Landlord blues

What’s your reaction when someone says they have rental properties? 

I generally get a variety of comments but by far the most common is “That’s way too much work for me!”.  While the occasional problem arises, overall that’s not true. Over the years I have been able to develop a small group of handy, dependable people that help me deal with almost everything. 

One important thing that I deal with personally is assessing and cleaning the house or apartment when a tenant leaves.  I’ll be honest- that is a lot of work! Thankfully, my tenants have been very loyal and tend to stay for a long while. 

Three weeks ago a tenant of almost 4 years gave notice. Given the fact that he had one dog and sometimes two, the place was in good shape but he really wasn’t a cleaner so the dust up high in corners and on the ceiling fan was terrible! 

I went in to assess the place and decided it really was time to paint. Four large rooms and a long hallway with 10 foot walls and lots of trim was not going to be cheap! The first estimate was $5500! Ouch! The guys who ended up doing it gave me an invoice for $3200! They did an awesome job! (But no work for me, except getting the painters, picking colors, answering questions and admiring their work)! 

Yesterday, we had a plumbing issue involving 3 of the 4 apartments… it was messy and I learned a lot!

 It has all been resolved but it was time consuming! Water damage is worst of all! I am so thankful that it all got done before the new tenant moves in!

Looking back, I know that I did a lot of work to get this apartment in really good shape and some of it I did not need to do personally but now I know the condition of everything!

In the end, what did I do? It’s a long list

• Cleaned windows and floors
• Waxed floors
• Wiped down all cabinets-in and out
• Painted the exterior doors
• Cleaned the oven
• Washed and rehung curtains
• Got someone to patch ceilings, clean the fan in bathroom, and fix the drains (big job)
• Got the painters etc
• Got someone to vacuum tops of cabinets and rehung the curtains 
• Got someone to install drawer and cabinet pulls, fixed the closet door and renailed the porch - loose boards
• Met with new tenant 3 times
• Dealt with the plumbing issue… so time consuming love 

So, the list of things I did in order  to get this apartment ready and what I had done by others is rather long. Perhaps the statement that rentals are a lot of work is true but for me it generally only happens between tenants and my philosophy is that if the place is in good shape it will not require much from me later except collecting the rent! 

Here's to the new tenant staying for a long time!