Tired Of Being A Landlord? Here's What To Do

Reasons why being a Landlord is Stressful

Here are some of the reasons why you'll hate being a landlord.

Dealing with Tenants

Even though you're the owner of the property, being a landlord means that you have to be at the mercy of the tenants and this can be nightmarish. This can be even more stressful if you hate relying on people to do their best. You'll have to be at their mercy and hope that they will:

• ‍Maintain the property and keep the units in acceptable conditions
• Pay their rents in time
• Live harmoniously with each other
• Avoid engaging in illegal activities within your premise

While doing all these may seem like simple responsibilities, especially in a civilized society, ask any landlord and he/she will tell you that these responsibilities always seem a long shot to most tenants.

In an ideal world, a good tenant should require minimal attention from the landlord. Unfortunately, dealing even with one bad tenant can be hellish even to the most tolerant landlord. Whether it's about making late rent payments, failing to pay at all, or dealing with those noisy and violent tenants, these are just some of the tenants' issues that can make your job as a landlord quite difficult.

What to do: You should ask yourself; is the stress that comes with dealing with tenants worth it? Certainly not. But what if you're already a landlord? In today's technological world, you can avoid direct contact with tenants by using online rent payment or tenant management software such as Cozy.

This will, however, only help you to a given point. This is exactly why you should do a personal assessment and analysis and see whether you can remain a landlord and continue dealing with tenant issues because they're always inevitable. If you can't continue dealing with these tenant issues, which are always overwhelming, you may consider selling your units and get out of the property business.

The High Costs of Maintaining and Renovating Property

Properties will require upkeep and maintenance as they age. This is normal and every landlord will have to undergo this process at one point. Again, there will come a time when the units need renovation and major overhaul. Whether it's about a leaking roof or plumbing problems, these are just some of the main issues that landlords have to deal with regularly. Add this to natural disasters such as water or fire damage and you could have a whole lot of problems to deal with.

The truth is, these issues will not only take a toll on you but will also affect your finances and, of course, your bottom line. Within years, what seemed like the investment of your life will start looking like a sinking ship!

What to do: Having to pay the huge costs of repairs and renovation, especially if the tenant(s) isn't cooperating can be horrible, to say the least. Whether you have to repair the broken door or replace the windowpane, this comes with the territory of being a landlord and can be so annoying particularly if it happened as a result of the tenant's carelessness. So what can you do?

The best thing to do is to take a hard look at the operational overhead costs of being a landlord and maintaining the property. What has been the total cost of doing this annoying repairs and maintenance in the last few years? And what was the rental income that you collected during that period? If the renovation costs exceed the rental revenues during that period, you should seriously consider selling your property and quit being a landlord and channel your proceeds to other profitable investments.

You Have to Stay Informed

When first entering the world of being a landlord, one of your main dreams could be to just sit back and collect the rent checks. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as you initially thought and you've learned this by being a landlord. You have dealt with some ugly tenants who either fail to make payments on time or even fail to pay you altogether.

Worst still, landlord and tenant laws suck and generally give way too much protection to the tenants, which can be truly annoying and embarrassing to the landlord even when the tenant is in the wrong. For example, most state laws stipulate that the landlord has to wait for three months to evict a tenant who is in arrears and there's still a process of doing it. This means that a tenant can stay in your property for several months without paying you and there's nothing you can do!

But even with this, being a landlord would still mean that you have to stay informed and up-to-date with all property laws and legislations that revolve around being a landlord and how to deal with tenants. In other words, you're required to know both the federal and state policies that could affect you. While this is essential in limiting the risks of falling victim to hefty fines and lawsuits, you'll, of course, need time and effort to stay informed.

What to do: Honestly speaking, most landlords don't have problems following the rules, particularly if they're meant to create a fairer and safer landlord-tenant environment. Regrettably, most of these laws and regulations don't make much sense as far as being a landlord is concerned and may make you want to jump ship.

Although this may be a hard pill to swallow for most landlords, there's just no way around it: you have to be informed if you want to become an effective landlord and avoid fines and lawsuits. Fortunately for most landlords, there are a lot of online resources that can help you become a better landlord who is updated in terms of laws and regulations. Various great blogs can help you learn a thing or two about what's required of you as a landlord.

But when it comes to your local property market, there's not much that you can do as they constantly fluctuate, especially when the market is volatile. As such, no amount of information can cushion you from the negative impacts on your property business. You can keep track of both the local and national housing market trends but this won't save you when things go awry. So what could be the most viable option? Well, selling your property and quitting being a landlord could be the sensible thing to do.

Landlords are not immune to Troubles

Even if you have the patience of an angel when dealing with the worst of tenants, there comes a time in your life as a landlord that you'll have to deal with difficult or problematic situations. Well, landlords aren't immune to troubles and you'll have to deal with them, sometimes regularly.

In addition to having to answer to emergency and stressful late-night calls, you'll have to resolve tenant disputes. Worst still, there are times when you'll be seen as the bad guy if you have to evict one of your tenants or even get mad and tell a tenant something that might land you in hot water with the law, and this is no fun. Successful landlords have to weather lots of difficulties, which are always quite stressful, and you may grow tired of being a landlord.

Again, some tenants are rude, careless, incompetent, and scammers with not an ounce of human decency. They'll always drive you crazy, slam you with their idiosyncrasies and this can be hard to deal with as a landlord. Under such circumstances, you may regret becoming a landlord in the first place.

What to do: One thing that you can do if you don't want to deal with these landlord problems is to consider seeking the services of a property management company, as you'll take these duties out of your hands. This will, however, come at a cost. You can also consider using various tenant management platforms but this may also take time and money, though it will still not eliminate these problems.

That's not all; you can also avoid these issues by screening the tenants and coming up with policies that may help you avoid such issues. Regardless, these problems will always arise as long as you're still a landlord. That being said, your best option could be to jump ship and look for something else to do.

What to do if you're tired of being a landlord

As you can see and as we mentioned earlier, several things can take the shine out of being a landlord. Whether you're tired of dealing with bullshit tenants, wary of rising costs of renovation and maintenance, or if you don't want to deal with laws that frequently hurt landlords, you have lots of options on what to do.

Here's what you can do.

You can Sell Your Property

Even though selling a rental property isn't a walk in the park, it's very possible. You can seek the services of a real estate agent to help you through this process. A real estate agent will ensure that you get the best deal possible in the shortest amount of time. And even if they'll advise you to do some renovations to make the units more enticing, this can be a nice option if you're tired of being a landlord and want to sell your rental property.

Alternatively, you can go the "for sale by owner' route but this may not be easier as you'll have to take on the responsibilities of being the real estate agent. While you'll not have to pay the real estate agent commissions, which may amount to thousands of dollars, it can be a real long shot if you're not well-connected within your local real estate market.

This will, of course, involve having to prep the property, being available for showing it, and even negotiating for the best price, and this can be another real hassle altogether. Imagine having to give tenants a minimum of 24 hours' notice to enter their units just to show it to prospective buyers. With that, it could even be much difficult to accommodate the schedules of prospective buyers. Under such a scenario, you may choose to organize batch showings, but there's a possibility that potential buyers may commiserate with each other and point out what's wrong with your property.

So what's the Best Thing to Do?

With a lot of things to consider, selling your rental property, especially if you are tired of being a landlord can be quite challenging, if not for a simple service that one of our partners provides. They specialize in buying properties from frustrated landlords who want to get out of the property. You can submit a simple quote request here.

If you feel tired of being a landlord, we can help you by giving you the best possible price. You just don't have to remain a landlord if you don't want to and you should never be shortchanged.