a phone charger flinging my phone, breaking the screen. I could make a list of small stuff and 2 medium things they. And they dont know how to fix stuff. A deposit will never cover some tenants,especially if you hire someone to do the repairs.
Seriously, landlords RENT a home, they are responsible in some ways for the up keep because they OWN it. Fix YOUR (cheap) faucets etc. if they don't work as well as when your tenant moved in. Granted...I have seen some bad tenants. Here's the clinch: if you charge a deep deposit to a bad tenant you will see terror when they leave if they know they've "paid" for the damage already through the deposit it's treated like a deductible on insurance. Abuse on both sides.
Here's my biggest tip. If you've got a good tenant don't put up their rent ever. Better a good tenant than losing that tenant and ending up with a deadbeat.
Costs go up. Taxes go up. Rent has to keep pace. Only an idiot would voluntarily rent-control their own property.
You can choose to limit increases to be as non-prohibitive as possible, but at the end of the day, rental properties are a business and businesses are either profitable, pointless or dead.
@@daviddesposito9392 I haven't changed my rental monthly payment to my tenants because it's steady income but at the same time you're right taxes and water is going up. I still pay out my pocket but either way the house will be paid sooner than later I owe 120 k but at least I have more income coming in then putting out in the meanwhile
When they are good they are good and when they turn bad they are ugly
Unrealistic. My understanding is go up incrementally ever year, but small amount. To ease the blow, maybe at the same time you could install an inexpensive upgrade, like new ceiling fan or bookshelf unit.
@@daviddesposito9392 dumb response, that's how you lose good tenants.....dummy
I offered 5 months rent up front because it was so hard to get a place. It showed i was serious and reliable and they gave me the place.
That breakbeat with the vibe samples and the squeeling horns is bangin. My head is still nodding, even though the groove is over.
The trick of asking "How many animals do you have?" instead of "Do you have any animals?" (the general form of which is "What kind/amount of x do you have?" instead of "Do you have x?") can be applied to pretty much any domain. It makes it psychologically harder for people to get out of giving you what you want.
Always start the conversation with "how much meth do you smoke" really sets the tone!
@J Wil That will be the response of a person who truly has NO pets. It is PROVEN that if a person is caught off guard with a question he is unprepared for and intends to lie, there is usually a very telling pause or a gesture to buy time such as, "Huh?" or "What do you mean how many?" Yes, that's a simple answer for a truthful person, but a liar will usually be caught off guard and have a "tell".
Or just tell them absolutely NO PETS. not even a ant farm.
@@RationallyMe Tenants will typically lie when you ask them about pets, because they know many rentals do not allow pets. I've had cases where the tenant agreed on a no-pets clause, then I find out from neighbors a few weeks later they brought in pit bulls. When I confronted the tenant, they said the doggos were "emotional support animals" and I had to accept them due to federal law. When I eventually took it to court, the judge slapped the tenant hard and I got the last word. This is why landlords should do quarterly inspections and it's why tenants object to said inspections. That and the meth, of course.
Great tips. I never thought about taking a look at the vehicle. 100% makes sense. 👍
Thanks for sharing! Excellent tips that most landlords wouldn't consider until they learned the hard way.
This advice sounds really good, this channel and the podcasts are so helpful and motivating! Can't wait to buy my first rental!
From the UK and looking into rental. 90% of your advise is also relevant over here. Many thanks
Always require pest control in the rental agreement.
Excellent point. We just had a situation where a tenant had a wasp problem and instead of taking care of it themselves let it get out of control and then asked us for pest control as if it was our issue to deal with and tried to drop the issue in our lap. It got out of control so we ended up having to deal with it then after we fixed it the tenant said they were moving and wanted to break their lease because of the wasps. Pest control is in the lease as a tenants responsibility. We're headed into a new era of snowflakes who think landlords are their parents who are there to fix issues they can't handle. Kinda funny but sickening at the same time so this is good advise.
SuckMySweatyBallz I just pay for it myself and require the tenant to allow the pest control company in the house quarterly. If they don’t I will just give the pest control company a copy of the key. My property was roach free until a tenant moved in with roaches in their furniture. Costing me $700 to fumígate and 3 months of empty property once they moved out. Don’t leave it up to them to add it to your rent and you take responsibility for them.
Tee Crowbey not true... I’ve been doing this for over 10 years. Tenants usually prefer that pest control company doesn’t have a key and will communicate with Pest Control company. But when a tenant is doesn’t want to do that in the lease it states that the pest control will come quarterly. Also all my tenants are required to have renters insurance!
Tee Crowbey and roaches live anywhere in the property! They can leave roaches behind.
The apartments I lived in had pest control but the manager or maintenance person opened the doors. Letters went on everyone’s doors at least 24 hours in advance. The problem I had was the manager sometimes opened 4 units at a time to keep the pest control guy moving. Thanks for showing off my belongings to everyone, not to mention letting someone walk in and grabbing something while they’re on their phone.
Also keep a record of all payments and expenses such as repairs. It definitely helps come tax time.
And mileage for anything related to rental upkeep/business.
One of the biggest things for me is income to rent ratio. I always require 3X monthly rent for income. People will sometimes get angry, but I would rather turn someone down from the start than accept a tenant I know I'm going to have to evict within 6 months because they can't afford rent plus life expenses. Landlords beware, when someone hits a crunch, you will be the LAST to be paid.
Wow you just love making suffer for your own personal gain.
Add bank balance today (not after their next pay check). must be >2.5x rent. It makes sense, thats what it takes to move in. non-planners, non-savers have $500 bank balance. Ask for a screen shot to move forward...
I once rented a house where I had to write a letter & send it to a P. O. Box along with my references & info. I actually thought that was a great idea because the owner was able to see who was motivated enough to go to the trouble to do it, plus none of the applicants knew who else was trying to get it or what order he received the letters in. That way he had time to select who he truly wanted without anyone yelling discrimination. BTW I was the one who got the house. Nice little place. Lived there until I got married 25 years ago.
A little outdated. Don’t think that would work these days. People aren’t writing letters.
I used to do the car inspection too. Also a giveaway when they say they're non smokers and the ash tray is full.
With that notebook, if all went well between landlord and tenant, don't throw the notebook away.. give the notebook to the former tenent! This way, if they ever come across a slumlord and has to take them to court, they can prove they've been an upstanding tenant in the past. Works both ways, everybody wins!
where i live, good old tenants are typically a good source of good new tenants; half the people I know who rent got their place through friends who moved out and asked their landlords if their friends could take over
Give it to them, but for a mostly postive review (3 stars or better) on Google or Yelp
I'd throw it away. I don't give a fuck about my tenants once they leave.
So shines a good deed in a weary world.
@@daytonasixty-eight1354 and you would be one of the factors of society and world, who are making all of everything here, worse...
Another tip is to put the minimum credit score you accept and that you require an income 3 times more than the monthly rent amount. I also add the fact that there is a 50 dollar non refundable credit and criminal background check. 8 yrs a landlord. Zero evictions. Only a handful of times rent was late by a few days.
Gee purrs great advice. I also strictly enforce $75 late fee.
@Dee Cee These are not apartments. These are single family 200k homes. One bad tenant and the rental income goes to zero and you can lose the home to foreclosure. Unlike a 20 unit apartment building where you can have one bad egg and still have 19 paying the bills for you.
@Dee Cee - You probably live in apartments and not houses where I screen people the same as Gene. Matter of fact I have tenants now who have paid double the normal security deposit after running a complete background check including credit. I see nothing wrong with Gene's requirements and for you to criticize him the way you did shows you don't understand what it's like to risk your $150k or more investment to strangers. I'm sure Gene's equally happy you are not one of his tenants.
@Dee Cee - I'm sure he's fine with it but I'm not sure where you're going with the (but who don't fit your idea of what constitutes responsible -- even when evidence to the contrary is obvious) stuff. Seems you have some issues or lifestyle choices that are affecting you in a way you don't like. All I'm saying is if you have anything you value a LOT let someone rent it and you'll see what it's like when things go wrong. You'll end up changing your policies on how you rent it and who you rent it to. trust me..... You will do what you can to protect your investment in a world where nobody gives a shit. That's all I'm saying..... And if you don't you won't be in business for long. Try to see the flipside just once.
Dee Cee #22
the most nice and honest way to ask for thump ups on a video, great video !!!
This women is great, a natural teacher! Thank you!!
Great advice! Thanks Mindy!
Watermarks and cross streets. BRILLIANT!! That is friggin golden and I actually hadn't thought of that before. Thanks!
but what uf they did take the time and what if the scammer secretly messaged to find out where it's at? And what if people looking wonder why are they hiding the address and you lose potential tenants. I think it prevents but there is always those scammers that are bone heads. But nevertheless, it is better than nothing.
@@hsp6798 Your foil hat is showing.
@rmp5s your comment on it being "brilliant" when it's not is a little more telling about the shiny hat for you lol.
Excellent advice that I already follow. Because of following these types of guidelines I have never had any problem in court other than a judge predisposed to favor tenants and even then I have never not prevailed in court. Relative to the ultimate failure in the landlord/tenant relationship... court... you want to walk into that situation with ALL your ducks in a row because the burden of proof is on you, the plaintiff. Understand your claims, back them up with your local statutes governing landlord/tenant law, and hope that the tenant can actually pay the awarded damages. You are likely to prevail if you are prepared, but you are just as likely to leave court with a piece of paper for all your trouble called a judgment that has as much value as toilet paper if the tenant does not have the ability or credit worthiness to pay. Pick you battles carefully in this arena and make sure it is worth the fight, because at this point it is a fight usually. Happy landlording!
This is an awesome video with great tips. I plan to watch again!
This was really informative treat your landlord as a true business! People get mad at you and they want to make up things always leave a paper trail and witness if possible!
Thanks Mindy, great info.
Great video. I'm a somewhat new landlord. I've been keeping track of rent payments, but I didn't consider repairs. Thanks!
Excellent detailed information for newbie & experienced! :) Thx "B.P." & MINDY!
great tips. i am the homeowner who rents out other rooms in my house. i added pet policy, late rent policy, smoking policy, but most importantly, overnight guess policy. it's also easier to maintain this because i have motion-sensored security cam front and back door.
Motion activated security cameras? That’s just creepy, I’d never stay there
@@seafoodsofalaska well if u knew how easy it is for a tenet to have someone come in and wind up living there, u would understand. all a bum has to do is start getting mail there and BAM , an easy two months free lodging. until u own and rent out something, never think someone protecting their investment is "creepy"
My former slumlords refused to have a lease, it was month to month only, and they were never available to fix anything (if they couldn't fix something themselves, it never got fixed). They were always in Europe, no one ever minded their property and they wanted tenants to pay for repairs and they would 'reimburse' them (never). When I abandoned the apartment for a favorable situation they didn't care - they were heavy drinkers and partied all the time, spending their parents' inheritance (they bragged about this). I imagine that the money is going to run out soon.
That was very helpful! Thank you Mindy
Mindy - excellent video with expert advice - thank you.
This is so funny.
I have a landlord that lives in the same duplex with me
And he is just as dishonest and slum as the tenants your speaking of. I've learned A lot of landlords are slum. They say they REALLY want GREAT tenants and when they finally get their dream tenants they crap on them
It's same everywhere no o e us safe giver ont should make ruling a out thiz its time to stop xxx
Do you mean Scum? Maybe he manages a slum. LOL.
So true. Landlords are not fully human - there's a cockroach/parasite aspect to them. These are individuals who CHOSE to stop working for an income, and start exploiting innocent hard working families just so they could live without working. Landlords deserve what's coming after the housing crash
@@elizabethcole3662 What? Like what the fuck did you just type? Jeez-us. Noted, a good screening question for tenants: write a complete sentence.
@@thebrunoserge i read ur comments, then i see ur username, and i go "ahh Ha!" thats the reason.
Regarding scammers stealing your listing: I had a landlord that has to deal with this and he came up with a great solution. He had a large advertisement signs place inside on all windows that clearly stated "For Rent by SO AND SO INC. CAll:000 000 000 and Speake to John if our interested in this property" He also had an external security camera on the property so he would be alerted if someone was on the property. My area has a serious problem with scammers, and he found a good way to deal with them.
Regarding record keeping: Google doc's is a much better way to go, and share it with the tennant /landlord
Oregon, here...as a tenent, your tips protect good tenents from bad landlords!!!
Thank you for the notebook idea! Awesome.
Another tip: If you own rental property in a military community, check to see if the local base has a BHA (Basic Housing Allowance) program. Rent is based on local standards and fair averages. I don't have to advertise. I let them know when a property is available and in less than 2 weeks, there's a tenant. No excuses and no late payments. Since the rental is tied to their career, they tend to respect it more. Now, I only rent through BHA programs.
I have been a successful landlord for 10 years. I treat all my tenants like they are my most important customer. Because they are. And they usually treat me well in return.
You have just been lucky or live in a good area. Sorry, but no matter how great you are, you will still get people who are alcoholics, smoke, damage things or bring in bed bugs.
You should run a class for the less classy and tasteful
@@cromana5574 no. You just don't have what it takes. Everyone's true colors are readable. If the person looks like they are scum don't rent, if you're a slumlord don't rent. It's simple. Be humane and human
I'm glad that there are so many know it alls. Let's see if we can make America great again. Let's hold landlords to higher standards then the tenants first, since they represent our Small and large business sectors, then act like adults about the people who rent, I'm in the trenches when the Slumlords are living in fancy homes. Don't respond to this if you're just trying to defend ignorance. I'm not trying insult anyone. I'm simply speaking about those that where the shoes I'm speaking about. So if you're that person, go ahead and expose yourself, otherwise, it doesn't apply to you and you shouldn't be offended. This is not a general conversation, it's Slumlord specific. Are you a Slumlord? Expose yourself by responding. If you're not, I respect the game. And, yes, it's all a really big game. Good bless and have a great day
@@cromana5574 - Just go onto spareroom.com (if you're in the uk) and choose who you want in your house.
This is great, thanks for the information!!
Very helpful and insightful tips. Thanks!
I used to pay up front at tax season. I didn't pay it all, but would pay a large chunk so that my monthly payment wasn't so draining through out the year. :)
I had to evict someone. She said she didn't read the lease and didn't realize she was going to get evicted for non payment. Judge told her that it didn't matter whether or not she read the lease. She signed and initialed.
Nathan Wall Im going to be first time landlord this fall and Im so worry to the point of having nightmare about people burn down my house 😭😭 too late to back out.... watching this making me even worrier.
Ivy Hays it's really not that bad. You need to interview your prospective tenants and if you're not sure you can trust them, don't rent to them. Be a good landlord and when your tenants move, they will have friends who want their place. We never charged the maximum amount of rent but we chose tenants based on who would fit with the other tenants in the building.
Your a Land lord?
Get insurance
@@ibukimioda4316 Landlord is one word.
Great advice! I always sign the lease agreement at their place so I can see their way of living.
Great tips. I keep my records on Google drive so I always have access to them!
On #3 (for prospective tenants) check property records if possible and make sure the “landlord” is the owner. That way you can make sure you’re not unknowingly being a squatter!!
Wow, after reading several hate replies from tenants, I wanted to comment. I am an average person trying to plan for the future and have a rental unit. I am sorry for those tenants who have a sad place to live with an owner who doesn’t fix and repair. This vid is for honest landlords trying to keep up their property. Having a rental property is NOT free money as most still have a mortgage, there are taxes to pay on the income and property, insurance, and repairs like roofs to consider long term. Two thirds of my tenants have been great but I have to ask for enough rent to insure I have money to fix things now and at move out. You don’t get champagne by paying for soda. And, I have had a few bad apples that have a sad story every other month why they can’t pay on time, which means my bills don’t get paid on time. It took me months to evict after non payment resulting in loss of rent, court costs, another month with costs to clean and repair, and a court order to pay my back rent which I will most likely never see. I appreciate these tips to avoid bad apples. Renters, don’t move into non-working rental, check the tenant rights in your town, keep records, and buy renters insurance that protects your property.
The truth is, most of those tenants probably do have good landlords.
But the first lesson most landlords learn is that all it takes for a good landlord to become a "slumlord" is for the tenant to not have the rent.
When they are irresponsible with their money, trash the place, etc., the landlord who objects instantly becomes the bad guy, every time.
I'd bet 80% of the tenants bitching and moaning here have LT actions (evictions) on their record. (And for really good reasons, too)
$$ to fix repairs should come out of the owners budget Not the renters! !
@@michaelruelas Depends on what you mean by "repairs" broken hot water heater, leaky roof , yes, holes in the walls broken doors , stained carpets ... who do you think did all that ?
The first lesson all landlords should learn is that setting themselves up to make an easy profit through owning a property someone else pays for is morally questionable. Property prices need to drop, the amount people are expected to pay in rent is far too high. Every landlord contributes to this problem not just the worst of them.
@@spicefpv2224 I don,t even know were to start with the foolishness of your comment . First, off the landlord does not set the price of the rent, the local market does . Now if property price go down, what happens to the cost of property and school taxes ? do teachers , firemen, snow plow drivers make less money ? NO, so now the tax rate (percentage ) goes up, does the cost of a furnace or new roof drop ? So last but not least , are all apartments were you live cost the same amount to rent ?
Great video and very enlightening. I never gave Billy Wilder much thought until now. I'll be incorporating his technique to as many of my scripts as possible. Thank you. PS: Will you make more of these videos?
THANK YOU!! This is wonderful!!
I'm 46 years old & have been renting for 26 years. If there are any young people out there new to renting, I would like you to have the chance to benefit from others' experiences. Landlords & property managers are skilled, comfortable liars.
I have had a landlord(meaning, the owner of the property, as opposed to a property manager, who's not the owner. If someone manages their own property I call them a landlord) bring brand new blinds into my apartment, still in their original package, dump the blinds in the package in my apartment, saying they will be installed, & then NEVER install them for months on end. Why did he want to replace the shades with blinds? Certainly not because the shades were damaged by me in any way(they weren't); it was his own thing that he decided, by himself, to do, said he would do it, & then never did it. When I moved out a year later, there they were on the floor behind my couch, still unopened.
I had a property manager who said he would have the washing machine in the laundry room repaired; months went by before he did it.
I had a landlady who had no hot water in the laundry room; all laundry could only be done with cold water. Not lying, just cheap & greedy.
Landlords assume everyone is a slob & a deadbeat; I am neither. My excellent behavior as a renter(I always respect other people's property; I never fail to pay the rent in full and on time) does not improve the treatment I get from landlords & property managers. More examples:
When I moved into my current apartment, my move-in date was the 22nd of the month. The property manager(I'll just call her Dingbat) asked, "Do you want me to calculate your rent for the last 8 days of this month, plus rent for next month, plus your move-in costs, & give you one amount due?" I said yes, so I can just write one check. She added it up, wrote down an amount, & I wrote the check( a perfectly good check, of course) & gave it to her. Two weeks later when I got home from work, there was a THREAT TO EVICT ME posted on my door! An _official_ threat, with legalese, & words like "law" & "sheriff." An official threat to evict me for non-payment! The property manager, it turned out, had no ability to keep track of money. I took the notice off the door, wrote a note on the back explaining why I didn't owe any more money, & left it on the stupid bitch's desk the next day. She took back her stupid threat to evict me. BUT WAIT--THERE'S MORE! Fast forward one year, same apartment. There's a new property manager(I'll call her Thief). What to my wondering eyes should appear on my door but a threat to evict me for non-payment; this, after I had paid the rent faithfully, on time, in full, every month, without fail. I took the notice to Thief's office & demanded an explanation. Thief explained that, one year prior, Dingbat had put the wrong rent amount on the rental agreement that she & I had both signed; it should have been a higher number, Thief explained. Therefore, Thief reasoned, I SHOULD HAVE been writing larger rent checks all along; therefore, Thief concluded, I owed all that back rent. I was in disbelief! I told Thief that if she did not agree with the rent amount that Dingbat put on the rental agreement on year prior, then that was an administrative issue between Thief & Dingbat. Thief seemed to back off a little. I told Thief to shred the stupid threat to evict me, & she tore it up. She never tried to extort more money from me again. Dingbat was incompetent, & Thief was without ethics. What would have happened if I had been easier to intimidate, if, for example, my English wasn't the best & I didn't understand how ridiculous these threats to evict me were? How many people, good renters like me who landlords WISH they could have, have gotten out their checkbook & given more money that they didn't even owe???
I have several more examples but no inclination to go into all of it; this is already a long comment.
And so, keep your guard up, my friends. If you are a good renter, keep that front & center, talk about it, be assertive about it, never let them forget that THEY are lucky to have YOU as a renter(if it's true). Don't want to sound like a braggart? You heard the woman in the video: "Tell renters what you want them to know." Likewise. Remember, landlords & property managers will lie to you handily. Do not ever trust or believe them; assume they are greedy, lazy & without ethics. This does NOT mean treat them like crap; it means be savvy, know your rights, be cynical, NEVER be fooled by their friendliness, contact a lawyer or tenants' rights organization if necessary, & predict they worst, most irresponsible conduct from them. I have been renting for 26 years & I assure you this is the most realistic view.
You know that not all landlords are like this, right? My family rent out houses, and they always fix things right away, help accommodate for their renters needs, and if the renters couldn't pay due to financial problems, they will give them more time for them to pay. We have never evicted anyone from our property. Honestly, I have no idea how you were able to meet so many bad landlords, but I hope you are able to find a better landlord soon.
Jennifer Dinh Thanks for your reply. I do vividly remember one excellent landlady I rented a house from for 2 1/2 years in the '90s. What was different was that she wasn't in the landlord business to screw people; she had a house & farm 20 miles outside town, & happened to own one rental house in town because she had inherited it from her parents. So she wasn't in the real estate business. Consequently she wasn't looking out for her greed. She made improvements to the house between the prior tenant moving out, & my moving in. She got stuff repaired right away. The rent was low because I agreed to keep the yard, with 3 beautiful pine trees & plenty of grass to water & mow, maintained. The rent did not go up in my 2 1/2 years there. I can't think of a single instance of her feeding me crap or not doing something she'd said she'd do. This woman was truthful & fair. Why? 'Cuz she wasn't in the business, wasn't a property manager, & did not have the attendant facility with lying.
Cynthia
The better question is why you would rent for 26 years. Absolute waste of money.
When I rented I wouldn’t wait on landlord to hang blinds or make repairs I did them myself as responsible tenant. By the way 98% of people are stupid and property managers are no exception
So, making mortgage payments on a house isn't? It's the exact same thing you dolt, you're just renting the house from the bank.
We’ve had our rental property since May 2018 and we already had to evict our tenants for failure to pay and abandonment. They left all their belongings in the house and over 50 bags of trash... currently waiting to file a Writ Of Possession. I honestly want to sell the rental because of the struggle we’ve had with these people 😑 edit to also say that our county magistrate provides a free lease on their website and you can add/delete things on the lease.
Good video Mindy...thanks!
Excellent information here Wendy!
"My" car (my husband's car), always has trash in it and is pretty much never vacuumed, but my condo is always clean... So, while it's true for most people, it's not true for all.
The Ref could have got it wrong, but it is still a red flag on the play!
One can tell the difference between a car whose interior just shows lots of use/an active lifestyle (with sports equipment, a garden tool or two, etc.) and one that suggests the prospective tenant is LIVING in that car (e.g., underwear; pizza boxes, grooming products, too much clothing), or that their life is otherwise in chaos. Either way, however, all that trash will be making its way into your rental.
and my grandmother lived to 102 smoking....... come on. don't use poor examples that obviously are 1 in a million
Great video and thanks. I've own two 4 family flats for over ten years and only three bad tenants. My three tips when it comes to screening;
1. Beware the prospective tenant that wants a five year lease before they see the place.
2. Beware the prospective tenant that wants to pay the first four months in advance (especially in cash).
3. Beware the prospective tenant that makes the excuse "this may be a craigslist scam so I'm only giving half a deposit until lease signing".
"Be aware of the tenant that doesn't want to be homeless. Be aware of the tenant who doesn't want to get scammed by us landlords."
I need more vids from you you are a genius thanks so much mindy ❤️
Great advice and very thorough!
Tenants screaming, "snakes!"
Was what I heard
Great advice! I think you mentioned that Brandon has a Tenant Screening List. Would I be able to find that on the website and if so where?
This is a really good video. Very informative.
Thanks definitely using this
Solid advice. I do admit that my desire to be a landlord slipped away when I was hired to clean out a house after the tenants left suddenly. And more recently, my next-door neighbors ended up burning down a house they'd rented out to the worst people in the world, apparently. The costs involved in adequate cleaning were higher than the value of the house. Meth labs are no joke.
qhsperson Technically, a meth lab should be a tear down. The toxicity stays there forever. It’s not just on the walls and in the carpet. It’s in the walls and AC ducts. No amount of cleaning will get it out.
What is the purpose for not publishing the actual address of the home and publishing the cross streets instead?
If I see a rental ad where the address is not stated, I assume it's because the place is a dump so I skip calling that ad.
Erin Kathryn question: what state do you live in? I ask because I'm from NY but have lived in AL, NC an NJ. This tactic has not stopped me from renting a space once I contacted
I've learned to be extremely cautious when responding to those ads. Why? Well, I have had cross streets listed and when you find out the actual location, it's several blocks away from where you'd assume the location would be based on the cross streets. Some unscrupulous landlords will list the cross streets of a more desirable area when the reality is that the location is much closer to cross streets of a much less desirable location. Google Maps is definitely helpful in learning where a place is in reality. Also, street view is helpful. If it's the only dump in an otherwise good neighbourhood, I'm not really interested in renting because it's obvious that the landlord isn't interested in doing any maintenance, only collecting the rent cheque. By dump, I mean I've seen places that were in otherwise good neighbourhoods with cars on blocks and piles of junk at the address of the rental. Everywhere else has neat yards surrounding it.
A few reasons are scammers pretending to sell the house, people breaking in to do drugs/graffiti/rape/other illegal stuff, and new tenants having to put up with people coming to check out the property themselves by peeking in windows, jumping the fence, trying to open doors/windows, and going through doggy doors (not realizing someone already moved in). As a kid I moved frequently and we had to put up with that last one A LOT.
When I listed my house on Zillow, someone used my address and pictures to post the house on Craig's List as their own listing using the tactic described by the woman in the video. Cross streets help avoid that by compelling serious inquiries to call you, instead of a scam listing.
Erin Kathryn exactly I want to be able to drive past the place and take a look at the neighborhood, the neigbors and the house itself. The last time I rented without knowing the exact location I ended up right under this horrible woman and her 3 kids for nearly a year who scratched up my car, terrorized my cat from MY front porch and left garbage all over the lawn. Worse yet she constantly called the land lord complaining about me playing music during the afternoons that I would spend cleaning but it was okay for her and her children to stomp around upstairs slamming doors and screaming at 5:30am while they got ready for school because "It's part of life honey, kids make noise".
Excellent advice. Very useful indeed.
Excellent Advise, Thank you.
I've been on both sides - rental and landlord. Most of this is us vs. them attitude, and treating potential tenants like adversaries creates a bad situation right off the top. If this is how you feel, use a property management company.
Property management companies take too large a bite out of potential profits.
Wise words
Agree! Finally someone that sees that as well. If you are not a solution oriented person and you only see it as way to make money with out working as much please stay away from landlording! I personally see more ignorant entiled landords who think those seeking tenancy are sugar daddies that have endless money to pay. Many those who are tenants are not by choice. Are doing so to save to buy a home.
Property management groups these days....at least 1 of them corrupt mofos: Invitation Homes, American Homes 4 Rent and Tricon. AH4R = Very bad news for tenants. Don't know about other 2 but possibly probably, same ilk. These groups, are part of the ever growing affordable housing crisis, all over this country. Radical changes have got to be made. Honest, authentic, less greedy, more socially aware, caring individuals need to be in charge across the board.
You forgot to say that a landlord should bank the security deposit. Place it in a savings account so should a reason arise that you will need to return the deposit You will have the cash on hand
In civilised countries, deposits are held in a government scheme to prevent abuse by unscrupulous landlords.
Yup. My hubby and I also take a percentage of the rent and bank it also. This goes to repairs. This way there will always be funds to fix what needs to be fixed. One year we had to replace 3 roofs! Ouch but thankfully we were able because we thought ahead.
Wonderful tips thank you.
This is a great example of advertisement done right. Thanks.
Always interesting to learn about the landlord's perspective on things. I have a love-hate mindset about landlords. Most of my life, either I (or my parents) have been tenants. I can certainly relate to the tenant side of the fence! :-)... However, I do hope to get into real estate investing. Not sure if I would ever want to be a landlord, but it's always a possibility. Knowing what I know from my own experiences, the challenge is to be ethical, respectful, and have a good heart. Yet maintain a firm stance, and run a profitable rental.
Yeah landlords are ruthless bastards andI hate them but now I want to be one so I can sit back and collect nearly free money like those bums do.
O Paz You can’t be friends with your tenant don’t even meet them it is a business situation only they can’t pay the rent they want to dick around about the price let them go somewhere else I want $2200 for my freaking house why because of the taxes because of the HOS because of the insurance it cost me over $10,000 to maintain that house and I am the one living in the freaking hood not her
I was a tenant at different times in different locations in my life for 35 years. I never had a late payment in my life. Then I purchased a great house and rented it out. Now it's an excuse every month: oh no, my mother died, the dogs are for emotional support, I know it's been late two months but I'll get it on time next month. And they wonder why I took them to court. SMH.
@@tperk I know sometimes people can be full of crap but sometimes people can really be going through a tough financial situation. Affordable housing is a major problem today. You need to be firm but never forget compassion.
@@tperk I mean, if you don't respect the tenant then they don't respect you, simple as that. Besides, there are a lot of ways things go wrong in the tenant's life that affect rent.
Good tips.
Watermarks.... excellent idea!
We have had a number of rentals including a very nice, newer apartment building.
My management company did an excellent job. We are in transition. Sold our home
and are currently renting. The owner is doing a terrible job! Maybe he's afraid of
vacancies, but he rents to good valid tenants one day, and trailer trash the next day.
Result: the good tenants leave and the property degrades.
Screen tenants very well.
Thanks for this video!
My mom had a rental property in Chicago back in 70’s. Her big screening tactic- she would drive by and even visit applicants at current residence to ask a question or something- so she could see the state of property they were wanting to leave. Boy did that cause a lot of “screen outs”!
This sounds super illegal.
@@Gnefitisis why? Lenders do credit checks. Employers often do background checks. All she did was determine if a prospect was the type to destroy a rented domicile until evicted. All she wanted was someone who would not intentionally going to screw her over. The behaviors she was looking for? Those were illegal. Not what she did. All she did was eyeball the place they were leaving.
@@Gnefitisis i do get that is you think she was simply screening for “proper” tenants- that would possibly be unethical- that largely depends on how we decide to define “proper”- or how we define “taking care of” a place.
No landlord should have to suffer someone who stays until evicted and destroys property on their way out. And if renting a one bedroom- they cannot ethically rent if the tenant has 4 kids and 3 pets (common lie back in the 70s). I assure you- she just wanted to not have her home destroyed- it was a 2 flat. So it was her home too. I believe she was justified.
@@ruthlys I think you'd agree to let me do a food inspection on if you buy anything at my grocery store. I also think if you ever use condoms I require a penis inspection.
Tip 1: know what your and your tenant’s rights and responsibilities are. The amount of landlords and tenants that aren’t aware of these is astounding. Tenants really should do their research too but it’s downright embarrassing to be an LL who doesn’t know that they’re legally responsible for maintenance etc.
Great tips. You're fantastic!
Good information on electronic signatures and electronic transactions.
My car a wreck but I enjoy cleaning my house on an everyday basis. It is difficult when I live in an apartment to vacuum and keep up with my car like I would like to.
I know! My car is black and I live in the desert. Its never clean on the exterior.
here's a tip for landlords,don't trust the former landlord contact info,it could be someone they know,check with city hall records to confirm the contact name owns the property they say they lived in
Yes -- everything on the application must be verified, incld. the bona fides of their "employer" and "personal" references. Some landlords sneak a nugget of obviously incorrect information about the applicant into their phone conversation with a "current supervisor" or "former landlord", just to see if they contradict it. Most friends-of-applicant-pretending -to-be-their-boss agree gladly with whatever landlord says, thinking that's what you want to hear and that's what applicant has told you. End your call right after being lied to in this way, and 86 the application as unable to be verified. If they set you up in this way, they can't be trusted and are hiding something big.
Wayne R, but what if their previous adress they gave is the same as the adress of their friend/fake landlord.
How can you verify then ??
Larry Spartan, good point. In the last couple of years I ask for last three months of pay stubs, in addition to calling the place of employment. It makes it harder to lie about a job as well and giving a fake phone number
Thank you, @MissBttrsctch, Karen & Robert :)
I have had some landlords give a glowing reference to a tenant only to find out that they are horrible tenants. Some landlords give the glowing reference just to get rid of their own problem tenants. Check everything and ask for receipts, etc.
Thank you so much!!!! Thinking of renting my townhome in Maryland.
Awesome tips. Thanks!
I’ve been denied so many times by landlords and unknown To them I use to be a successful real estate agent and I’m qualified for the majority of apartments here where I live... landlords just refuse to have certain individuals live in their property no matter what....then complain about the homelessness in the community, up charge on rent, never fix anything. They demand a $1600 monthly rent apartment to brokers fee, first and last month rent, income must be 3x the rent, credit score of 650/700 or above. Like that’s is something half of Americans don’t ever get to see in their life but pay rent at the same amount and make less... the real estate market needs to change ......
Yeah, it needs to change. It used to be easy come, easy go. Then the government got in the middle, no more easy go therefore, the half changed, too.
Respectfully, if you’ve been denied several times by Landloards through the screening process this demonstrates a pattern. It appears each screening landlord is observing a concern. This a good landloard-you would want to live in a safe, screened and well maintained environment.
Tip for landlords - Your property must be up to building codes before you rent it. Nothing is "grandfathered" after the lease is signed. Tip for Renters, Fuse Boxes with the old screw-in fuses haven't been allowed in most building codes since the late '80's. If you see one of these, RUN!
Not true in Canada...
All states in the us have diff land lord tenat laws...u should name ur state and make sure ur info sharing is soild fact...i can call total bullshit on ur share here if u claimed this was in oregon State. Ur claimes would be totally untrue.
Jay c, you are correct. That's how it works where I live
We just had our old fuse boxes replaced last year, and it was only done with the help of the fire department otherwise the cheap oh's that own the place would still be using the old ones.
Good info! Thanks
Thank you Mindy that was great.
Always useful BP
G. Immobilière thanks for watching
Always get a signed move-in/move-out checklist in case the tenant moving out says "oh, that broken closet door was like that when I moved in".
If it wasn't broken on move-in, then it's definitely the tenant's responsibility.
If it was broken on move-in and then fixed after move-in, then get the tenant to sign the satisfactory repair completion statement.
UltimateBargains this is so important. In vancouver, if you do not have the signed move in move out report, you are required todo I let the security deposit to the tenants even though they trash your place. Awful experience
Great video!
I take a good look at them,, that tells me almost everything every time.
I call bullshit on the "snooping inside their car" tip.. my car is an absolute mess but I keep my house super clean.. the difference is I dont live, eat or sleep in my car, I spend less than an hour in my car every week so its just not as high on my priority list to keep clean..
Another thing Ive learned from living in rentals and having both parents own multiple rental properties is that tenants with children are faaaaar more destructive to a house than tenants with pets.. my parents never had a tenant with pets draw on all the walls or put a hole in the wall, or clog the sewerage system and flood a section of the house.. but these have all happened multiple times when they have tenants with kids..
same, i dont give a fuck about the inside of my car, i clean it like 3 times a year, i dont leave food wrappers in there,
I clean out my car every other week because I leave lots of stuff in there. Because I'm busy as fuck.
Never. EVER believe "I always go outside to smoke".
y would u believe that in the first place 😂😂
My fiancé smokes and he always goes outside to smoke . I don’t care if the landlord allow it , my asthma don’t
I smoke & have always went outside. I've never let anyone smoke inside my home even in winter. I grew up in a smokers house & always promised I would never make my house stink & my blinds yellow like that. And I'm proud of that.
@@swagger1930 Because some people are honest and tell the truth.
Ken Souza idk boss maybe short term but no way are most of those people going to continue going outside to smoke in their *own* crib after so long
I agree to all of these points mentioned! Have you ever heard about civil forfeiture? This is something you want to avoid happening to any of your properties! That is why as a landlord, it is important to conduct a comprehensive background check to ensure that the prospect tenant you're dealing with is free from any illegal activities that may lead to the law enforcement seizing your property if it happens to be an accessory, place, or was used to conduct illegal activities such as illegal drugs and money laundering.
Yall shortened the learning curve for me. I learned never deal with potential tenants with evictions. Thank you.