The Educated Landlord

Making Landlording Easier

You are here: Home / Archives for landlord tips

Confused About How To Properly Determine Rents?

By

Determining Market Rents

Determing Rental Prices For Your PRopertyA challenge many landlords face is what they should be charging for rent. When you need to determine rents, it can be a fine line between charging too much, or charging too little.

If you charge too much you end up with more vacancies, higher turnover and ultimately less profits.

If you charge too little you may end up with tenants staying longer leading to fewer vacancies, but ultimately also getting less profits.

Part of operating a successful landlord business is finding that sweet spot where you’re not too high and you’re not too low.

Many landlords wish there was some sort of tool that could help them with this and fortunately there is!

It’s a website called Rentometer.com and I’ve been using it for years to determine rents for my properties, to see how I compare and even to see trends over time.

Of course you shouldn’t limit yourself to just one source, there are multiple other ways you can get this info as well, or to help provide you with multiple comparisons just in case one is off a tad.

Fortunately for you, the president of Rentometer Mike Lapsley, provided me an article he wrote walking you through some steps to help you confidently set your rents. Here’s the article with some additional info about Mike and Rentometer for you! Be sure to leave him (and/or me) a comment.

5 Ways to Help You Confidently Set Rents

BY MIKE LAPSLEY ON FEBRUARY 23, 2015

The rental housing business is very local and it takes time and effort to understand a local market and all the nuances that go with it. Many variables can impact the rent you can charge for your rental unit including: location, building structure, amenities, age of unit, market conditions, etc. The subjective and local nature of many of these variables make it difficult for anyone to tell you exactly the right rent for your rental unit.

However, having said all that, there are some things you can do to help you more confidently set your rents. Below are a few ideas to help you set rents for your rental property:

1. Stay up to date on local economic and business activity in your market because economic activity is one of the key drivers of housing demand including rental housing.

2. Work with local real estate professionals – property managers, brokers, agents, appraisers, and lenders. Local experts are especially good at identifying the drivers of housing supply and demand unique to your market – jobs, local ordinances, zoning, etc.

3. Check local apartment listings using the local newspaper, apartment guides, Craigs List, and of course Rentometer (shameless plug!).

4. Check your local apartment or rental housing association for research and other information they may provide about local rent levels – past, present, and future.

5. Use “rent per square foot” whenever possible as a benchmark. This allows you to encapsulate into a single number all the subjective variables of rent and provides you a basis for comparison across different units, locations, amenities, etc.

The task of setting rents can be done more confidently with good current and historical data, as well as a thorough understanding of the local market and current market conditions.

Mike Lapsley is the President of Rentometer.com. You can reach Mike at: mike@rentometer.com Learn more about Mike here.

About Rentometer

Used by tens of thousands every month, the Rentometer provides rent comparison data and analysis through a simple, intuitive user interface. Everyone from landlords, property managers, owners, and renters can research and compare rental rates on Rentometer.com. Rentometer offers a basic free version as well as Rentometer Pro for users that need more detailed info, a professionally printed report, as well as additional tools to analyze the data. For more information, please visit www.rentometer.com, find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rentometer or on Twitter @Rentometer.

Hey Baby, It’s Cold Outside

By

Can you evict tenants in the winter?Winter Evictions

If’ you’ve never heard the song “Hey Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, you’re missing out, it’s a classic. If you don’t know what the rules are about evicting a tenant in the winter where you live, you could be missing out on some cold hard cash, like several months worth of rent.

The rules are different everywhere and with the temperature hovering around -30 degrees Celcius (-22 Fahrenheit) with the wind chill as I start writing, I thought winter evictions might be a timely topic.

Can You Evict Tenants In The Winter?

I think the most common answer is yes, but it can depend. I know, not very definitive as far as an answer goes. Ask tenants and they will almost all answer no, but if you’re getting landlord advise from your tenants you may have a much bigger problem…

The problem is the rules vary from state to state and province to province and it would be unrealistic to know the specific answer for every city, town, state, province, district or country throughout the world. But that’s where the internet comes into play.

I did some quick research and actually couldn’t find any places that allowed tenants to stay, just because it was winter. I started by specifically looking at provinces and states that were known to be more tenant friendly and cold.  I looked at rules in New York state, Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec and Alaska to name a few and all seemed to be pretty specific.

Evictions can take place at any time of the year if tenants are in breach of the lease. Now to be fair, I didn’t check every state, province, city and town, so you’ll want to do some local research of your own just to be well educated about it!

Winter eviction of tenants

However, just because it isn’t illegal to evict them, there is not guarantee it can be done quickly. There is a ton of leniency built into the laws when it comes to issues like compassion, hard times and basically bad luck. Here it isn’t written anywhere how much time someone has to be out of the property when evicted.

This gives judges and hearing officers the ability to make decisions based on the evidence and this could mean a quick and effective eviction in more grievous situations. While in other cases they can be given 90 days or longer, but with specific conditions in place or it can accelerate the eviction timeline. These would typically be payment conditions, but depending on the scenario they can vary.

Have you evicted a tenant in the winter? If you have leave us a comment and let us know where you’re at! Maybe we can form a mini database of info right here!

To get it started, I’ve not just evicted tenants in the winter, I’ve also done it right before Christmas and no I’m not the grinch, I just play one on TV! Looking forward to your comments.

Saying No To Rover, Is It Good Landlording?

By

talking iwth tenantsI stopped for gas yesterday at my go-to out of the way gas station right that’s near several of my rental properties and as I’m filling up a mini-van full of  a mom, a dad and at least two kids I can see pulls up to fill up as well. Behind the minivan is about a 16 foot trailer and as he gets out to start pumping his gas, a small cute little dog hops out of the van to check out the surroundings.

Now we’ve had a few cooler days recently and it was turning into quite a nice late summer day so as guys tend to do as he’s standing there filling up and as I’m standing there filling up, we start talking about the weather. Which turns into how the next several days are supposed to be great and the upcoming weekend looks like it should be fantastic.

It’s about that point that I bring up the trailer and ask, Are you just getting back, or are you getting ready to head out for the weekend? That’s when things got awkward.

It Wasn’t a Trailer, It Was Home

Tenants calling a trailer homeThat’s when he explained to me that they were staying in the trailer because their landlord sold their rental property six months ago and because they had a dog, they couldn’t find another place. He, his wife, his two (or more) kids and the dog had been calling this 16 foot trailer home for half a year. He said “Landlords are being too picky.”

His next comment was how with winter coming up quickly, that they were going to have to start thinking out of the box.

Being a landlord, and starting to feel a little defensive after hearing that, the conversation slowed down at that point, but as we both stood their filling our vehicles, it really made me ponder about pets, rental properties and what the right thing to do was as a landlord.

Now I wasn’t talking about offering up one of my properties, more along the lines of whether it’s right for landlords to not allow pets, or what the repercussions of allowing more pets in our personal rental properties would be.  It became quite an inner monologue with myself for the next half hour as I was driving to meet a landlord, whom I mentor, for coffee.

Seeing a situation where a family is stuck camping because they can’t find housing is a heart breaking situation. You wonder what’s life like for those kids and how tough things must be. School has just started, are they even going, are they allowed to go without any type of permanent address, what if they can’t find a place, what happens to them, and of course should landlords like myself be more lenient about pets?

Life Decisions Can Be Hard

Is there a right course of action when you see this going on? During coffee with Tim I quickly brought up the gas station conversation just to see what Tim’s thoughts were as well. I already knew my answers and had perhaps even rationalized them during my drive, but it never hurts to get other opinions or ideas.

Perhaps as an experiment, maybe you need to stop reading after the next sentence and go write your thoughts about this down in the comment section at the bottom of this article. I realize many of you are just passive readers, but it would be interesting to see your thoughts now and then perhaps any revised ones after the rest of this article.

So if you can, humor me and go leave a comment so far about your thoughts on landlords and pets, then come right back here.

I’ll wait, don’t worry…

Still waiting…

Done yet?

My Thoughts On Pets and Rentals

thinking about letting tenants have petsMy discussion with Tim didn’t actually change my thoughts, rather it just cemented them. It’s my property and it’s my decision and if it comes down to two equally qualified tenants, one with a pet, one without a pet, 100 out of 100 times, the tenants without the pets get the property.

It’s so 100 out of 100 that almost always my advertisements say no pets and when prospective tenants call, yes small dogs, kittens and chinchillas are all pets, but thank you for calling.

It’s not that I’m against pets. I personally have two cats and a gerbil in my household and even had a cat back 25 plus years ago when I was a tenant. And I do have one older tenant in a house with two small dogs, so I’m not entirely ice-hearted.

The problem ends up being, the risk of tenants having pets isn’t worth the reward and that is the one phrase you have to remind yourself about.

And while it might be unfair, in someone’s mind, to the responsible pet owners out there it’s not them taking the risk and the chance that that Missy may pee on the carpet, unaware to them or you. Or more often, well aware to the tenant, that Spot has destroyed the back yard and he’s left hundreds of little surprises under the blanket of snow for you to deal with in the spring now that they have moved on.

Experience has taught me that having to replace that carpet, even though it wasn’t a large carpeted area, cost me money. Not just the cost of replacing the carpet, but the extra two weeks I was vacant as I waited to get the carpet replaced. It adds up, and it didn’t have to.

Experience has taught us that cleaning up after someone else’s dog is complete crap. (Although a quick tip we learned the hard way is it’s best to do it first thing in the morning in the spring as it’s way less fun to pick up once it warms up).

I feel bad for tenants who can’t find rental places because they have pets, but I never forced them to get a pet. They made the decision and reduced ability to find good rental properties is part of the price. I understand the pet being part of the family and I understand how having pets can help kids be more well rounded (sometimes debatable).

What I can’t understand is the decision to have multiple large dogs, to know you will be a renter for an extended period if not forever and then to announce that it’s unfair that landlords don’t accept pets. Or the crazy cat lady/family who can’t find new housing. Those folks I don’t really feel bad for.

You’ve made poor or outright bad decisions that you have to live with and now it is indeed time for you to make harder decisions. Perhaps it’s time to give up that pet until you are in a position to own your own home and make your own rules.

Anyways, that’s my thoughts and I’d love to hear yours! So leave me a comment below.

Learning To Landlord By Trial And Error

By

Learning to landlord by trial and errorSounds scary doesn’t it? Making a mistake as a landlord can cost thousands of dollars in lost rent, due to damages and in some cases even lead to foreclosure. But I run into landlords every week who got into the business with minimal to zero knowledge of even the basics of being a landlord.

Learning to landlord on the job can turn into a very expensive education and that’s where I come in. Hopefully.

With dozens and dozens of articles and videos on the site providing the basics already, I’m planning on adding even more so I can help others avoid the trial and error path.

Now, if you’ve already registered to receive emails on my site you know one of the first things I ask you is what challenges you face as a landlord. I’ve had some great responses from people and hopefully I’ve provided some answers to help you with those challenges in my replies to you.

The question I have for you in this article though is what was your most expensive mistake?

My Expensive Landlord Mistake

costly landlord lessonsPersonally, my biggest mistake when I started was not following my screening process and skipping steps along the way. During this learning curve I let in some of the wrong people because I went with my gut, rather than following my process.

This brilliant decision making cost me most of my Christmas vacation as I had to spend it fixing walls, repainting a property I had just painted less than six months earlier, cleaning and doing general fixes so I could have it ready to go for January 1st and not lose anymore incoming rent money due to vacancies or deadbeats.

It’s part of the reason why one of the first courses I put together on the site was my tenant screening course, which I give away for free because it’s so important to a landlord’s success! Since I started following the procedures I laid out I’ve only had to evict one tenant out of my regular fixed term rental properties in the last seven years.

Of course, if I had followed my rules that one eviction would have never come to an eviction which was another lesson. That particular situation involved a young couple who split up and rather than  allowing/forcing them to break the lease and both move on, I allowed the boyfriend to stay and to have his brother move in to help cover the rent. Ooops.

So maybe that didn’t fit specifically into the screening category, but it did fit into my screening system which I strayed from as I didn’t due my proper due diligence with brother number two.

Your Turn

Your Landlord LessonMy list of other expensive lessons could go on. From not doing enough due diligence one early properties  we bought to initially trying to do all the work ourselves rather than farming work out to contractors. But what about YOU?

What have some of your expensive lessons been? If you can take a few moments to leave a comment to help other landlords that would be great. By sharing some of our experiences we can make it easier for others to learn from our lessons and to help avoid some expensive pain.

Plus it may point me in the direction of my next course which hopefully helps everyone.

So leave me a comment below and let’s see who we can help with it!

Why Thinking Like A Tenant Pays Off

By

Landlord thinkingAs a landlord you often have to think carefully about your property. There are monthly costs to consider, maintenance issues to budget for and mortgages to cover just to start with.

Throw on dealing with tenants, potentially property managers, keeping neighbors happy and the list gets longer and longer. You simply think differently when you’re a landlord and the property is a huge investment you need to manage, maintain and care for.

Yet one aspect we often overlook is thinking like a tenant at times, rather than constantly wearing our owner’s hat.

What Would Your Tenant Think?

As an owner your costs seem to continue to grow. Taxes increase, utility costs increase, legal fees increase, everything seems to be increasing, all at your expense.

One way to combat this is to pass these costs onto your tenants by raising rents. Now, I covered how to go about this in a previous article (Raising Your Rents Without raising The Roof), but the important part about it that I didn’t talk enough about is to think like your tenant!

If you just show up minutes before the cut off of when you can legally raise the rent and throw a rent increase notice in your tenants face you could be setting yourself up for trouble. Just imagine how you feel when you suddenly see a huge increase in fees from your bank or a large jump in your taxes.

It’s the same for the tenants. All they see is a money grubbing landlord looking out for themselves and jacking up there rent for no fair reason. They don’t see the three years prior where you couldn’t or didn’t raise the rents, they don’t see the vacant months that you covered right out of your pocket, they simply see a big fat increase that affects them.

In the previous article, I talked about positioning and explaining why you’re increasing the rents to help soften the blow. But part of the explanation I didn’t cover was planning further ahead.

Don’t React, Lead The Market

Landlord leadershipYou’re running your landlording like a business. You know that costs increase over time and you know that your tenants rent will be going up, even if it’s just $25 or $50, in six months, so why not let them know there will be an increase way in advance?

You don’t have to specify how much, just that you’ve been reviewing some of the costs and local rents and expect there will be a small increase in the future. Again, you value them as tenants, so you’re going to do something that is fair to both of you, so make sure they are aware.

Now, rather than reacting last minute you are leading them and you can make a decision that works for potentially both of you. If you see that your costs haven’t really increased and the tenants are fabulous, you may come back to them in another couple of months and let them know upon re-examination you’re going to hold off on any increase this year.

Or you may simply go in with a small $25 increase to cover minor increases that you’re having to cover for anything from taxes, to bank fees to insurance. Or, if the market has skyrocketed you may need to consider increasing rents by much more so as to not miss out.

However it plays out, you’ve forewarned the tenants in advance so they aren’t completely blindsided.  Now, rather than being upset, they typically appreciate the advance warning and can make plans to either move on, allowing you to put people in at the higher rate, or to prepare to absorb the additional costs.

Expanding on this you can also start including tenants on longer range plans.

Preparing For The Future.

Sometimes you know you have work coming up in the future on your property, so why not include the tenants in the updates?

Whether it’s a new roof, a new driveway or even a new fence, let the tenants know the proposed plan. If you’ve started to plan to get the roof done in the spring or the rotting deck upgraded before summer, give the tenants advance warning and let them know so they can prepare.

Once you talk with them who know what else you can discover. Maybe they are going to be away on vacation for a week and you can coordinate your project to take place while they are gone?

Now it’s very little inconvenience for them and they are rewarded with a new roof ,deck or some property improvement that makes their enjoyment of the property better upon their return.

If you start working with your tenants and thinking about what makes them happy and perhaps a little more prepared for you, it starts getting easier to keep them longer all while keeping them happy.

It’s a win win for everyone! Are you already thinking like a tenant? Or do you simply leave your landlord cap on and push forward upsetting tenants and replacing them every year? Tell me how you prepare for the future!

 

Renting Out A Storage Garage To Increase Cash Flow

By

Why Are People Renting Out A Storage Garage?

Renting Garages At Your Rental PropertyIf you do a little research in your area, you might be surprised to find out you could be renting out your garage for extra cash flow. Garage rentals are pretty well known to experienced landlords, but if you’re just starting out or haven’t been exposed to this before it can be quite an eye opener.

All over the world you’re finding rental storage places popping up. It’s become so popular there are now dedicated “reality shows” that walk through the lives of people who buy storage lockers and sell the items that are left behind for profit.

More and more people just need a place to put stuff and that’s why the popularity of these places has grown. We are a society of collectors and we seem to need more and more doodads to keep up with the Jones’s. That stuff needs to go somewhere and a nearby garage may be the solution.

People pay for convenience and if you have an empty garage they can rent that’s just around the corner or even the next neighborhood over, it’s far more convenient than tracking down one of these storage places that may not be as handy. And when you compare square footage, they can be a huge bargain.

But that’s not the only reason people are interested in renting garages.

People also have hobbies. Hobbies that take up a lot of space.

Woodworkers have drills, presses, lathes, saws and more. Mechanics and weekend mechanics have tools and compressors and vehicles and parts and they too need places to leave them.

Small business owners like plumbers, repair people and handy men all need to store supplies, tools and more somewhere and retail space is crazy expensive while commercial space requires huge commitments and also huge expenses.

These are just a few of the types of people that require space. Space that you can rent out for a tidy little additional revenue stream if you just happen to have a detached garage at your rental property.

When Renting Out a Storage Garage, Detached Is The Key

When you are renting out your garage, detached is the key word here. This is not something you want to do with an attached garage as trying that can open up a whole world of problems.

From noise to security issues to safety issues, it’s just not a road you typically want to travel down and it’s why I like older rental neighborhoods as they tend to have detached garages which are perfect for my rental property wish lists.

What Does A Storage Garage Rent For?

Rental garageThe amount you can charge for garage space can vary depending on many factors ranging from size to access to heating to having manual or powered doors to where it’s located.

I’ve rented single car dirt floors garages for as little as $125 per month and I have oversized two car garages that are heated that I’ve been able to get $350 per month for and on the very simple end I’ve even rented dirt or concrete parking pads (no roof or any structure, just the parking space) just for someone to store a vehicle on for $25-$50 a month.

With the low end parking space only that is still an additional $300 income a year that I didn’t have before and for the big garage at $350 per month that ends up being over $4,000 in additional income every year!!

There is no guarantee you will see these same rates in your area, they could be lower, but they may also be higher and of course there is a chance it may not even be done in your area, but if you could, wouldn’t an extra few dollars in your pocket help?

Renting Out Your Storage Garage – Is It Legal?

This might be your most important consideration.

Just because I can rent out a garage here, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s legal where your property is located. So you need to do some homework. And the easiest way to start is to check local ads to see if anyone in the area is renting garages.

You can use Craigslist, Kijiji or the local online sites to start. There are usually local Penny Saver magazines or daily papers that you can also look through to see if you find ads for storage spaces or garages in.

If you find them, it’s a good sign, but your work isn’t done yet, if you don’t it may not mean it’s not possible, it may just not be common practice.

What you really want to learn as you do your research is what laws cover the renting of a garage or storage space. They typically fall outside the jurisdiction of Landlord and Tenant laws, but you need to verify that. Locally for us, renting a garage is the equivalent of renting a warehouse space and the rules are very much in my favor when it comes to payment issues or other problems.

Determining the full legality of it may start with your local Landlord and Tenant services hotline, but it may require you contacting a lawyer who understands local Real Estate law to get the real answers and access to proper leases allowing you to rent your garage out safely and legally.

Heated Garages – Who Pays Utilities

This seems to be one of the big questions that pop up when renting out a garage to someone, especially when the utilities are paid by the tenants renting the house.

Fortunately garages typically don’t use up a ton of utilities. You can typically appease the tenants renting the property by telling them up front when they first are considering renting your property that they are getting a discount on the rent of $XX to cover the utilities used by the garage tenant.

I would typically position this in the $25 to $50 range and if you’re in warmer climates where heating isn’t an issue and electricity is the only consideration it may be less, considerably less to the point it may not even be an issue.

Which brings me to the other common question.

Doesn’t The Tenant Renting The House Get The Garage Automatically?

To put it succinctly, NO!

Now I have had tenants rent the garage from me as well as their suite, but it’s not my preferred way to rent it out. the issue being if the tenant leaves I lose two streams of income at the same time, Now if it’s a $25 parking space it may not be that bad, but if it’s a $350 monthly garage payment plus a $1,000 rent payment, that can hurt a bit more.

So you need to be clear and up front with the tenants who are looking at the rental space to live in that the garage is not included.

Professional Landlord Tip About A Storage Garage

My storage GarageSo here’s a little tip for you if you start collecting many properties with garages. After a while, to run your landlord business you start finding your garage starts to fill up with parts and pieces to run your properties.

From light bulbs you purchase in bulk to furnace filters, they all start taking up space. At a certain point that space may start compromising the space you have for storage at home. So why not rent one of the garage spaces to yourself? (check with your accountant to see what you can and cannot get away with in your area as this may be a free rental or you could use it as a potential tax deduction in some cases).

I personally have a two car heated garage at one of my rental properties that is filled with shelves and all kinds of parts ( too many parts actually), tools and general landlord pieces that I need on a weekly, monthly or annual Organized storage garagebasis. We store extra furniture there (for our furnished weekly rental properties), renovation materials, and just about everything my wife doesn’t want in “her” garage at our home.

So there’s your primer on garage rentals. So my question for you, is it something you can start applying to your landlord business in the future, or are you already doing it? It’s not going to work everywhere, but if you can make it work it can definitely help you increase cash flow, so I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this article about garages, you might want to check out my Ask the Landlord Article – Marketing Your Rental Garage for ideas on where and how to find tenants – Bill

Five Lessons From My First Tenant Eviction

By

Lessons I learned From Evicting A Tenant - tenant evictionEventually, it happens. You run into your first bad tenant which leads to a tenant eviction. Unfortunately, this usually happens more often in your beginning years as a landlord. Right when you have the least extra cash flow and the most faith in humanity.

Now not to say it happens to everyone, and not to say all hopes for humanity are dashed, but the first time you run into a tenant that has no qualms about not paying you, leaving a mess behind and simply carrying on with their life is the time you start doubting why you are in even in this business.

Fortunately though, I have some tips to help you either avoid that first let down, cut down on the drama associated with it and save you some headaches. Would you like to find out about them?

Tenant Eviction Lesson One

A breach of your lease is serious business. Whether it’s non-payment, damage to the property or something even more serious. Because it’s serious, you need to take serious action and make sure a) the tenants know this isn’t how it works, and b) you need to start taking the appropriate action to evict the tenants.

One of the biggest issues I see with new landlords is they end up being compassionate, often too compassionate, and the one month’s outstanding rent ends up becoming two or three month’s outstanding rent and then the landlord discovers it can take an additional one to three months to get a tenant out.

What might have been a $1,000 decision now could be $6,000 with little hope of ever collecting.

You’re far better off being serious, starting the eviction and then cancelling it if you do manage to get paid, rather than hoping the tenant comes through. The other important point from this is it sets the precedent.

If the tenant sees you won’t let them get away with non-payment or any other breach they will see you treating this like a business and hopefully not let it become a pattern. Now, when it comes to non-payments in my locale, if the tenants pay before the date they are to be out, the eviction becomes null and void.

I tell them this and I also explain I am doing it to cover my ASSets. If they make the payment, no harm, no foul. If they don’t I am already well into the process of having them removed.

Now I mentioned these are lessons I learned from my first eviction, this is an example of something i learned afterwards. I expected other people were like me. Honest, respectful and that they would honor their commitments. I was wrong and ended up evicting these people a couple days before Christmas back in 2004.

I then spent the majority of my Christmas break, which I intended to spend with family, repainting a property, fixing holes in walls, repairing damages caused my neglect and cleaning floor, counters and bathrooms. All on a property I had just finished doing all of this on less than six months prior.

Don’t learn the hard way like I did!

Eviction Lesson Two

Tenants lie. Now don’t take this as a blanket statement, but when it comes to someone facing an eviction and the possibility of  living on the street, making up a small fib about paying the landlord doesn’t seem so bad.

You want to believe them, but you’re running a business and you need to remember that. Accept what they are saying at face value and move forward with the hopes that they come through, and many often do, but at the same time, don’t delay moving forward with an eviction or with the appropriate steps to take control of your property back as quickly as possible if it goes sideways.

This lesson I was first introduced to when I was continually promised a payment and wanted to believe them, but I was ultimately let down. Over the years this has been reinforced many times by people I have tried to help, only to discover no one was helping me, they were just looking after themselves.

Eviction Lesson Three

controlling your propertyRegaining control of your property should be your priority. When you get caught up evicting a tenant it often becomes about the outstanding money. This is understandable especially if it’s several months rent that never made it to your bank account.

Don’t get caught up in the money because the reality is you will likely never see it. If things are so tight for them they cannot pay rent, where will any extra money to pay you back come from? That’s why it’s so important to take immediate action as the longer you wait, the more you can be out.

Your priority should instead be to get back control of your property so you can once again turn it back into a positive cash flowing situation. Focus on getting the tenant out as quickly as possible using the rules and laws in place in your area.

Some places this can be tougher, some areas are definitely pro-tenant and the process can be long, slow and unfavourable to you as a landlord, but bottom line your goal should be to get the tenant out and the property back in your control.

In my case, I was able to get my property back just before Christmas and that gave me the gap between Christmas and New Years to get it repaired, repainted and re-rented and in our case I had it back and rented out within the first week of January. I went from losing money every month the tenants didn’t pay to having it rented out again with cash once again flowing the right direction.

It’s important to remember, once you have control, you have so many more options. You can get any renovations or repairs done if they are needed, which usually doesn’t make sense to do when the bad tenants are still in place. You can decide if this landlord business is right for you or not and either get ready to find better more suitable tenants for the next go around, or you can start preparing to sell.

But many of these decisions are delayed for you unless you have control of the property and get those tenants out.

Eviction Lesson Four

Knowledge is power. Understanding the steps involved in evicting a tenant is actually very powerful and many landlords I’ve walked through the process locally tell me it’s actually empowering.

It’s human nature to be fearful of something new and the first time we have to go through the process of evicting a tenant it’s not only a new experience, but also very stressful.

Your mind is filled with concerns your property will get destroyed, you’ll never be able to get the tenant out and that it could potentially cost you a fortune. All with the pressure of not knowing when or how long this could go on!

Granted, in some areas the process is much easier than others, but learning the process early is much simpler than having to do it under the pressure of a time sensitive eviction.

So where do you get this knowledge?

You can start with some of your local government service offices. They often have a consumer landlord tenancy agency or hotline that can provide you some information. It is usually the extended bureaucratic version, but it provides a starting point.

From there you might want to research local apartment or rental associations for landlords. They can be a great resource for first time landlords. They also should have tons of information regarding evictions, leases and everything in between that you can use to improve other areas of your landlord business.

The majority of these associations require memberships for complete access, but they often have lots of free information to help you move forward.

Finally, other landlords in your area. Networking with other landlords can be very advantageous for everyone involved. Locally it can provide you with changes in local laws or upcoming new rules, on the bigger scale it can be a resource for you to learn and make the job of being a landlord easier. (Never mind the opportunity to share this website to your new associates!).

This is part of how I learned to do my first eviction. I was a member of a local Real Estate group and sought out several of the members to get some guidance. By networking independently of the group my wife and I formed some life long relationships with some great people who we are glad to have as friends and fellow landlords.

Knowing how to evict a tenant isn’t knowledge you really want to have, but if the situation comes up, you’ll be happy that you do have it.

Eviction Lesson Five

Watch your property during an evictionKeep an eye on your property, especially the days leading up to the eviction date!

Depending on how the eviction went, you could end up with some vindictive tenants, after all it’s never their fault they couldn’t live up to the agreement they signed with you, it’s only your fault for evicting them.

One of the ways they can be vindictive is to leave all the doors and windows open when they move out in the dead of winter. Much like my first evicted tenants did. Patio door wide open too along with every light on.

Now back then I didn’t know to check out the property earlier (and sometimes the damage is already done by the time you get there) and we were lucky enough the downstairs tenant arrived home to tell us about it. Before he called he went through and closed all the windows, turned out the lights and closed the door(s).

I now warn landlords to even just do a quick drive by of their property leading up to the day the tenants are supposed to be out, or in the case of a suited property, I keep the other tenants in the loop as to what is going on so they can be my eyes and ears on site.

If you’ve also established good relationships with the nearby neighbors you can let them know what is happening as well. Some landlords become concerned that the other neighbors will think less of them for having a bad tenant, but more often than not they respect that you are taking action and keeping them informed.

Your property is a huge investment and spending a little time driving by, chatting with the neighbors and keeping other tenants in the loop just helps you protect your investment.

Anything Else?

Well, there’s probably another half dozen warnings I could throw your way, but consider the lessons above as your priorities. Of course, much of this can be avoided by making sure you screen your tenants diligently before you ever hand out keys.

From there you also want to make sure you have a written lease that’s valid for your area. It’s another pitfall that new landlords fall into. Without a written lease, you leave far to many loopholes that a bad tenant can take advantage of, so make sure you have a lease and again, one of the networking groups is a great place to look for these.

They may not be perfect, but they are a starting point.

So, my question for you. Have you had to evict a tenant already? If so, have you run into any of the problems I described? Or are there more you could add? If so, I would love to hear them, leave me a comment and share them with the others and we can form our own little landlord community.