Rental Property Back Home

[CrunchWrapSupreme 1,061]

Surely many expats here are in this boat. If you’re not yet an expat and considering becoming one, then I highly recommend doing this.

 

At my previous schools (I‘m a lowly English teacher), I had a few colleagues proudly boasting about how they came here to escape their troubles, burning all their bridges back home. Don’t be that guy. You’ll often find that you’ll need a little extra to get by, and you’ll need to go back to something eventually. Give Mom or Dad calls quite often. Send them photos and gifts. Don’t burn those bridges. I don’t mean doing such things solely for your benefit, but such is indeed good.

 

So yeah, my mom and I have been sharing a rental property. The majority goes to mom, and I get a nice little portion to supplement my modest salary, which was nicely converting to Thai baht. That is, until those dollars have been hitting 29. Ouch.

 

We had hired a property manager. He came recommended, he seemed quite good. He’s now done it for us for nearly five years. Then Covid struck, and we were worried about the rent not coming in. But the tenants had jobs which fortunately weren’t affected, and they kept up. Yet I believe the property manager wasn’t so fortunate, with all the other tenants he’s been managing.

 

I remembered one of the tenants’ lease was up, so decided to give the manager a call. He says he’s gone. Huh? He knew when the lease was up. He should’ve been trying to find another one at least a month before. Ridiculous. Get someone in there, I tell him. This is my mom’s primary source of income.

 

Now the fun begins, the BS excuses. First I hear the decor is out of date, and could use some updating. Huh? This will affect the place being rented. Come on, no it won’t. It’s a pretty hot area in a big city. Sure it’s old, but still livable and usable. Then I start hearing about cracks and paint. Ok, let’s patch them up. How serious can this be? Finally, it’s the foundation! The house is crooked and falling down! Hahaha. I’m still in touch with the neighbors. Yeah, it’s a little crooked given the age, but hardly looks dangerous. I also think this should’ve come up before, and not after a “decor update” suggestion didn’t work, and certainly not conveniently when a lease is up. I adamantly refuse the repairs. So then he says he’s ready to resign.

 

He had decided to “play chicken”, a dangerous game because if you lose, that’s it. He’s probably used to a lot of other elderly clients getting scared and simply agreeing to the repairs. What to do if they refuse? Kind of hard to go back on, because then he has to admit he was BS’ing. So he has to quit.

 

Expect much more of this in these Covid times. Please share your related property stories.

[Techno Viking 1,293]

I have 4 houses back home, been sitting empty since May.

 

Glad I don't rely on them for income but the fact they are empty has allowed me to undertake some much needed refurbishment.

[CorpusChristie 7,884]

Why are you unwiling to decorate the house ?

Potential  new tenants will not be interested in a old shabby house  , or they will expect to pay cheap rent .

   You should be decorating the property every three years or so 

[HashBrownHarry 1,754]

4 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Why are you unwiling to decorate the house ?

Potential  new tenants will not be interested in a old shabby house  , or they will expect to pay cheap rent .

   You should be decorating the property every three years or so 

Agreed.

 

I had a house here on the market for sale for 4 years ( but with rental tennants ), had quite a few people come to look at buying it in that time but it needed some TLC.

 

When the tennants moved out, decorated and tarted the place up and sold it in 2 weeks.

[Bangkokhatter 991]

Some Landlords are just happy to take the money and don't realise that properties like cars need regular maintenance.

 

This is rarely done by sitting tenants (and why should they) and the property is bound to need updating after a long period of rental.

 

Last year i had to return to the UK as my tenant left and the property was in a pretty bad state, cost me nearly 10,000 pounds in repairs, decorating and upgrading appliances etc, however i was still in profit from the last tenants payments and when all the work was completed i had new tenants within one week.

 

Your property, your responsibility.

[Pravda 4,507]

I think you need to wake up op. 

 

I own a condo in downtown Toronto and the area doesn't get any hotter than this. Due to pandemic, however, hardly anyone is renting and prices have dropped significantly. I was advised by the agent to clean, repaint and change all the appliances and I will because there are a lot of places in the area that at this point in time look much better than mine and are still not being rented out. 

 

What was once hot is not anymore, but if you're willing to wait 2 years you may have a chance to tent out your <deleted> house like before.

[worgeordie 44,537]

The way you and the agent describe your property ,it sounds a Sh*thole,

but it sounds like you would like to have the same amount of rent you

have been receiving for he last 5 years, you either have to do the upgrades

or accept a lot less rent, you cannot have both.

regards Worgeordie

[ThaIrish Sean 100]

I have many properties in UK and  have only lost one tennant due to them getting divorced.

My rent is slightly low, I allow animals and allow them to decorate (after approval of colours etc) If anything goes wrong I get it fixed immediately.

I choose my tenants wisely and allow the house to be at home.

After the one tenant I lost I did a full redecoration of the property and rented it out in less than one month including the refurb.

I think the OP needs to do a refurb and sort out any structural issues with property. You are only losing money because the property is not rented out.

Edited December 4, 2020 by ThaIrish Sean

[mr mr 5,605]

1 hour ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Now the fun begins, the BS excuses. First I hear the decor is out of date, and could use some updating. Huh? This will affect the place being rented. Come on, no it won’t. It’s a pretty hot area in a big city. Sure it’s old, but still livable and usable. Then I start hearing about cracks and paint. Ok, let’s patch them up. How serious can this be? Finally, it’s the foundation! The house is crooked and falling down! Hahaha. I’m still in touch with the neighbors. Yeah, it’s a little crooked given the age, but hardly looks dangerous. I also think this should’ve come up before, and not after a “decor update” suggestion didn’t work, and certainly not conveniently when a lease is up. I adamantly refuse the repairs. So then he says he’s ready to resign.

 

you sound like a terrible landlord. your own words. *yeah, it's a little crooked given the age* 

 

what do you consider a little crooked ? foundation cracks are a little bit of an issue no ? sounds like the place is turning into an eye sore and i'll assume that for years you have put no money into its upkeeping or improvements. 

 

if wrong then call me out. 

[CrunchWrapSupreme 1,061]

Heh. Let's try again. I tend to write a bit much, which can be difficult for some people. But the information is there.

 

He went from decor update, to paint, to foundation work. I agreed to paint and patchwork. A kitchen decor update would be too much. I got a photo inspection and it's hardly falling apart. Could use some cleaning, yes. We just put in new appliances about two years ago.

 

I find his requests for repairs highly suspect, when he went from decor, to paint, to foundation. Foundation should've come up first, a real emergency. Not when his other requests didn't work, and not conveniently when there's a vacancy.

 

I've got a new manager now who's doing the cleaning and minor repairs, and is ready to rent.

[mr mr 5,605]

1 minute ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Heh. Let's try again. I tend to write a bit much, which can be difficult for some people. But the information is there.

 

He went from decor update, to paint, to foundation work. I agreed to paint and patchwork. A kitchen decor update would be too much. I got a photo inspection and it's hardly falling apart. Could use some cleaning, yes. We just put in new appliances about two years ago.

 

I find his requests for repairs highly suspect, when he went from decor, to paint, to foundation. Foundation should've come up first, a real emergency. Not when his other requests didn't work, and not conveniently when there's a vacancy.

 

I've got a new manager now who's doing the cleaning and minor repairs, and is ready to rent.

 

before this situation arose. when was the last time you put money into the rental property ? 

[CrunchWrapSupreme 1,061]

7 minutes ago, mr mr said:

 

before this situation arose. when was the last time you put money into the rental property ? 

Again, two years ago, new appliances. Also around that time, living areas were repainted and recarpeted.

 

We get photo inspections. We also keep in touch with the neighbors. The "cracks" and paint issues are on the exterior, which can be patched up.

 

My God, how quick people jump to "eyesore" and "terrible landlord". On what information is this based? Have I said anything about the tenants? No. There's been no complaints from them. In fact we just got a Thanksgiving card from the remaining one. Haha. The issue is with the property manager, fishing for repairs.

[mr mr 5,605]

7 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Again, two years ago, new appliances. Also around that time, living areas were repainted and recarpeted.

a lot can happen in 2 years with clowns staying in your place. 

[mr mr 5,605]

9 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Also around that time, living areas were repainted and recarpeted.

you never stated this in your original comment. 

[CrunchWrapSupreme 1,061]

1 hour ago, mr mr said:

you never stated this in your original comment. 

Right after the paint, before the carpet went in. Do a search, you won't find it. It's mine. Have a nice day.