# Any landlords here?



## Wontactmyage (Jul 21, 2022)

I was wondering if anyone here has rental property(ies) they own? Does it aid in your retirement or is it too big a hassle now that you are retired?
We have a rental property in a small town. I’d like to have a dialogue concerning this in retirement.


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## jimintoronto (Jul 21, 2022)

My wife and I own a 2 story house here in Toronto, and we have renters in the basement, and on the second floor. Our younger son Mike did the renovations over a 2 year time span, and the units are ultra modern with the best fixtures and appliances . Both units are private entrances. 

Mike is a artistic guy, who works in the motion picture business here in Toronto. He advertised on a number of artist's groups to find tenants. The basement couple are a costume designer and a electrician, both work for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation TV network. 

The second floor couple are 2 sisters, who are both make up artists. The 2 units combined bring in $3500 a month in rent, which fully covers our insurance, utilities, city property taxes and running costs. The house is mortgage free. We have a list of 5 others who would like to live here, if any one ever moves out. 

In Ontario the Landlord and Tenant Board controls annual rental rates. This year the allowable annual rent increase is 2.7 percent. Our rents are somewhat below the average in this part of the city by about 15 percent. We do that because we own  the house with no debt, and our tenants are also our friends. 

Mike is a half owner of the house, as a reward for the hundreds of hours he spent working on it. When we go, he will own it outright. That is his retirement fund. He is now 45.   JImB.


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## Wontactmyage (Jul 21, 2022)

We are renting our late in life retirement home. One floor no steps, open floor plan. We have been stating it as 55 and over because of this. We live on a small lake in another town. We are in the USA so other than the usual government stuff pretty easy breezy however, I find longer term renters begin to over stretch the rules of the terms of the lease without corresponding. So, how long have you owned this as a rental? Do you do the landlord item or do you leave that up to your son?


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## Pepper (Jul 21, 2022)

Wontactmyage said:


> I find longer term renters begin to over stretch the rules of the terms of the lease without corresponding.


Like how?


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## Wontactmyage (Jul 21, 2022)

Pepper said:


> Like how?


Our last renter(5 year) brought in a girlfriend to live with him (3years in) and did not inform us even though rental agreement stated he would be soul person. No pets- woman brought them in after a year of living there but claimed she did not have cats. He took it upon himself to seed our small forrest to bring in deer so he could hunt them.


Our current renter brought in their young grandson to stay with them when school is out even though they both work. We are to believe that the grandfather takes him with him to his self employed business. The gentleman has a shop but puts his machines in the back yard. These are the stretches that have happened. 

The challenge is whats the saying “do it and ask for forgiveness later”. Since we don’t live in the area we catch this stuff months after it has begun. They all have been OK renters however, it’s just the stretching of the terms of the lease without us being notified that gets under my skin.


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## jimintoronto (Jul 21, 2022)

Wontactmyage said:


> We are renting our late in life retirement home. One floor no steps, open floor plan. We have been stating it as 55 and over because of this. We live on a small lake in another town. We are in the USA so other than the usual government stuff pretty easy breezy however, I find longer term renters begin to over stretch the rules of the terms of the lease without corresponding. So, how long have you owned this as a rental? Do you do the landlord item or do you leave that up to your son?


We  live in the house that we bought in 2010 for all cash, so no mortgage. Mike did the basement unit first ( took him about 8 months on nights and weekends ) so our first tenants moved in to the house in 2013. The second floor took longer as Mike was fully employed working on 2 different TV kid's shows as the props and sets guy. That part was finished in 2016. 

We see our tenants just about everyday, as they come and go. Both of us are retired from professional careers. Our house is  a 2 minute walk from the TTC street car route, as well as a TTC bus route. We have a city park of about 3 acres directly across the street with a city splash pad for kids  and a recreation center . It is a 5 minute walk to the Via Italia  shopping district on St Clair Avenue. The population of the area is very multicultural, with people from around the world living here. Toronto has more than 140 different language groups.

Both sets of tenants have written leases, with basic house rules about recycling, use of the laundry machines in the basement, no smoking in or on the property, use of the backyard BBQ, and quiet hours after 11 PM. Respect and co-operation are a given in both directions.  JimB.


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## Uptosnuff (Jul 21, 2022)

My husband, my daughter and I formed an LLC for rental houses.  We did this about 7 or so years ago.  We bought three houses as rentals in the same city we live in.  We decided to stay with small sized houses because we thought we could handle those better as we do all the maintenance work on them.  Our mission was to offer decent, clean small houses for a reasonable rent.

We had a successful business with our houses.  Now that we are retired we have decided to get out of the business.  It can be lucrative but it is also a hassle. We have sold two of the three houses.  The last one is now up for sale.

Renters are always trying to get away with as much as they can without getting caught.  We had a renter last year that violated so many items in the lease that we evicted her.  And this was during Covid.  In your case since you are in a different town, it would be more difficult to enforce the terms of the lease.  

Have you considered hiring a property management company?


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## Wontactmyage (Jul 21, 2022)

Uptosnuff said:


> Have you considered hiring a property management company?


No thank you, they can be as bad as a renter. 

 We decided we would go and mow the property ourselves, that way we can keep a better eye on it but since we go during the day can’t see every thing. 
Today was resigning of lease and they said we were good landlords. We are fair, no rent increase (yes we could have done so by a lot). Only increase was $1.00 because of water/sewage increase. 
Their daughter they told us, has a bad landlord.

They have been good renters but just seems like everyone wants to stretch the terms without communicating or negotiation.

This property is to be our retirement home when we can’t get around our lake property any more.


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## Uptosnuff (Jul 22, 2022)

I think you will find that renters are always going to see how far they can stretch the terms of the lease.  The question is how far they will go.  Hopefully in your case it won't be so bad since it is to 55 + people.  What I would be concerned about is the condition of your house when you decide to stop renting and move in.  The renters we have had have left our houses in terrible shape when they are done with them.  It has cost us a lot of time and money to fix them back up.

Good Luck


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## Wontactmyage (Jul 22, 2022)

Uptosnuff said:


> I think you will find that renters are always going to see how far they can stretch the terms of the lease.  The question is how far they will go.  Hopefully in your case it won't be so bad since it is to 55 + people.  What I would be concerned about is the condition of your house when you decide to stop renting and move in.  The renters we have had have left our houses in terrible shape when they are done with them.  It has cost us a lot of time and money to fix them back up.
> 
> Good Luck


We hope so too. The 55 plus helps a lot! Our concern is the ones that are suddenly raising their grand children. Much more lenient on them then their own child.


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## Alligatorob (Jul 22, 2022)

Wontactmyage said:


> I was wondering if anyone here has rental property(ies) they own?


Not presently, but I did for many years.


Wontactmyage said:


> is it too big a hassle now that you are retired?


That's why I am no longer a landlord.  It was way too much hassle.  The only real profits came when the property was sold, sometimes for a profit.  Of course the government takes is share of that...

Maybe you can do better, most of our renters were good but we ended up having to evict two.  One might have been avoidable with a better background check before renting, the other I do not believe was predictable.  Lots of $ lost in those evictions, lost rent and damages.  More importantly they were just too stressful to want to do again.  

I did learn that to have any hope of profiting you have to be very hard nosed, start eviction the day after the rent is due.  Inspect often and get rid of renters who don't treat the place well.  Show no sympathy, no matter how sad or convincing the story...  I was way too nice.  

Glad I am out of the business.


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## Liberty (Jul 22, 2022)

We sold a new  house we'd lived in for 7 years...many years ago when we built the property we've been in ever since.  Sold it ourselves and finally had to just get rent from the couple since they are always hard up about something.  Long story, we finally got them out, remodeled the house and sold it.

Nope, we aren't landlords...think sometimes you have to turn a deaf ear to 
hardship tales by renters.


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## palides2021 (Jul 22, 2022)

When my husband was alive, we also had our share of tenants, but the older we got, the more of a hassle it became. Like others here, we experienced tenants who stretched the terms, brought in other tenants, damaged the property, etc.  So we started to simplify our lives and sold. No more stress. No more hassle. Haven't looked back since.


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## Wontactmyage (Aug 2, 2022)

meganth43 said:


> I am not retired yet, but I can imagine how difficult it is. Probably, if you have the financial opportunity, it is better to sell and have pure peace.


We plan on making it our personal home when we no longer are able to get up and down stairs as it has no steps inside and out. We currently live and love our quiet, beautiful views lake home as long as we can. Renting our future home gives us an income.


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## Alizerine (Aug 2, 2022)

My house is tri-level with an added-on in-law suite on the main level. The upper level has three bedrooms and bath which I rent out. My room and workspace are in the suite. The lower level has guest BR, library, laundry, sunroom and deck. 

I am a freelance artist and widow in my eighties. Art is drying up and the rental income is important. My son died during the pandemic, and I have no other children.

One renter recently graduated from college and will be moving to another state.
I am a little nervous about replacing him because my son is no longer here to help screen.

 My renters are of diverse ethnicities and add to my life. We are in metro Atlanta. We help each other out by my driving and running errands and they do heavy lifting and minor repairs. One does yard work for me. The few relatives I have are in the northeast.


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## Leann (Aug 2, 2022)

I had a rental property about 25 years ago in another state. I was fortunate to have good renters who were respectful and didn't destroy the house. While the monthly income was nice, I realized that I wasn't cut out to be a landlord and eventually sold the place to the renters. I have a small piece of undeveloped land that I jointly own with one of my siblings but it doesn't require much attention.


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## Wontactmyage (Aug 2, 2022)

Leann said:


> I had a rental property about 25 years ago in another state. I was fortunate to have good renters who were respectful and didn't destroy the house. While the monthly income was nice, I realized that I wasn't cut out to be a landlord and eventually sold the place to the renters. I have a small piece of undeveloped land that I jointly own with one of my siblings but it doesn't require much attention.


My other half should not be a renter either. We have divided this renter stuff into maintenance and management. He is maintenance, I am management. They have to talk to me then I will get him to do what is necessary to get repaired. It has been working out pretty well.


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## Wontactmyage (Aug 2, 2022)

Alizerine said:


> My house is tri-level with an added-on in-law suite on the main level. The upper level has three bedrooms and bath which I rent out. My room and workspace are in the suite. The lower level has guest BR, library, laundry, sunroom and deck.
> 
> I am a freelance artist and widow in my eighties. Art is drying up and the rental income is important. My son died during the pandemic, and I have no other children.
> 
> ...


I can imagine your hesitation. If I had to do it alone, I probably would not. Good luck.


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## Alizerine (Aug 4, 2022)

Wontactmyage said:


> I can imagine your hesitation. If I had to do it alone, I probably would not. Good luck.


I'm hoping the two who are still with me will offer impressions on perspective renters and of course I will do some research. Also, I will not finalize anything until I feel comfortable. Thanks for the "good luck".


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## Geezer Garage (Aug 4, 2022)

Would suggest that as opposed to a long term lease, that you start on a month to month basis (written agreement). That way you have a chance to make sure it is working to your satisfaction, and it would be much simpler getting rid of them if that becomes neseccary. After a period of time, you can do a long term lease if you so choose.


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## Geezer Garage (Aug 4, 2022)

I had five rentals at one time. Am now down to two, and after the closing on the island house on the 18th, it will be one. I do have the house on my property next door that we've rented for six years, but the renter moved out of state last fall, and the house needs a major remodel, and I've decided to just let it sit for a year or two until i'm caught up on other tasks. Like others here, I've found that my tolerance for being a landlord has greatly diminished as I've gotten older, especially as I did all of the maintenance.


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