Does Being A Landlord Always Have To Be A Full-Time Job?
When you have a second property that you don't use often, you can decide to rent it out and become a landlord. This can provide you with a secondary income stream which can be a major boost for your finances. However, when you decide to be a full-time landlord, there are responsibilities and challenges that you'll have to contend with.
Challenges of Being a Full-time Landlord
Being a full-time landlord means you're also in charge of the management of the property. This will present challenges such as:
Preparing the property to be rented out e.g. making repairs, repainting, putting in a new carpet etc.
Finding the right type of tenants for your property i.e. those who will follow the set rules and make timely payments can be tough.
As the manager, you'll also have to oversee maintenance to ensure the rental unities and amenities remain in good condition.
Tenants may have unforeseen problems such as clogged plumbing, pets, pests etc. Many of these will be up to you to deal with.
If you already have another full-time job, finding the time to handle all these responsibilities can be next to impossible.
An Alternative to being a Full-Time Landlord
For many people, being a full-time landlord is out of the question because they may already have another job. Some people may also prefer to not have to deal with the challenges that come with being a landlord. In either case, you can hire property or community managers to handle the day to day operations that you'd otherwise have to do.
The manager will take care of issues such as looking for tenants, setting competitive rents, collecting the rent, maintenance of the property and many other duties. A community manager, in particular, will take care of interfacing with tenants and creating a good living environment for them. This will leave you free to devote your time to other things. In fact, you may not have to do much except wait for the manager to send you the necessary documents and the collected rent at the end of the month.
Is There a Downside to Professional Property Management?
When you hire someone else to manage your property, you'll have to pay them as well. Many management companies will take a percentage of the collected rent. If you hire the wrong people, you may also fail to know if things are going wrong in your property. However, with a community manager doing the difficult part for you, you can be a landlord without all the hassles that come with the job.
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