Maine just lost another landlord. In 2010, my wife and I purchased a well kept trailer on slab with many additions, a huge heated garage, and beautiful 36 acre lot that included frontage on a large brook. We rented to an elderly couple who were great in every way. After they had to leave in 2017 for medical reasons, we let our guard down (hindsight 20/20) and rented to a couple in their fifties. There were warning signs that we should've seen but didn't. Turns out our couple have a good long record including some assault with a deadly weapon and many petty crimes (I wonder what crimes they've committed successfully).
I did not become a landlord because of altruism, but I did keep rent down to a lower than average $750/month as it is exceedingly expensive to live in Maine unless you've retired from Boston or NYC. In the past four years I've put nearly $40,000 into the trailer naively thinking that this would placate my tenants. We tried to put the trailer on the market, but the husband refused to leave for a showing, fired up a joint, and proceeded to tell the potential buyer that he hated out-of-staters such as herself. They refused our Cash for Keys offer (a polite term for extortion) of $1500 and seemed anxious to go through Maine's eviction process.
Now that I've gotten a good taste of how nasty tenants can be (threats, false accusations, etc.) and how easily they can manipulate rental laws, I'll never be a landlord again. In order to be a successful landlord today, you need to suspect the worst in each applicant and I don't want to become that person, so I'm opting out. I hope that anyone considering taking on a rental will learn from my mistakes and pay the measly money for a background and credit check. Also, learn the rental laws in your state. As it turns out, Maine has a legal group that receives state and federal money to represent people like my tenants. Gosh, I just love attorneys...
I was renting out two houses for a time.?ÿ In both cases the tenants left owing me money and leaving the place in need of numerous improvements to lease to someone else.?ÿ Never again.
When I was in college a friend of mine reported two places that she had considered renting but turned down.?ÿ Both times the landlord had just had the keys returned and had not inspected the place.?ÿ At one place the renters had painted the entire interior flat black including doors and molding, light switches, outlets etc. and put foil over all windows.?ÿ At the other place everything looked fine until they walked into the living room and discovered a very lifelike painting on the wall.?ÿ Let's just say a very stimulated male must have been the model for the "thing" which was about 10 feet in length and proportionately sized in the other dimension.
Thank you both for confirming why I never have and don't want to be a land lord.
Ever.
I could tell you a true story that happened to me involving my oldest son and his ??girlfriend? which took six months and a lot of $$$$$ to evict and then DCF asking me and SWMBO to care for their daughter (one of our precious granddaughters) which we did for 19 months. But that??s one skeleton in the closet of many I don??t care to elaborate on. ?????ÿ
I've also have horror stories about properties I've let to rent.?ÿ I'll never do it again.?ÿ Without going into detail all I can say is never rent to friends or relatives.?ÿ
On the other hand I know three friends who have had as many as 25 rentals each and love it.
Not me.?ÿ Never again.
The guys that have 25 units love it because they are treating it as a business and not a side hustle or way to hold property/materialize profit from real estate without selling.?ÿ
I have had a a few landlords over the years that I have nothing nice to say about.
In the end I have decided that the faceless corporate entity is the best bet.
As a landlord, you are a tennent's BEST friend the day they move in.
After that, as a landlord, you are a tennent's WORST enemy for the rest of their life.
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As with the rest of my businesses, I refuse to compete on price.?ÿ My family has a couple of rentals, something I am slowly getting us out of (because tennents suck), but I have found that you do not want to be anywhere near the bottom of the ladder on pricing.?ÿ Raise your rental fees beyond the mean of the market, and you start to weed out problem tenants.?ÿ Background checks.?ÿ Check their finances and job.?ÿ Look at their demeanor, clothes, shoes, and the kind of car they drive.?ÿ If they care about their belongings, you have at least a chance that they will care about your place.?ÿ Zero tolerance on drugs and smoking (including legal weed) also helps.?ÿ
Even with all of that though, it truly is a crapshoot.?ÿ We will be getting out of the biz in the next few years.?ÿ I have one place though that we are going to try the air-bnb thing with.?ÿ I will hire a cleaning company, and we live in a resort area, so $700/night seems like a better idea then $700/month.
I was a landlord for one year. A mother and daughter. They gave me quite an education. They would pay the rent partly with a check and part with cash. Two weeks later the bank notified me the check bounced. Guess what. It was not large enough for the County Attorney to go after them. Then they wanted a months rent because they didn't have hot water. Sent a plumber over to check it. The pilot light was turned off. Water heater was perfect.
I started taking their checks to their bank to cash them. That solved the two week break and bad check charges. They moved out in the middle of the night. Stiffed me for the last months rent. Place was filthy. I cleaned it up and the For Sale sign went up promptly.
We just bought the place next door- turning it into Airbnb.
After the last of the kids moved out of the family home my wife and I had to decide what to do with the extra space. The place was in serious need of maintenance, long deferred.
Eventually we decided to do a complete renovation and split the house into 2 units. Upstairs and downstairs. Architects, permits, inspectors, the whole nine yards. Each unit has its own address. My wife and I live downstairs.
We hired a property manager to find tenants for the upstairs. Yes, we have to pay him a cut. But it has been worth it. He found an outstanding couple who are fine neighbors and who pay regularly. When it comes time to renegotiate the lease he makes recommendations and does the negotiating. Worth every penny.?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ
My wife and I have had our first home rented out for about 13 years. We've only had one bad tenant, and even that one wasn't truly a horror story; they at least paid the rent on time. But when they broke the lease and moved abruptly, we were glad they were out when we saw the condition of the place. We've also had a couple of outstanding tenants, including the one we have now.?ÿ
We go through a realtor friend of my wife's who does all the background and credit checks and gives us a list of quality applicants to choose from; it's more than worth the one-time 40% commission. We get $1600/month for the place, so that pretty much eliminates a lot of the riff raff. We've learned the hard way what to stay away from, unmarried couples being at the top of the list.
Legal disclaimer...if you are a landlord, be careful what you post online regarding your standards...it could very well be used against you in court.
