Rental properties are great investments that generate monthly cash flow. They enable investors to build wealth, but they can require a lot of work.
Many investors make the mistake of thinking that they can be DIY landlords, or do everything themselves when it comes to managing their properties.
If you’re thinking about managing your rental properties yourself, this article will provide you with the five hardest parts of being a landlord.
#1 – Finding And Screening Quality Tenants
The first challenging part of being a landlord is finding and screening quality tenants.
Renting to quality tenants is important because this step is going to lead to you earning the most ROI from your rental property possible.
Once you start communicating with prospective tenants, the key to success with choosing the right tenant involves following these criteria:
#2 – Managing Maintenance
After you find qualified tenants, the next difficult aspect of being a landlord is managing the maintenance of your rental property.
Staying on top of maintenance is important because, if you fall behind on maintenance or don’t keep your word to resolve maintenance problems, you may end up having an unhappy tenant. This tenant could potentially withhold rent until you resolve their maintenance issue.
As a landlord, you should have relationships with contractors in the area who you can call when you need maintenance or repairs at your rental property.
Besides having a vendor matrix, you should also have an infrastructure in place that will dispatch maintenance professionals immediately to resolve maintenance problems.
#3 – Staying Up To Date With State And Local Laws
Another hard part of self-managing rental properties is The laws are changing regularly for landlords. Today’s owners have to know what’s happening with issues like rent control, eviction moratoriums, and Fair Housing laws.
Keeping up with Federal, State, and local laws are important because failure to know the latest laws which affect landlords could easily result in you being sued by your tenants or fined by the local government.
#4 – Dealing With Non-Payment And Evictions
We’ve provided you with three challenging aspects of being a landlord but #4 is so far the most difficult.
When a tenant doesn’t pay rent on time, you have to know how to collect the rent and post the correct notices at the right times.
If a tenant continues to not pay their rent, you also have to be ready to take them through the eviction process. This can be another complicated process in itself, especially if you’re unfamiliar with evictions and have never gone through the eviction process with a tenant.
#5 – High Maintenance Tenants
Last, of all, a very hard part of being a landlord is dealing with high maintenance tenants.
High maintenance tenants are people who can require assistance at all hours of the day, night, weekends, or on holidays.
No landlord likes to deal with high maintenance tenants because they can take up all of a landlord’s time and energy.
Dealing with high maintenance tenants immediately is important because a problem tenant could lead to complaining neighbors, HOA rules violations, and other problems that may lead to the landlord having to evict the tenant.
What Is The Solution To The Problem?
Instead of having to deal with the hard parts of being a landlord, the solution is to hire a property management company.
With a professional property manager, you can have confidence that they will handle all aspects of your property including tenant selection, maintenance, rent collection, evictions, and staying up to date with local laws.
When you hire a property management company like GoldenWest Management, you can enjoy earning passive income from your rental properties while having peace of mind in knowing that your property is being managed by a professional.
Contact GoldenWest Management
At GoldenWest Management, we specialize in property management for San Diego, Arizona, and Nevada.
Having offices in three states gives us the ability to manage a wide variety of rental properties but we still treat every client like they are our only client.
To learn more about the property management services that we can offer you, contact us today by calling (866) 545-5303 or click here to connect with us online.
