What do you do when you go out of town of a week or more? Do you have someone you trust deal with tenant issues the may come up? Do you leave a message on your cell phone in case of an emergancy call X?
Thanks
Jay
I go out of town about twice a month for at least 4 days at a time and don’t have any problems managing the property from wherever I am. I have also gone on vacations for about 10 days, and, again, no problems. I still carry my cellphone and still answer it. On a week long trip, I might get a half dozen calls from tenants and they are almost never any kind of emergency. If there ever was an emergency while I was out of town, I would simply call the appropriate person. For example, if a tenant called to say that a water line just burst, I would call talk my tenant through shutting off the main water valve in the basement and then call a plumber to fix it for me. I’ve never had that happen on vacation, but did have it happen one time when a family member was having surgery at an out-of-town hospital. I simply called a plumber and he fixed it. No big deal. Five minutes making a couple of phone calls and then back to the important family issue.
Mike
Thanks for the reply I’ll be out of phone service for the time I was thinking of leaving a message that if it’s an emergancey call X or leave a message if not, and then checking my message with a sat phone every couple of days. Does that sound like a good idea?
Thanks
Jay
I’m routinely out of town (airline pilot) and I manage my units (15 now) just fine like mike stated. When i’m gone I like to screen my calls using voicemail (hit ignore), only call back if it’s an emergency, if its something like “my fridge stopped working completely” I like to wait until the day before I get back into town to call them, then act like I just found out and say I’ll have it fixed tommorrow.
Remember, the nicer you are to your tenants, the more you are goinig to get abused. Never jump unless it’s a REAL BIG emergency.
jinnapa,
My tenants all have an info. sheet with emergency phone numbers of myself, our maintenance guy, and our week-end cover person. Also phone numbers of the plumber, electrician and heater/AC company. Those repair people will go out if they get called because we can’t be reached. They know we will pay them. Cell phones do die.
Tenants can always reach someone. A few minutes ago I had a call to go unlock a door because the tenant had locked herself out. This was the second time, so we’re going to give her another key to hide inside a flowerpot. We want her happy and feeling secure, as she is a stranger in town, a young nurse from Tennessee. If she is happy, she may EXTEND HER WORK CONTRACT. If she extends, that unit has no vacancy and we don’t have to clean it.
John_in_NC: What works for me is this philosophy…
Remember, the nicer you are to your tenants, the longer they are going to stay and the more referrals they are going to give you. Always jump BEFORE it becomes a REAL BIG emergency.
And if a tenant’s fridge quit working completely, I wouldn’t be hiding. I’d be going over with an ice chest and some ice. Food spoils quickly and I would be looking to fix or replace that frig before the tenant asks for money to replace spoiled food.
Furnishedowner
Now imagine if furnishedowner and John_in_NC were married to each other!!!
This is what I have in my household (no, I don’t mean two men) I mean two different philosophies as to how to treat tenants. My spouse and I have two totally different ideas as to how to run this business. It is not fun.
If I go out of town for a week or more, I will always have my assistant to take care of any tenant’s issues while I’m away. I will also leave a message on my cell just to let them know who to contact incase of emergency. But ofcourse, my assistant will always have to update me from time to time of what is happening and what my tenants need.
I think people just find what works for them and matches their personality. I’m lucky in that my wife and I are very well aligned in our views and are able to work together on things.
If you take care of your own property management you’ll need to hand things off to someone else for a few days while you’re gone. That could be a trusted family member, an administrative assistant (if you have one), or a member of your team. A good person for this task might be the individual that handles your maintenance or repairs.
A best-case scenario is that you not have tenant issues to deal with – ever. I know a lot of fledgling investors like to handle their own property management to save money and learn about dealing with tenants, but you should have property management expenses figured into your cash flow analysis anyway.
By doing that, you get paid if you manage your own properties (but you should work out a backup plan for when you do go out of town because you don’t want to be tied to your properties 24/7/365). Then, as the size of your portfolio increases you can still have positive cash flow AND hand off all day to day management duties to a PM company.
When that happens, investing becomes freedom and not just a challenge-intensive job. Remember, you got into investing for financial freedom. Don’t forget time freedom!
Peter Vekselman
www.CoachingByPeter.com
jinnapa, one thought… if your phone service does not work were you are going, find out which phone service does work there, and get a pre-paid phone (month-to-month service) and update your tenants. If it is somewhere you visit, keep the phone and use it in the future. If not, use up the leftover minutes and donate the phone for a tax deduction.
I’m not for sure, but I would be willing to bet we have totally different types of tenants which requires a totally different approach. Have you ever had a tenant deported? Have you ever had a tenant call you and tell you that the drug dealers in the neighborhood cut a hole in the side of your vinyl siding to store drugs in while they “work” the streets? When is the last time you had a gun pointed at you?
My hunch is, my tenants are more “primitive” than yours. They are constantly reading you and scheming. I have found setting an example early sets a tone. For instance, I had a tenant leaving me messages (always screen calls) about petty stuff that didn’t really need to be fixed, she just wanted me to “jump” for whatever the reason. She is pretty new, so when I picked up rent a few months ago, she had a list of this crap, I ripped it up and threw it on the ground and stared at her for a while. She finally said, " can you at least get rid of the ants?" So I went out to my tool box and gave her a can of spray foam to seal up any holes she could find. She hasn’t bothered me since, and no, she didn’t move out. She isn’t going to find a place cheaper than mine and I know that. You have to understand the mentality your dealing with that is all i’m trying to say here.