Being a landlord can be stressful at times. How do you deal with it?

[pudding]

I kind of cycle through liking being a landlord to hating it. Depending on whats going on.

If times are easy and rents coming in nicely then I'm whistling a happy tune.... when the tenant is giving me the gears or there's a dead rat somewhere under the floor, or the hot water tank springs a leak on a Friday night I want to sell and run for the hills.

I've been that way ever since I've owned property, but always end up getting over it. It's almost like I need to write a 'how to handle the rough with the smooth' booklet for myself.

How do you guys handle it? At times it can be really rough, friends tenant had a small fire, they called the fire truck, they came and reported her illegal basement suite... caused a big &&^% storm...   Myself I've just been through similar with the city inspectors with the basement suite in my house.

Besides cracking open a beer??? yoga? spa? gym?

[former player]

I'm with you on the love/hate.  So far I've only been an accidental landlord with a former main home and an inherited house.  My coping mechanisms have been -

1.  Have the house in apple-pie order before renting, and have known and trusted tradespeople to deal with anything that comes up.  Consider landlord insurance that includes rapid response to emergency heating and plumbing issues.

2.  Leave the property empty rather than accepting tenants who are not 100% referenced and have more money than they need to pay the rent.  React fast to any problems.

The former home was a long-distance rental, I had minimal issues with it and a decent return, and I still sold it after 4 years because I didn't want the (potential/feared) hassle.

Someone who is landlording as an investment strategy might make decisions which potentially lead to bigger financial returns in return for a bit more risk and hassle.

[fishnfool]

Yeah I feel your pain. Landlording has its ups and downs. In the end though you usually come out okay.

But when you have a illegal unit maybe not. Hope that fire in your friends rental gets worked out. It could potentially be a huge problem if city code violations , insurance exclusion etc. etc.

Most of my rental issues have been minor compared to the ordeal I went through my first year having to get a new septic system installed.

Gym, walking, fishing and a little vino it's all good!

[Jim2001]

As of about two weeks ago, I'm out of the active management game (again).  I signed up a property management company to collect the rent and take the calls.  For me, it's worth the ~10% of gross rents to not have to deal with the emergency phone calls anymore.

[Drifterrider]

Consider landlord insurance that includes rapid response to emergency heating and plumbing issues.

I've never heard of that before.  What "rapid response" is included in your insurance?