Your renters/leasers are only as good as your management company.   You want to be sure that the management company will screen all applicants before they move in.   Your home should be cared for, by your tenants, much like you would care for it.    

If you rent or lease, I wish you much better luck that we have had! We have two homes - the one we live in, and a condo that I owned before I met my husband. We leased the home to someone, and it went well for about 6 months. We came home from our wedding in June 2009 to no rent check, and it was a struggle from then until the end of the lease in September of that year. We cleaned it up, painted etc. and decided to put it on the market. With the current real estate market, we had no luck selling, so we decided to go back to renting. The second time around we were hoping to have a better idea about what kind of tenant we were hoping for. We ended up with an older person, with a job in law enforcement, had the same job for over 20 years. Wow, thought we were so lucky. That was back in May. Nope - not lucky after all - we found out about three weeks ago that our tenant has moved out (in the middle of the lease) and left behind a former significant other who is now encamped in our condo, but of course is not paying rent or returning phone calls. So we are currently working our way through an education in the legal system and what is required for evictions in NYS. When we are through this situation, we are finished with renting. It is not for us. Even if we have to stay the course for a couple of years, we are going to wait for a buyer. We find this landlord stuff way too stressful!

I know everything will not be perfect but we have just turned our house over to a Property Management Company. Tired of waiting and getting riculous offers and when we accept one they don't go thru with the purchase. Decided we need to wait out the market. I know there will be expenses and costs with doing this but we want on the road. I'm tired of being cold and we have a summer workamping job. Our company requires two months rent up front (the second month is considered a damage deposit), they do credit checks on all prospects and require a minium of a weekly salary of a month's rent. They take care of everything and only call us when there is a major repair bill over a set dollar amount. Here's hoping it is soon leased and we're on the road in March. We have been waiting 13 months since we first decided to go FT. Lots of luck to you too!. Judy (and Bob)

We plan to put our house up on the market the 1st of March, 2011.  If it does not sell by the end of summer, our real estate man will rent it for us.  He has all of the paper work; which will make it all legal.  It sounds like a good deal.  The rent will be high enough to almost make our payments & escro.  We will have to pull a little money out of our pocket to make up the difference and put money in a kitty for repairs.  There will be a liability limit (am I saying that correctly?), so we won't be winged and dinged for every little repair. . . . only the big ones, and the renters will have to pay the beginning of the repair bill.  (There is a word for that.  I just can't think of it right now.)  Our relator will oversee the rental and take 6% of the money.  He has other rental property and says that there is a need for it in the community.  Yes, we know him personally and can TRUST him!  It will be a relief to us.  Problem being - the house won't be able to be sold while it is being rented and we won't have cash up front to buy a nice big rig when we begin on the road.  Tell me what you think about this idea.  Thanks. 

I think renting your property if you aren't able to sell it for a reasonable price makes sense. As a Realtor, it think the ridiculous appreciation and popular shows about fixing and flipping real estate for great profits created lots of unreasonable expectations. Real Estate is never seen as a short term investment by the folks who use it to build wealth and know what they are doing. i would never suggest anyone try to manage property themselves. Especially if they are on the road. Way too stressful! Property management and sales are 2 different things, so be cautious in using the same agent to manage your property as to sell it. I've been asked by many clients to manage property by clients and always decline, referring them to someone who specializes in property management. Trying to sell while having property leased limits your market to those lookng for investment property and also can make great tenants very nervous which is never a good thing. Just a couple things to keep in mind.

Thanks for your response, CKerr.  I just checked out your blog.  I see that you already have a rig in place.  That has to be helpful. . . . but we are creative and can still make this work.  Our son has an RV that we can use next winter for a workcamping experience.  That will give us a good try at this way of living and let us know if this is actually what we want for the next 10 years or so.  I have heard that it takes about 3 fulltiming months to get used to the idea and like it.  I hope they are correct.  

Good point about paying off the house and using the rental property as retirement income.  We are blessed to be living in a good residential area, so that might be a plan.  I figured last night that we could triple up our principle payments while on the road and cut our debt down in no time.  We would have to workcamp to make this possible.  It would be probable. 

Maybe we will meet you at Sieverville.  We plan to be there in April and ask alll of our questions.  I am looking forward to it.  RV-Dreams' website has helped us a lot!!

I would like to add our experience. We still have our S/B home and have been fulltiming since 2007. It was around the same time that the economy started tanking, so we do not want to sell until the economy gets better. So ....... we thought we had the ideal tenant, our daughter! We love her to bits, BUT, her and her hubby/baby/dogs do not look after our property like we did. The yard has been neglected (she is a working Mom with a baby ... no time) her mother-in-law shut the dogs in the downstairs guest bathroom and went shopping, during which time there was an electric storm. The thunder and lightning traumatized the one dog so badly he ate huge chunks out of the door frame and the wall. etc, etc. So .... put a lot of thought into it - a management service would definately be the way to go. Good luck.

Ckerr wrote:

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I think renting your property if you aren't able to sell it for a reasonable price makes sense. As a Realtor, it think the ridiculous appreciation and popular shows about fixing and flipping real estate for great profits created lots of unreasonable expectations. Real Estate is never seen as a short term investment by the folks who use it to build wealth and know what they are doing.

i would never suggest anyone try to manage property themselves. Especially if they are on the road. Way too stressful!

Property management and sales are 2 different things, so be cautious in using the same agent to manage your property as to sell it. I've been asked by many clients to manage property by clients and always decline, referring them to someone who specializes in property management.

Trying to sell while having property leased limits your market to those lookng for investment property and also can make great tenants very nervous which is never a good thing. Just a couple things to keep in mind.

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Hey CKerr, thanks for the advice. We do appreciate everyone's input, but is really nice to get a professionals honest opinion.

Also too Jackie and Tony, we considered our kids and thought on it long and hard (for about 10 seconds, if that long). Not sure if its a generation thing or not, but there seems to be a big gap in morals and responsibilities going on.