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Landlords?

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Crystal Dragon:
We don't own any rental property, but we rented for a lot of years.  I was friends with one of the property managers we were renting from, and after seeing what the "average renter" does to a place, there's no way I would ever consider being a landlord.

We were a landlord's dream ... stayed long term (usually at least 2 years) and left the place in as good as, or better than, the condition it was in when we took up residence.  But your "average renter"?  Because the property isn't theirs, they couldn't care less about keeping it up ... hey, it's somebody elses problem, right?  My friend showed me one unit after a couple of girls moved out.  Holes in doors, broken mirrors, torn carpeting, gouged linoleum, trash all over the place ... it was really bad.  If I remember correctly, it cost the owner about $3000 to fix all the damage and clean it up.

The last house we rented was trashed ... the owner lived out of state and had a "friend" living there prior to us who was supposed to fix a few things.  Not only did he NOT fix anything, he pretty much messed everything else up.  The owner couldn't afford to fix it up (why he even owned rental property without the ability to keep it up is beyond me) and we decided to take it anyway because my friend (the property manager ... she had just signed up to take this property too) negotiated a killer deal for us on the rent.  So we worked a deal with the owner ... we'd pick one project a month and fixed the place up for him, taking the cost of the materials off the rent.

Bottom line ... there is no way you can be picky enough about your renters.  You may get lucky an find a pearl amongst the swine, but you can get bit bad even if a renter seems like a peach.  If you can't afford to drop up to $5000 to fix a place up after a renter leaves, you're not likely to be able to rent it until it's fixed and you'll still have to make mortgage payments without benefit of collecting rent.  FWIW

VenusInFurs:
My old city had a really, really low vacancy rate (0.5%) so basically you could be REALLY picky about who you rented to.  I think if you can find somewhere in a town or city like that, it's your best bet. 

In Germany tenants have most of the rights, but as a landlord you are allowed to charge 3x the rent as a damage deposit.  In BC Canada it's only allowed to be half a months rent though, which wont really cover any damage so you have to be really selective over who you rent to.

Also, CD has a point that you have to be able to cover general maintenence as well.  That can't be really taken off a damage deposit because wear and tear happens and it's not anyones fault.  That's why I'd suggest opting for better quality fixtures....they last longer than cheapies.

Loki:
Well we rent property here and I would echo some of the statements:

Be very selective over who you rent to - it just takes one questionable personality to cause alot of damage

No smoking in the house is a good plan it does cause alot of damage

And make sure you cover yourself by knowing the laws and regulations!

bluefire:
Be sure to research landlord laws in your state and city.  "Be picky with who you rent to" sounds good, but it's only good if your reason for not choosing someone is within the law.  If someone has bad credit, you're covered.  If someone is a rude slob, it may be difficult to deny their request to rent an available property.

Also, have plenty of money readily available.  If something breaks, you are bound to repair it in a timely manner. 

VenusInFurs:
Yeah where I'm from and the neighbourhood I live in now, you still can because you'll likely have a large number of applicants to choose from.  It's best to choose a place/neighbourhood that's popular and will attract a larger number of potential tenants.  It will be more expensive, but on the flip side you can also charge more for rent.  Also if you can rent it for more, you'll get a larger damage deposit and the cost of repairs is the same around the board, so if there is damage caused by the tenant it will be easier to pay for.

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