Marital Bliss

A few weeks ago I ran across this guy who wanted to rent out his home. He was debating if he needed a property management company or not. What did I think?

My experience with landlords dabbling with first rental properties is they have a lot to digest. And, many of the decisions they make are probably more related to marital harmony than strong business acumen. My first real estate clients, Kevin and Kelly, were this cute married couple who were buying their first home together. Kevin had a home and was going to rent it out when they moved into their new home.

Kevin rented out the first home and managed it by himself. If her own sink backed up, Kelly would dump in the Liquid Plumbo. However, if the tenant called because the sink was backed up, Kelly considered it a major issue that caused great anguish. If the rent was a day late, Kelly was anxious. If the tenant went on vacation, Kelly was stressed someone might break in and trash the place while the tenant was gone. As Kevin explained to me at the time, "There is no winning this."

Through inheritance, Kevin and Kelly managed to acquire another rental property. This time Kevin got a property management company. Because Kevin didn't see a check on the first of the month (generally the management company sent it around the 15th) and because he didn't know the tenants by sight, Kevin was stressed. When the sink backed up it became a major deal for Kevin. Could the management company have used Liquid Plumbo instead of calling out a licensed professional? Was the property management company making the decisions in their best interests?

They still have the inherited property. Kelly is happy and stress free. Kevin would rather have a happy and stress free wife than manage it himself and feels the trade off is worth it.