You might have found and purchased an investment rental property in a neighboring city that first seems great – low property cost, high rent, great residents, and only some minor maintenance needed. The drive is only about 45 minutes each way, and you only mean to visit about once per month. Everything looks good, so what could possibly go wrong?
To begin with, residents do not stay forever. Indeed, the average resident for a single-family residence will last a year and a half. People buy their own homes and move for job opportunities, and other life events can lead to resident turnover. Once your resident leaves, the property has to be cleaned and prepared for the next tenants. You can hire specialists to do this work, but at the very least you have to drive to your rental property to do an evaluation of what needs to be done and then return to check that your vendors did the work as expected. If your vendors have missed a number of small things, then this may require further trips on your part.
When your property is ready, you have to advertise your property. Did you remember to take pictures when you examined your vendors’ work? If not, then you will need to do another trip. Additionally, you will need to make a trip for each showing. On average, it takes 7 to 15 showings to find a quality and qualified applicant. You can try to schedule multiple showings for the same day(s), but most of the time, what works for your schedule does not work for applicants’ schedule, and so you should plan on several trips.
Once you have found a quality resident, you will need to make an extra trip for the move-in process. However, residents often have a number of follow-up requests soon after moving in, may it be a question on how to operate the dishwasher or small maintenance requests, and so you will need to plan a handful of trips in the first few weeks after move-in.
Okay, you now have a great new resident who pays the rent on time. Everything goes smoothly for a few months, but then the toilet overflows. Your resident must be at work and can’t meet the plumber, and so there is another trip for you. No problems for a few more weeks, then your resident has an altercation with a neighbor over the weekend, and there goes your Sunday. Everything goes well for the next few weeks, but then a fuse blows and your resident cannot find the fuse box, turning off the heater in the middle of the winter…and you get a call at 3 am.
While that 45-minute drive seemed so easy when you first purchased the property, it’s now a drain on not only your time but also the cost of gas, as well as cause wear and tear on your vehicle. How much is your time worth? That 45-minute drive each way for all the numerous aspects that you will need to take care of will add up.
Purchasing a property in a nearby city can be a great investment with the low purchase price, high rent, and solid residents that you had initially anticipated. However, the time and cost of the day-to-day duties can make that dream investment into a nightmare.
The professionals at Real Property Management Republic can assist. We show your investment property to prospective residents, screen applicants and handle the move-in, deal with resident emergencies and 3-am phone calls, and attend to maintenance requests. Furthermore, we continually attend training in resident–landlord laws, such as fair housing and evictions, and are licensed and insured to successfully manage your property in compliance with regulations and statutes.
Have you calculated the real cost of your investment rental property? To see how much time you spend and how your time commitment compares to that of other landlords, contact us online or call us at 281-362-5001 today!
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