Author Topic: I guess I'll be hanging out here now  (Read 1023 times)

Sugaree

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I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« on: March 16, 2021, 10:49:36 AM »
So, apparently as of next week my husband and I will be landlords.  This is a property that my husband has semi-managed for years for my FIL.  FIL is tired of being a landlord (and really has never had the personality for it).  I've already told my husband that if we're going to do this then we're going to do it the right way.  It's going to be treated like a business.  Right now, we've got the insurance policy ready to take place the day before the deed gets recorded.  Then we've got to get the tax assessment done and transfer the city rental license.  There is a month-to-month tenant there now, but he'll likely be moving out in the fall.

SndcxxJ

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2021, 07:29:06 AM »
If you have a local organization of rental property owners (in my area there is a group called "rental property owners association") I would highly recommend you join.  There is classes, forms, legal advice, and everything else you will needed to be successful.
If you can find such a group, I would recommend you take a class in rental property management.  I did this when I first started and I learned the laws applicable to my jurisdiction, best practices, etc as well as a fancy certification in property management (which means very little for managing your own property, but why not).
Alternatively, I'm sure you can find a course online but having a place to call and get clarifications and legal advice goes a long way in your confidence and ability to operate professionally.

Sugaree

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2021, 07:37:19 AM »
Thanks, @SndcxxJ!  I'll have to check on the group.  We're lucky in that our attorney also owns rental property so we feel like we get good advice from him. 

PMJL34

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2021, 10:19:23 AM »
Welcome and you are in an awesome group.

A gentle suggestion to start referring yourself as rental owners or someone who owns rentals not "landlords."

Also, do we have mods on this forum? Can I suggest changing the name from real estate and landlording to real estate and rentals?

 

Dicey

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2021, 12:12:03 PM »
Welcome and you are in an awesome group.

A gentle suggestion to start referring yourself as rental owners or someone who owns rentals not "landlords."

Also, do we have mods on this forum? Can I suggest changing the name from real estate and landlording to real estate and rentals?
There are mods everywhere, lol.

I have no problem with the term, though I rarely use it. Even here, LL works just fine.

SwordGuy

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2021, 04:38:13 PM »
I suggest you get Gallinelli's book on Cash Flow and other Measures.   That way you'll know whether you're pricing things to make money or not -- plus a bunch of other financial things you need to know.

REIA -- Real Estate Investors Associations are a great and inexpensive source of knowledge and contacts if there's one in your area.

Your local community college might have continuing education classes on being a landlord or doing other repairs.   Could save you a lawsuit or some expensive repairs.

Best of luck!

arebelspy

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2021, 06:09:09 PM »
Also, do we have mods on this forum? Can I suggest changing the name from real estate and landlording to real estate and rentals?

I'm a mod (thanks for the mod report bringing it to our attention, individual who did so!).

I'm also a landlord.

I'm unclear on what the name change does. Is there a negative connotation to landlord? Is this a web 2.0 rebranding thing?  :)

Congrats on your impending rental, @Sugaree !
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

SndcxxJ

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2021, 09:42:10 PM »
Landlord does have negative connotation to some.  I don't refer to myself as a landlord, but I'm not offended be referred to as such.  I also don't call people tenants, I refer to them as residents.  Some people have negative connotations with that term as well.  These terms go way, way back with negative associations, this is not a new thing.

PMJL34

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2021, 01:03:09 PM »
Arebelspy,

It definitely has a negative connotation and it's an outdated word that is steeped in classism (kings vs peasants). None of us are lords, it's frankly stupid. We are property owners and/or owners of rentals.

 
« Last Edit: March 18, 2021, 05:04:13 PM by PMJL34 »

Dicey

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2021, 07:44:42 AM »
Arebelspy,

It definitely has a negative connotation and it's an outdated word that is steeped in classism (kings vs peasants). None of us are lords, it's frankly stupid. We are property owners and/or owners of rentals.
It depends on your personal experience with and attitude towards landlords to a large degree. I was a renter for a decade or so and loved my landlords.

IRL, DH and I use the term "owners", except in places such as these. "Landlord" is a legal term, so we use it when applicable.

If you're associating the LL term with bad behavior, then whatever term you change it to will soon be steeped in that same negative connotation.

And @PMJL34, if you want to be sure someone reads your follow-up comments, it's helpful use the "Quote" feature or send a bat signal, by placing an @ symbol before their screen name. ARS is so busy running his life that he probably won't notice it otherwise.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2021, 06:27:43 PM by Dicey »

marty998

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2021, 02:34:42 PM »
I suppose referring to us as Landed Gentry is out of the question then 😜

Yes Landlord is still the legal term here too. Common terms here seem to be PPOR (Principal Place of Residence)/Home Owner, or IP (Investment Property) Owner in the case of landlords.

Tenants is still used commonly. Thoroughly confused me when I first learned about ways to split ownership (tenants in common or joint tenants). But I’m the OWNER I protested!

Sugaree

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2021, 09:48:30 AM »
I think Landlord is still the commonly used term here, but then again this is the deep south so things aren't very progressive here unfortunately. 


As it stands now, I finally got a chance to do a walkthrough of the house.  It's better than I was expecting in some ways and much worse in others. 

The quick and dirty background is that this was a house that FIL bought for his mother when she moved here to be closer to FIL and MIL.  After she passed, DH lived in it during college.  It's been FIL's rental ever since.  FIL doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to do this.  To start with, he's soft hearted and is willing to let anyone with a hard-luck story rent for well under market value rather than risk having the place sit empty for any length of time.  Right now, his renter is paying $300/month plus utilities (though to be fair, he is doing some work around the place).  Part of that has to do with the fact that the basement has never been included with the rent because it's been used for storage of FIL/DH's crap for years.  I wouldn't ever rent a place where I'm locked out of the basement, but it hasn't been my circus or my monkeys before.

So, the biggest problems are that the basement still has a lot more stuff in it than I was led to believe (shocking, huh?) and there is a slight sag in the carport ceiling (this is probably my biggest concern).  It also appears that the previous tenant had gained access to the basement and had kept a dog down there.  I'm also pretty sure that the current renter has a frequent guest that smokes inside.  There are some eaves and soffits that need to be replaced/painted and the porch railing needs to be secured better and painted.  Other than the side that is in constant shade, the exterior paint isn't bad.  The new laminate flooring looks a lot better than the old carpet, but it's in need of transitions in the doorways.  The whole interior needs a coat of paint (including the ceiling in one of the bathrooms) and there's a small hole in the sheetrock in one bedroom.  The local Habitat ReStore has 5 gallon buckets of interior Valspar satin white for $70, so I'm going to try to get there before that's gone.  The shower pan in one of the bathrooms is cracked.  I think it can be repaired, but replacement is definitely on the horizon.  That bathroom also needs a new faucet.  The kitchen has always only had cabinet doors on half the cabinets so I'm looking at either getting 18 new cabinet/drawer fronts, or leaving half of them open and painting to make it look better.  The oven needs a new handle.  The backyard is a nightmare and the chain link fence needs most of it's top bar replaced.  The good news is that my husband already has a lot of the materials to do the little stuff. 

SndcxxJ

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Re: I guess I'll be hanging out here now
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2021, 08:54:18 PM »
Anything that can be touch by a tenant is a consumable object.  Flooring, paint, faucets, appliances, doors, trim, anything and everything.  The longer you own rentals the more likely it is that someday you will replace those things.  It sounds like you have some work to do on the place, but that is common.  If you take the view of 'what can I do to this space to make it the best possible' it helps get you out of the common real estate mindset of 'what is the minimum I can do to this space' or 'how can I cover up this'.
It takes time, knowledge, and money to make that all happen but luckily knowledge is plentiful online, real estate is money heavy industry in both inflows and outflows, and time, well nobody has enough of that.

 

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