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I really could use some advise. We've been trying to sell our house for months here in Connecticut now, and the housing market is just getting worse and worse. We're now entertaining the idea of renting our house out for a couple of years until things get better. Does anyone have any experience with being a landlord from a long distance? Aside from the obvious rent and repair issues, what other things are there to consider?

We've both been offered work in Hilo and we'r sort of running out of time to decide what we want to do.

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Jerry hit it on the nose. A Professional Property Management Agency, is your answer. They do all the leg work for you! As an owner who wants to rent, the toughest thing in that market is finding a reliable tenant to rent your place. To find the perfect tenant can take awhile. Do you have more time? Of course you don't, so let a PPMA handle your property headaches and get a move on before those jobs are no longer waiting for you in Hilo. Besides, do you really want to spend another winter in New England?

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - Likalizard - 08-30-2007

Lotus, hang in there and keep positive. We listed home in Massachusetts for past 6 months and just accepted offer! Now we are one more step closer to our home in Pahoa. We have our network of family and friends on the BI to support our home as we rent it. There are a few web based vacation rental sites that you can post on to rent. We have done so for two years and had very good luck. Pricing is key to succesful occupancy.
Great advise to get a property manager if you are inexperienced in that field. *Be positive* your house will sell! We are lucky, but...(always a but)...now we have to wait out the cold winter here anyway (renting a place) due to job committments. Hubby just started a full time job after being layed off for 6 months! See? things are getting better every day.... We will be in Pahoa in November puttering around home! for a few weeks. Would hope to meet some Punatics while there. Much Aloha

Lika
Boston/Pahoa

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - John S. Rabi - 08-30-2007

I would advise against the lease option, it benefits only the Buyer. The Buyer will exercise the option if the value goes up higher than the agreed upon price, meaning you as the Seller sold the house below market value. If the market value gets lower than the agreed upon price than the Buyer will not exercise the option and you as the Seller had your house off the market during all that time.

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, ABR,CM,CRB,FHS,RB
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - Carolann R - 08-30-2007

You have a point, John - except in our situation we would have been paying two mortgages plus an LOC...not a good scenario. We were very lucky 'cause the guy we got loves the home and is also a contractor and wants to make some upgrades on his own. The price we are getting is a great price and the only drawback for us right now is that we have to wait another year.

Carrie

"All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it." Bob Newhart

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - Mlingen - 08-30-2007

Agree with Carolyn. We lease optioned a few, and for various reasons, none were able to purchase. We were happy because values sky-rocketed on the central CA coast. We were grateful to get top rent for a few years. We even gave back half the 10,000 deposit (in one case) because they were excellent tenants. We felt bad they could not exercise their option at a great price when the market was cooking. When we sold a month later we made 100,000 more than the option agreement of 3 yrs earlier, when nothing was selling.

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - Mlingen - 08-30-2007

Carolann, I regret the incorrect spelling of your name. I meant to correct it, and forgot to do so!

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - Carolann R - 08-30-2007

No problem! )

Carrie

"All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it." Bob Newhart

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - lotus - 08-30-2007

Well, I called a property manager yesterday and had a nice conversation with the rep. This company takes care of everything except for maintenance, like shoveling snow or mowing grass. And they send a monthly review of rent vs. expense which seemed nice. It is expensive tho, $130 per month!!

I also had a conversation with my attorney who volunteered to screen tenants and collect rent on my behalf if I didn't want to have a property manager. In this scenario, I'd need to find someone I can call if there is an emergency.

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - emorata - 08-31-2007

aloha lotus,

if you go the other route with your lawyer, then i would also find a good handyman that can do carpentry, plumbing, electric work any type of emergency work typical of problems on renting to tenants...you can inform your tenants that they can work with your handyman as long as you are involved with the decision making on what can be done immediately or down the road....

good luck with the rental scenario...my thought on the market right now is that it may be a little tougher in the following months and prices may depreciate in higher inflated areas included connecticut...may one to consider something a little below market to entise more buyers and avoid costs of additional mortgage, rents, monthly expenses, marketing, etc....thats only in my own outlook of mainland activities especially in regards to lending/qualifying.

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RE: Landlord from 5000 miles - John S. Rabi - 08-31-2007

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It is expensive tho, $130 per month!!

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The average property management fee for long term rentals is 10%-15% of the gross rent.

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, ABR,CM,CRB,FHS,RB
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"

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