I just need to blow off steam...just got out of court because our renters decided to quit paying rent and told us via text that we could proceed with the eviction process. Well, we ended up winning and they have to pay us rent and court costs and be out of the house by 7/18 or we can have the sheriff come but it's so sickening that they would basically just be "squatters" and stay there without paying a dime and then come to court and try to tell a bunch of lies! I just don't think I have the stomach to deal with renting houses!

I hear you complicated... I had someone literally break into one of our vacant apartments and start living there. We found out and padlocked the door. They marched their sorry asses to the courthouse, filed an emergency order that we as their landlord were illegally keeping them from their apartment. We had to let them stay until the court date (3 weeks later) we won the court case but had to give them 10 days to move. We were left with a trashed apartment and a ridiculously high electric bill.

That is what I am afraid of with them already living there for 5 weeks knowing they were going to be evicted and now the judge gave them essentially 11 more days to trash it and dirty it up really good! The utilities are in their name at least.

As a former homeowner, it blows my mind that someone could behave like this. It's crazy!

Good luck, COMPLE. I hope the damage isn't too bad. Sox, how were they allowed to continue living there without a lease?!?!

That was the odd thing BB. We proved without a doubt they had no business being there, but the judge gave them 10 days to leave...I am sure the fact that the scumbag had her baby with her fed into it a little bit...

I had my hesitations about them when we leased to them but they were honest and forthright about some things in their past and seemed to be trying to turn a new leaf so I gave them a chance and got burned in the end.

It sucks Complicated...I have also learned to give tenants very little slack, especially at first. It can be hard, but ultimately its your money.

I'm sorry COMPLIcated. I rent a house in Tucson that we could not sell when we received orders to ABQ. The whole process made me sick. If you live near a military base try listing on http://www.militarybyowner.com/. That is where I found my current renters (a military couple). If anything were to go wrong, we know we can contact their superiors on base and report an issues (like nonpayment, etc).

Ok you guys are seriously freaking me out with these stories. We are contemplating a move and have decided we want to rent our house out. Do any of you use a management company? Since we're talking about moving out of state we're thinking that's the best way to go. Any thoughts?

We had to have a house demolished because of sleezy (being nice here) renters. We had to go through similar eviction process and a law suit, all of which we won to no avail. As too many of you know, winning in court does not equal cash.
Anyway, during their brief stay, they had been cooking meth and selling heroin, shooting up, leaving needles, smoking dope, etc to the point the house had become bio hazard (condemed). They put on a good face when they rented the place and a week later when I came by to check, it looked fine. 30 days later it was destroyed. Tore down the house and sold the property.
No more rentals for me. I feel your pain COMP. Wish you could exact a little more punishment.

We don't. But I know plenty of people that do. We are only a 6 hour drive from Tucson and have friends that will help if the renters need anything. No issues yet after a year.

We are about 2 hours from our properties, and learned the hard way that you need to have reliable people to handle issues in your absence. I highly recommend a management company if you won't be able to be close to the property.

We'll probably end up being 6-8 hours away and we've never rented out a property before so we figured it would be better all around if we hire a management company.

Thanks!

I have a similar but different situation. My renters now owe for 4 months rent. She keeps saying she is coming by but does not. Had an attorney draw up a lease and gave it to them to sign but she keeps forgetting to return it. They did remodel the house on their own. We have paid for a new roof and AC. The husband also painted the exterior of my mom's house and put up new fencing and new fencing for me pretty cheap. They are good people - they just don't pay! Ironically, he is the deputy sheriff! Ha! Can I have him serve himself eviction papers? It's an old farm house and we only charge $200 rent!

being a long distance landlord is nearly impossible...

I'm pretty sure I'm going to rent my house out. If possible, I will use a management company. It's the only asset I have left and I'm not letting it go.

I use a management company. There's only a fee if the place is rented, they do the advertising, run credit, check references, etc. I like not having to deal with any of the problems (and there have been a bunch) or fixing the place up between tenants. We were lucky with the 1st tenant, the rest have been total dogs! Keeping my fingers crossed that this one is decent.

My next door neighbors house is section 8 housing and I had the best neighbor for 10 years. She keeps the property amazing. Sadly she moved yesterday and I'm terrified who will move in.

Many of our tenants are section 8, and for the most part we haven;t had an issue with them. Most understand that not only us as landlords are on them, but the housing authority is as well. They won't hesitate to yank someones voucher if there is an issue.

My tenants are great - I got so lucky. We live 12 hours away from our house now, so yes, I use a management company and it's fantastic. I pay them 10% of the monthly rent but it's well worth it.

In 13 months now, they have never had one late rent payment. They also want to buy the house when they can (they're recovering their credit from a bankruptcy a few years ago) and they are taking care of it like it's their own. I know, because my realtor/property manager has stopped by a few times (to check on an issue they reported) and he says the place is well taken care of. Yay!

It's not all horror stories when it comes to tenants. I know I'm one of the lucky ones, but I was so scared of renting, I let an empty house sit on the market for sale for way too long and lost too much money paying for it. I now wish I would have just rented it out from the beginning. Oh well, live and learn!

I'm so glad to hear there are good experiences as well. The companies we've looked at are charging 8-10% which seems worth it to me.

We plan on getting the house ready and putting things in motion in the next few months. Did any of you have renters check out the house while you're still living in it? I don't know if we should wait until we move or get a jump start.

Sing, hwo about makign a video tour of your house instead, until it really is ready to be rented/looked at?

I was on Section 8 with my mom and little brother. The places we lived in had to meet certain criteria and the Section 8 lady came out once a year to do a site visit. If certain things were out of order, she'd report it to the landlord to fix it. We were always clean (mom is totally anal). So, not all Section 8 renters are bad.

I love those inspections-I get this on most reports:

"Heating Baseboard covers missing"

They were there a year ago when the tenant moved in, but are now missing...what the frack do people do with baseboard covers?

::puts away covers:: I dunno.

This just blows my mind. If this is how things work, I should steal a Ferrari, enjoy it for however long it takes to get caught + 10 days and make the owner pay for gas.