Rookie Landlord

[glatt]

The renters you get will make all the difference. Seriously. I know of landlords who have literally paid renters to leave they were so bad and the system is so slow to get rid of them.

I am POA for my elderly cousin with dementia. He had a rental property in another state. Rented it to a father and son. The father died, and he let the son take over the lease and continue living there. To say the son trashed the house is like saying the titanic bumped into a snowball floating in the ocean. We ended up getting the son evicted after 6 months of no rent payments, but the house sustained so much damage that when I sold it to raise money for nursing home expenses, the property with an $80k assessed value could only fetch $32k. It needed to be gutted by the new owners. Down to the floor joists and wall studs. It was TRASHED. Son had no money, so no use going after him. No money on the books anyway.

Neighbors told me the son had 3 dogs, and never let them outside. The animal feces was piled up inside on the floors. Soaked into the floors. Fleas. Urine damage swelled the floorboards so much, the back door couldn't swing open. Every window broken. Furnace literally smashed apart. Junk everywhere.

I need to stop typing about this. I spent $2K hiring people to clean it up enough to sell "as is" to someone who planned to gut it and leave it all winter with the windows open to air out before he tried to fix it back up again.

Chose your renters wisely, and keep an eye on the place. But be friendly about it.