Accidental Landlords

In this post, I hope to convey some of my experience in real estate investing. I will post from time to time on related topics as well.

My wife and I are what I have seen referred to as “accidental landlords” . Essentially what this means is that, when we outgrew our first house, we were unable to sell and ended up having to rent it out to show income to the mortgage company since we couldn’t carry two mortgages. We ended up renting it out to some acquaintances, but did not do a credit check. Well, things worked out OK for a while but then rent started coming in a few days late, then a few more days late, then a week or two late. I’m sure you get the picture. Eventually, we sent a notice that we would evict, and the family moved out on their own. We had to clean out the place, repaint everything, and replace carpet. It cost about $3000 to get back into rental condition. From this experience, we learned the following:

- Try to rent to strangers (we did rent to some good friends later and that worked out OK, although we were hesitant and explained that to them)

- No late rent. I have a short fuse now for putting up the eviction notices and have been to court to evict one other time.

- Always check credit. Nice people aren’t necessarily responsible people.

Despite the rough start, my wife and I actually enjoy our landlord experience now. We have gotten better at selecting tenants through reviewing credit, personal references, and personal interaction. We also have declined to rent to people that caused us concern.

I will post more info on real estate investing in the future. Please feel free to comment.