Today, we’re offering landlord tips through a story about how a property owner who has been renting out a property lost a lot of money by not hiring a professional property management company. Managing a rental property requires a lot of time and knowledge, as this particular situation demonstrates. The subject of our story thought he would save a lot of money by managing on his own, but it did not work out that way.
Beginner’s Luck
This owner had a beautiful townhome in a great location, which he lived in for several years. Then, he got married and moved out, so he decided to rent the property. The first tenants were awesome; they paid rent on time, lived there for three years, and took great care of the home. After they moved out, another tenant moved in and only stayed for a year.
Finding Good Tenants
The next tenant did not complete a full year’s lease term, and moved out after a couple of months. The tenant this owner placed after that was okay, but things started to happen. The tenant got sick and then lost a job. So, rent wasn’t being paid. Because the owner was a compassionate person, he let it go for a few months and told the tenant he could take some time to get caught up and back on his feet. But, rent just stopped coming in. The property owner had to remove the tenant using the courts, which are not always friendly to landlords.
Repairs and Renovations
So we just met with this owner, and he has had the property back in his possession since November. For the last four months, a contractor has been working on it and renovating the property. This owner has spent $35,000 to get the property back into good shape. Now that it’s updated so beautifully, he needs to find a new tenant who will take care of it, and doesn’t want to make the mistakes that he made previously. This owner didn’t even realize what it takes to properly screen a tenant and never checked references or credit or rental history. We’re going to help him, and
make sure he has a better experience. If you want to make money in your investment, you need professional management. We’d love to tell you more about how we provide property management in Indianapolis, so please contact us at ES Property Management.
