Landlord Tips Quick Start
Welcome to the Educated Landlord Email Tips, almost…
I just wanted to mention a few things to get you started now that you’ve signed up for these Landlord Tips
First, you’ll need to watch for an email from my me confirming it was actually you registering. If you don’t see it in the next few minutes, please check your junk or spam folder, otherwise you simply won’t get any tips.
I understand it’s a pain and an extra hoop, but we do this, along with most other responsible websites, so that mischievous people (like upset tenants) don’t sign up your email every providing a deluge of unimportant emails in your inbox.
The email to watch for will look like this:
Don’t reply back to the email, just click on the link in the email highlighted in blue and you’ll start receiving tips shortly after!
Second, you’ll start receiving additional weekly tips from me that arrive every Wednesday morning. These tips cover everything from dealing with tenants, to what renovations help make your property more profitable.
Third, usually a couple times a month, occasionally more often when I have lots to talk about, you’ll receive an update from me about the most current article or video I have recently added to the site. These are usually a little more in depth and often include stories about issues, fixes or timely topics about what is happening in my landlord life personally or what other landlords are going through or asking about and I feel the information will be helpful to you.
I love to hear your feedback and comments so feel free to email me directly back or leave a comment on the site, as you can see from the comments below, our tips and articles have helped both new and experienced landlords, so I hope the information I pass on to you can be beneficial.
One Last Thing About Landlord Tips
Oh, one last thing, the biggest issue I hear over and over from landlords is how to avoid bad tenants (followed by how do I evict a bad tenant…).
Dealing with bad tenants can suck the life out of you as a landlord so the number one aspect of avoiding bad tenants is to have a very thorough screening process that helps you weed out the bad ones or better yet, discourages them from even contacting you.
I do this through my ads, the screening questions I use when potential tenants contact me and several other strategies that I put together in my very popular Tenant Screening Course.
It is a paid course, but as so many landlords pointed out the small cost of the course has helped them avoid thousands of dollars in lost rent damages and more by avoiding problem tenants.
If you want to learn how you can avoid problem tenants and make your job as a successful landlord as easy as possible you can find information about the course right here,
How To Properly Screen Tenants For Your Rental Property
If you want to take a few moments to explore more of my previous articles, you can start right here,
Previous Educated Landlord Articles
And as I tell all my readers, if you have questions feel free to ask away. I’ll reply when I can!
Bill
The Educated Landlord
I live in Philadelphia and have a rooming house that was left for me to take control due to unfortunate circumstances with the owner who is my son. There is no rental license and I have a tenant that is disrespectful in the worse way and refuses to pay rent. I have served a notice to vacate giving her ninety days. I plan to remove the items provided, i.e. bed, frig, and dresser. Do I have a right to do this? My plan is to file a police report because of her threats and harassment but I am in a bad predicament not having a rental license. I am working on obtaining one but cannot take her attitude and disrespect while awaiting the process. I was able to obtain a document to make me the appointed rep for any issues pertaining to the house so at least I can handle things since the house in not in my name. Can this tenant continue to legally live for free? Does the Alberta Act help me in any way?
Signed Desperate and Dispair
Hi Gwen,
I think you’re referring to the Alberta Innkeeper’s Act which is specific to Alberta Canada, os it wouldn’t apply where you are. I don’t know the specific rules or legislation defining rooming house properties for Philadelphia, but I am aware Pennsylvania has it’s own specific rules as a state.
The city may have additional rules that involve zoning and other bylaw specific sections which may be part of that rental license section.
Because there are so many specific rules per region I can’t give you a definite answer, you’ll need to dig around a bit more on your own, but I can point you in the right direction to dig!
Here’s a link to the Pennsylvania landlord tenant laws along with additional info to help you out, Pennsylvania Landlord Tenant info.
Hope that will get you moving forward.
Bill
I like to become landlord n I’m deaf too I need learn classes for landlorf
Hi Jeanne,
Congrats on wanting to be a landlord. Hopefully you can find many useful pieces of information to help you along the way here!
Bill
Evicted attendant and he has been gone for over 2 months he left his truck in my yard we’ve been in communication and keeps saying he’s going to come get it but he does not he Now does not communicate and it is still my yard and I’m not sure of my rights can I sell it to cover my costs can I get the rights to it so that I can do this legally
Hey Alison,
Maybe? It all depends on the local rules and laws. Does your region require a judgment first, or can you put a lien on a vehicle or can you simply seize it, or can a bailiff or sheriff seize it?
These are all questions you need to determine for your area. You may want to go to local landlord or eviction sites that would be able to assist you. The Educated Landlord site helps landlords around the world with landlording, but due to the variance in rules we tend not to provide specific rules as they wouldn’t apply to many areas.
Bill
HI,
My name is Tish. I have been renting single unit homes for a few years now. Luckily, I have only had one bad experience with tenants. My other tenants have been pretty steady. I live in Mid-Michigan and I have a three unit that I have been remodeling and preparing for rental. I am now thinking boarding home of some sort. Do you have any start-up tips for something like this?
Hi Tish,
I have quite a few articles about rooming houses (both the good and the bad) an email list you can register for to get weekly tips to help you make your rooming house business as efficient as possible and to help avoid many mistakes I made starting out and I even have a Guide to the Basics of Rooming Houses available for sale.
You can access these on the top menu under Rooming/Boarding House Info or via the sub menus underneath it.
Just to give you a headstart, I’d suggest your first priority is checking local rules and laws that may come into play. Find out if there is any specific licensing, zoning or approvals required to rent out space like you’re planning and this would include looking into bylaw and fire codes as well.
Additionally you’ll want to know if the rules of tenancy differ with shared accommodation versus normal tenancy as it may fit you under different rules that may be more helpful.
Hope that’s a start!
Bill
Hi Bill
I am a seasoned Landlord with quite a few properties in CT. I want to close up shop in CT and move down to the Carolina’s to do the same thing. what would be your suggestions?
Hi George,
First thing to do would be to assess the new market. If you liquidated everything in CT, and then bought a new property or several new properties in the Carolina’s, would they generate the same cash flow? Are rents equivalent? Lower, higher? With new mortgages in place more of your payment goes to the bank int he form of interest and less against the principal, so you may be further ahead depending on how far you are into your current mortgages.
Sometimes it may make more sense to retain your properties, hire a property manager to deal with them and you may still have a higher return. On the other hand without confirming market rents int he new area you may also be missing out on the reverse. If property values are similar, but vacancies are much lower, or there is much more work coming into the area, you’ll see vacancies go down and values increase faster in the new area.
Other things to look at, are any of your mortgages portable to a new property? Some lenders allow mortgages to be transferred from one property to another one, this could valuable depending on your financial situation as mortgages have been harder fro people to get since the financial melt down and they seem to be even harder for rental properties (this can vary depending on the local lenders and the markets).
So bottom line, run some numbers, make sure new properties will work, then talk to your broker/banker and determine your options with financing. One or both of these may help you make your decision for you!
Bill
Thanks so much for making this website and all of this information available. I just joined today so I am excited to read your articles etc. I have been a landlord since 1982 and basically self-taught. I am always looking for advice and tips! My son has just come on board to make Property Management, Land-lording, and possibly, Property Development a career. I am anticipating that he will use your website extensively for training and insight to help us manage 8 multifamily properties and 2 single-family rentals. We also just signed on with AppFolio for a new property management software.
Thanks again for your wisdom and generosity! Take care, Lisa
Hello Lisa!
You’re most welcome and thank you for coming to visit. Self taught is a great way to learn, the only problem is when you make mistakes it can be expensive sometimes, so learning tips and tactics along the way can be a huge mind, money and time saver and if you’ve made it since 1982, you obviously learned plenty along the way.
Looking forward to hearing more from you,
Bill
Hi Bill, Your tips have given me the confidence to expand our advertising market beyond just military relocation sites. I was pretty nervous about the pre-screening process and discrimination claims, but your tips have given me the confidence to go with my gut, but be smart about it. Thanks!
That is AWESOME Jen!! Glad you found the screening course helpful and good to see you’ve started receiving my other landlord tips now too! I hope you find them just as helpful.
Bill
Thank you for your hard work! It is not easy to maintain such a resourceful site. The amount of information is so interesting I feel like a very greedy kid in a candy store, wanting to read, attend all courses and take in all the information to try desperately to avoid any more costly mistakes. Been a landlord since 2003 and though I invested over 50.000 US dollars (equivalent) still have not managed to break even. There is always one more upgrade, complaint a tenant has that I end up fixing and costing me more than I can bring in with the rental. Thank you for the insight, will try to learn with the common mistakes presented here and though comforting to know I am not alone in those mistakes acknowledging them as mistakes is made a lot easier to avoid repeating them in the future.
Hi Claudino,
The great thing about Real Estate is time. If you have the time, eventually the mortgage is paid down, the rents go up and values increase. Learning to maintain costs until you get to that time can make the difference. Hopefully some of the info here helps,
Bill
Good Morning!
Just want to ask why, when I confirm registration through your email, I get diverted to your initial site. Instead of confirming my subscription. Have even tried to copy and paste to my browser the site you emailed me and still get diverted to your initial page asking me to sign up again and again.
Have I successfully subscribed none the less?
Was expecting to have access to all the info promised in the first presentation page.
Is this happening because I am subscribing outside the US?
Best regards
Hi Claudino,
Thanks for contacting me. The registration confirmation just returns you back to the site to the welcome page. Near the bottom of the welcome page the two big headlines in blue are actually direct links to the screening course, which you actually have to register for as well, and the links to all the articles on the site.
As I look at it now, it doesn’t really explain, that, so I will clarify that page a bit more so it makes more sense.
As for the emails, you will start receiving those every week with handy landlord tips.
Hope that clears things up for now.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill,My Wife And I Are Thinking Of Retiring To Florida.We Were Interesting In Buying Something On The Order Of A Duplex Or A Couple Of Mobile Homes To Rent Out, In A 55 Plus Neighborhood, To Supplement Our Retirement Income.We Did This When We Were First Married And It Really Helped Us Get Started. Now We Need to Up Date Ourselves. Hope You Can Help.
Hey Jim,
There should be a few tips here that can help point you in the right direction! Welcome to the site.
Bill
I have been receiving Landlord advice from you for many years. I don’t want to imagine what could have happened without you being there for timely and wise solutions. It’s a wonderful gift for you to take years of experience and crystallize it into this eCourse. Thank-you for being there for me and for making this available to others.
Thank you so much Tim!
It’s been great seeing your landlord business thrive and I’m glad I was able to help you get there.
Bill
Even though I live in a different Province, you’re landlord tips help a lot!
Hi Denise,
Thanks for your feedback. These tips should be applicable to just about anywhere in North America and even beyond as they cover many basic steps landlords should know about or could use to save themselves time, money and headaches!
Lot’s more info coming too!
Bill
I am a new landlord and looking forward to getting your good advise. Thank you very much.
Glad to have you aboard Hao, hopefully some of our tips do help you out!
Bill
Hi Bill,
It’s really useful for those information I’ve gotten from you. Some ideas are smart and helpful. Thanks for your effort.
Kevin
Thanks Kevin,
Glad you’re finding it useful, I have plenty more to add, I just need to find more hours in the day!
Bill
I love all the tips I’ve gotten from you over the years. Thanks for keeping them affordable, I’m just a struggling single-mom who got some smart advice to get a revenue property so I can stick to my freedom 55 plan. Thanks to your advice, I have great tenants now!!!
Kimberley
Hi Kim,
Thanks for the great comment. I’m glad this has helped you and great job of creating your own retirement plan!
Bill