Renting the condo - use agency or DIY?

[MissHell]

I am considering renting out my condo, trying to decide the pro's and con's of using a rental management company vs doing it myself. Any thoughts?

[wildchild]

i have a friend who rents their's out in Myrtle Beach. They use an agency and have had very good luck with no headaches.

[shmike]

Many factors.

What is the condition of the place: do you forsee / expect any repair issues?

What is the state of the market locally: could you rent it easily by simply putting an ad on Craigslist?

What will be the "quality" of your tenents: if you are renting to 6 surfer bums, you might have more issues than renting to an affluent couple. It could also be opposite.

How close will you be to the property: if you are out of the area, I'd definitely go with a management company.

What is more important: more money or less headache?

[CasterTroy]

AGENCY!!!


if you DIY and they stiff you then you have no recourse.


I rent my house out....and have been fugged over too much to ever recommend DIY to ANYONE

TRUST ME

[Rangerscott]

I've been in a TON of rent's and you can believe me or not but when I say people don't GIVE A SHIT about anything on about the house, they really don't.

Unless this is some high class condo then you better have some money backed up, cause rents turn to shit after a few years.

[MissHell]

I am leaning toward a management company. My place is near a few bases and I hope it can be rented to military. I don't expect to make money, I just want to cover the mortgage and the management fee. I'd even be okay if I had a pay a little out of my pocket.

[Rangerscott]

I am leaning toward a management company. My place is near a few bases and I hope it can be rented to military. I don't expect to make money, I just want to cover the mortgage and the management fee. I'd even be okay if I had a pay a little out of my pocket.

Wrong thinking in my book. You being that soft at the beginning will probably be your undoing later on. I'm not saying you have to be an ass but you don't want to be soft to renters.


Here's a story for you. A guy I work with is fixing up a rent that a guy owns. He rented to a couple. Had them sign a contract, but can't have animals (not in contract). Well the guy gets a dog and tells him he's taking care of it for a friend. OK. Later on there's more dogs. Well the owner goes into the rent while they were gone and the place is a complete wreck. They let the dogs tear up everything, EVEN THE WALLS! Dog piss everywhere, etc etc. Well the owner couldn't kick them out cause he didnt have no animals in the contract so he had to wait till their time was up to kick them out and now he's spending thousands to fix the place back up.

[MissHell]

Thanks for the story! :tremble:

[copperheadresort]

I'm in the same situation, I have a rental house near a base and when I went to rent it, I did so with a management company because I didn't want to have to deal with it. Sometimes you have to push them a little bit, but in the end, it is generally worth the pennies they are making on it. I'd vote management company. Good luck!

[tached1000rr]

management company

[Sean]

I give 10% of my monthly rent to a management company and it is worth EVERY PENNY.

[skiergirl]

I had a leasing agent rent the property for me, so they do all the back-ground, credit and reference checks along with creating an official lease to be signed with all those stipulations about pets, guests, room mates, etc in it. I can't think of anything that's not covered so I have the legal right to evict if they break the lease.

I do the property management though so if there are problems I address them and collect the rent monthly. I've had great luck with the last 2 tenants and had not a single repair due to a tenant so far. I have the benefit of living 2 miles from the property also, so I get to see it regularly when i stop by for the rent each month.

There's always the chance of a crappy tenant but I think if someone goes through a leasing agency they tend to expect a nicer, cleaner house and are the type of people that usually take better care of it. They know they will have checks done on them so it eliminates a lot of the 'bad' right there. It's not a guarantee and the price and area will make a huge difference in that too.

Good luck!

[the chi]

I'll be the dissenting voice here. If you will be near the property or have someone who can check it if needed, I'd go without a rental company.

We are renting out our home in FL, and it has been easy and simple, military area with military member renting.

We are renting a home in GA, with a rental company and it has been a nightmare. They got our lease wrong, not once but 3 times, argued with me about it when it was OBVIOUS. When we need work done, it takes them WEEKS to get it addressed. If you call or email them, they rarely respond in a timely manner, and overall they suck. I cant recommend them to anyone. We have arrangements with the owner (who we contact when we need something versus waiting on the AGENCY) and as soon as his contract with them is up we take over our own management. Granted I have experience which helps me, but we also treat the home we rent as if it were our own.

Many military members are VERY crappy renters, but so long as you get a good deposit, and all requirements are spelled out very clearly, they can be held liable without using an agency. You just contact base housing, who contacts their first shirt, who come out, see the issue, and raise hell on the military member till its addressed.

Make sure to always get before and after pics for your records as well.

[TommyHotWheel]

Agency! Im renting a house, not in it yet, but I love my rental agent already. He already took care of some big issues and we got right of first refusal on the house to boot. A good agency is worth every penny, be cautious tho.

[MissHell]

I am planning to use an agency I was a tenant with. They were professional and any time I called for something, it was taken care of right away. Plus they came once a year for inspections of the unit, which I thought was good.

[marko138]

I am planning to use an agency I was a tenant with. They were professional and any time I called for something, it was taken care of right away. Plus they came once a year for inspections of the unit, which I thought was good.
Sounds like a good plan.