This is why I'll stick to reit's...for now anyway
This is why I'll stick to reit's...for now anyway
There are many people in the rent market trying to get as many months of shelter.
I don't understand... rent or rent out?Originally Posted by larry81
Best financial decision I ever made. Over the 10 years of being a landlord, I've had 3 great tennants and 1 crappy one. I have not missed out on a single month's rent. Nevermind the appreciation of the property, i just paid if off in Jan, and it's providing a pretty good stable cashflow. Yes, I could do just as good or better with a dividend paying stock, but I don't really have to worry about stock prices and provides a little diversification.
I think the laws in Ontario are too slow for evicting tenants. TOo many steps, too many months.
What if was like Florida where the real police Sheirff comes in with a gun and tells you to get out? They would never to that in Ontario, tenants have a right to not pay their rent and live 8 months for free!
Knee breaking time?
LOL my co-workers think I can just go change the locks and evict them. I hope she thinks that wayuninformed tenants are better LOL
Oh oh I got some monies... some...
Last edited by jamesbe; 2012-03-02 at 11:48 AM.
I think Berubeland probably has the most knowledge and experience dealing with tenants, and is generally your best source for advice on landlord-tenant issues. Her comments in this thread are great and clearly show what an excellent property manager she is...but I am going to slightly disagree with the soft-glove approach in this case.
I definitely believe building a great relationship with your tenant is helpful, but when you have tens or even hundreds of units, even having 25% of them late on rent is more easily tolerated than having 100% of your single tenant being lateA larger property will be more able to scrape by on the rent received from the tenants than someone who only has a single unit.
If I recall correctly from another thread, jamesbe's property is cash-flow positive (yay! a feat in itself) but not by a huge margin (as expected), so covering the expenses of the unit when he doesn't receive rent comes directly out of his pocket immediately. Luckily he is clearly more financially stable than many with rental units, so he can likely handle this, but it still takes its toll and needs to be addressed in a shorter time frame.
@jamesbe - glad to hear you've gotten some of the money...have you talked to her about her lack of communication?? I think, regardless of whether you plan to evict or keep her, I would address the fact that after receiving the N4 and knowing she lost her job, she didn't let you know what she would be able to give you by the deadline. Berubeland is proof that even deadbeat tenants can be saved if they COMMUNICATE...but your tenant doesn't seem to be willing to do that.
good luck!
Yup, we talked for about 20min. I stressed communication and how keeping me in the dark meant I have to be strict to protect myself, but if she could provide some communication perhaps we could work things out.
I keep my rental stuff in a separate account and do have a reserve in there so I do not need to fund that account for awhile as long as I eventually get the money. Of course if I dnt it will come out of my pocket, sucky but I can cover I just don't want to.
I agree in principle. But a larger property has higher expenses - big mortgage, higher utilities, garbage removal, insurance, property management . . .
I definitely believe building a great relationship with your tenant is helpful, but when you have tens or even hundreds of units, even having 25% of them late on rent is more easily tolerated than having 100% of your single tenant being late
What we are talking about here is a fundamental principle of any business.
As a business owner of any kind it is you responsibility to have a sufficient cash cushion to insulate yourself from downturns and risks to ensure your own business viability. This includes your rental business.
After all what would you think if you went to any store say a music store and you bought a guitar and the owner at the cash said "Whew thank god you bought that guitar now I can stay open another month" You'd think it was a bit Mickey Mouse wouldn't you?
Or you went to the Rogers store and paid your bill and the employee thanked you because now he would get his paycheck. The facts are that lots of people pay their bills late and it's the business's job to make sure they have sufficient cash flow to keep the doors open and people paid.
There is a risk when you only own one property that is dangerous for any business. You have just one customer that gives you 100% of the income. However if you bought the real estate prudently one could hope that you could cover the overhead of your housing services business using other income even for an extended period of time.
When you talk buildings we do have more time to cover obligations as some of our residents will pay on time and money kind of trickles in. However; with our razor thin margins on buildings it must come in or we really cannot meet our obligations and it is impossible for anyone to put in the cash necessary to do so.
In the one building for instance we must meet 75K per month or the owner must put in cash. Between the mortgage and property taxes and payroll and maintenance we only get what's left over after the 75K. Yes the building builds equity but that's not accessible in any real way to meet current cash requirements.
In fact it's like the owner is responsible for giving tenants interest free loans. That's why I do work so hard to get people to make part payments and keep their arrears down even in severe arrear problems. Most tenants if they are working and willing can recover from issues such as losing a job or illness.
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