Author Topic: Landlord wants to be free to get away from winter. Who will take care of things?  (Read 2955 times)

pudding

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Hi folks. Any thoughts on this.

As I've posted in the past I have a house and rent out rooms to international students as well as live here.

It works out well and pays all the bills and some. It's a good set up and I like my life here and I have all the conveniences of living in the city.

I'm in Vancouver Canada and I can't stand the winter here, every year I find myself just a groaning about it. It's rainy and grey and dark, and it's really predictable that from the 2nd week of November to early March it will be that way, it's 5 long months.

I don't particularly want to set off on a travel trip to different destinations each year, I've done a lot of that and I've had my fill for now.

Honestly if I could put my house on wheels and US would allow me I'd just move the whole thing down to Southern California, I'd have the same set up and the weather I like and all the convenience of living in North America.

I don't want to just vent about it, and grin and bare it each year like I usually do. It's f**ing miserable and I'm as good as sure that I would be a lot happier if I was somewhere sunny for the winter months.

If I sell my house then I can just take off, but if I keep it I'm looking for a way to be able to leave it for at least 6 weeks a year.

But who will look after business and how best to do it?

I've got ideas but thought I'd throw it out there as maybe some people have creative suggestions.

Any thoughts appreciated.

I'm a red panda

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Hire a property manager?

Eric

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Offer discounted rent in exchange for labor

ltt

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Offer discounted rent in exchange for labor

This.  Do you have a tenant in there now that you trust and would agree to this type of arrangement?

pudding

  • Bristles
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Offer discounted rent in exchange for labor

This.  Do you have a tenant in there now that you trust and would agree to this type of arrangement?

Thats what I was thinking too.

Another was ask my sister if she wants to come and hang out in my place for free and take care of things.

J Boogie

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Offer discounted rent in exchange for labor

This.  Do you have a tenant in there now that you trust and would agree to this type of arrangement?

Thats what I was thinking too.

Another was ask my sister if she wants to come and hang out in my place for free and take care of things.

I had a landlord that did the exact same thing.  He went to Peru or something. 

Goldielocks

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Yep -- depends on how "hands on" your students expect you to be.  (e.g., you may have negotiate house rules for multiple boarders, etc).

For renters, my suggestion is to arrange for post dated cheques or automatic rent payments before you go.  Few people will drop off the rent for an absentee landlord, until they return and ask for it.  A challenge may be if your tenant wants to give notice to leave, so work that out in advance.

Then, have a friend, relative, or professional arranged on a call up basis, for a flat fee per service call while you are away, for large issues.  Give examples to your tenants of what they can call for, and what can wait until you return.


Have fun!

Retire-Canada

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Just commiserating I live in Victoria and my FIRE dream is to take off evey winter for 6 months in a travel van head down to SoCal to visit friends, continue on to the Baja for a few months, come back up through SoCal and the return home via AZ & UT for some MTBing. I'd get to be home for 6 awesome months and get all the travelling I want done.

scottish

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I recommend you take up skiing.   Go into the interior on the weekends where there's more sun.

Seriously.   This helps me a lot in the winter.

pudding

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I recommend you take up skiing.   Go into the interior on the weekends where there's more sun.

Seriously.   This helps me a lot in the winter.

I was thinking similar to. Its a good idea to make the best of enjoying winter as well as maybe spending time in a warmer place.

Thanks

pudding

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If you only plan to be gone a couple of months you probably don't really need anyone to caretaker your place full time. Maybe just a local friend to stop by once a week to check on it and to collect rents. Give your tenents that persons phone number in.case of an emergency or needed repairs (friend can contact someone to do any repairs and oversee and pay for them with your approval). You can do this even if you're gone several months at a time. I generally leave my house unoccupied for a couple of months at a time but have someone check it every week.

Thanks Spartana, I have a neighbour that I've known for a few years now. He's a handy guy trustworthy and onboard with the Mustachian way of doing things. . He's be a good one to ask for this.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!