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 Can You Hear Me Now?
  
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | What is your experience. Probate is slowly winding down and I am contemplating renting out the farm in the spring to move closer to my mom & family and live my own life for a while (better jobs available, more horse related pastimes and shows, etc). I'm not selling... that's out of the question since this is only a 5-10 year plan; I love my farm and eventually want to return. The other option I have is to just winterize it and leave it and come up for vacations which I almost prefer but people are telling me it lowers the property value too much to be worth it ( fields are rented out already it's just the house and a small horse pasture the other one is going back to a hayfield). I don't know if I want people living in my house and possibly destroying it since I have heard horror stories. What is everyone's experience. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
 
Location: Kansas | make sure you have a legal binding contract if they want to rent.....and be prepared for damages done to the property (not always) |
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | I think they have insurance for landlords? I know where we rent the previous tenant totally destroyed the home with her unruly cats and leaving doors open at all hours of the day. So it worked out great me when we moved in because we basically moved into a renovated house. I understand the hesitation but it makes sense for your current situation. Just screen the crap out of your possible tenants and ask for references from previous landlords if you can? |
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Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | Crowned Image - 2014-12-04 11:18 AM I think they have insurance for landlords? I know where we rent the previous tenant totally destroyed the home with her unruly cats and leaving doors open at all hours of the day. So it worked out great me when we moved in because we basically moved into a renovated house. I understand the hesitation but it makes sense for your current situation. Just screen the crap out of your possible tenants and ask for references from previous landlords if you can?
Yep! Background checks like crazy lol |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Most tenants destroy your property in my experience. We've had enough trouble with rent houses, but my uncle leased his house when he moved because it wasn't selling. The tenants, a married couple, split up, one moved out, and the other destroyed the house so badly it wasn't livable, then disappeared. |
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Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | I can screen and will ask my insurance company about the insurance and how it differs from the one I have now. I have someone willing to do repair work on it and keep an eye on it but you never know what the people do behind closed doors. My neighbour had a grow op in their basement and it took years before the police found them. The house was totalled. |
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Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | Three 4 Luck - 2014-12-04 11:24 AM
Most tenants destroy your property in my experience. We've had enough trouble with rent houses, but my uncle leased his house when he moved because it wasn't selling. The tenants, a married couple, split up, one moved out, and the other destroyed the house so badly it wasn't livable, then disappeared.
My fear exactly. I almost feel letting it sit and using it for vacations is safer |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1028
| Crowned Image - 2014-12-04 11:18 AM I think they have insurance for landlords? I know where we rent the previous tenant totally destroyed the home with her unruly cats and leaving doors open at all hours of the day. So it worked out great me when we moved in because we basically moved into a renovated house. I understand the hesitation but it makes sense for your current situation. Just screen the crap out of your possible tenants and ask for references from previous landlords if you can?
Yes, almost over-insure everything! We got really really lucky with the tenants we have. He is an equine vet and really does everything he can as far as maintenance on the property. I still had a really rock-solid lease written up by an attorney though, mostly because I'm super paranoid. |
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 Gotta Have a Gray
Posts: 899
Location: Tex. Panhandle | We did early occupance several months ago to a couple that was wanting to purchase our house. It was a nightmare. We had to replace the carpet in one bedroom because their 200 lb dog (which they didnt disclose as the contract said NO pets) ripped the carpet to the cement pad and destroyed 2 doors. The rest of the carpet took 2 shampooings and several other treatments to get the smell out. We also had to replace the bathroom flooring because the toilet was leaking and the people either didnt pay attention or simply didnt care. I cant even tell you how many nail holes are in the walls and the junk they left outside is unbelievable. I was disgusted when I went to clean bathrooms and the kitchen as to how much grim was layered on. I will NEVER do it again. Obviously the ppl didnt get the loan and my house was serisouly disgusting. |
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| I rented mine to someone I knew & had worked with, I will NEVER do it again. Not only did they trash the place, they left unpaid water & propane bills. |
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 Thread Killer
Posts: 7543
| No actual experience, but I've heard way more horror stories than happy ones. =( |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Funny but gross--one recent tenant left a bedroom piled chest high in dirty panties. She didn't wash her undies, just kept buying new ones. Gross just gross--same house, different tenant left human poop on the bathroom floor beside the toilet. |
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Location: Minnesota | Well I am a renter and my last landlord was really a great lady and when we moved out i re painted and had the carpets cleaned because I have two dogs. My landlord was 86 and she really appreciated it being move in ready when i moved out. matter of fact she gave us an extra 100.00 back on our deposit because it was so clean and ready for the new tenets she didn't have to lift a finger. So there are great renters out there you just have to screen for them and call all there references. Good Luck  |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | We have really cleaned up the 5 acres we rent. Our land lord hadn't lived in the house in 2 years when we rented it. We've rebuilt fence, painted, etc. We also have our floors professionally cleaned 2-3 times a year because of our dogs. We also have a dumpster we remove our horses's poop into to keep flies down. We treat the property as if it were ours. Good renters are out there... |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | Talk with a real estate agent to do the rental for you or a leasing company. You will pay a small fee but they do the heavy foot work. Might be something too look at. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7264
| Just Plain Lucky - 2014-12-04 1:19 PM No actual experience, but I've heard way more horror stories than happy ones. =(
THIS - I don't think I would even consider renting it out unless I needed the money really bad (but you might end up spending more than you are paid if they trash it). |
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 Poor Cracker Girl
Posts: 12150
Location: Feeding mosquitos, FL | We've been pretty lucky with decent tenants this time around. Clean, polite, keep the place neat. The only bad part with them is the maintenance. They are approximately worthless for just about anything. They called my husband at 10pm one night because a tree had fallen in the driveway. There's no other way in so we jump in the truck armed with chainsaws, ropes, etc. We drive up - it's a limb that was small enough for me to grab and drag off by myself. They're working on their credit so they can buy the place once the lease is up with the property manager.
The last couple of tenants before them were nightmares - destroyed the brand spankin' new carpet I put in the house, dripped grease all over the kitchen and infested the place with fleas. Broke my heart. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| docschic - 2014-12-04 5:02 PM
Talk with a real estate agent to do the rental for you or a leasing company. You will pay a small fee but they do the heavy foot work. Might be something too look at.
^^THIS ...and, if you are a landlord that will be out of state - most certainly HIRE someone to do the property repairs, maintenance, and management duties.
We own rental properties in 4 states and live in a 5th. Get good people to work with/for you and it will be much easier.
Good tenants are out there - I could wow you with stories of good tenants and bad. I could do the same for landlords that I've dealt with as well ... My point is this, if you do your homework on the front end, renting out your farm shouldn't be as bad as you anticipate. |
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Expert
Posts: 2457
| Griz - 2014-12-05 5:49 AM
Just Plain Lucky - 2014-12-04 1:19 PM No actual experience, but I've heard way more horror stories than happy ones. =(
THIS - I don't think I would even consider renting it out unless I needed the money really bad (but you might end up spending more than you are paid if they trash it).
This is why we require deposits upon signing the rental contract. And they're hefty too .... A standard deposit can be first and last months rent - and rent can be set by comparing other properties similar to yours. You can even triple or quadruple the deposit, ask for high non-refundable pet deposits, and have the ability to kick people out (with 30 days notice) for trashing your place.
A good real estate lawyer should be able to help pull these contracts together to safeguard as best you can against idiots. We took a tenant to court because of the damage done to the property. Thankfully in this situation, we video'd the property before the individual moved in; it was a walk through with the person (who was also on the tape) and a binding agreement of the condition of the property before signing the lease. When we submitted that evidence to the court and compared to what it looked like when the person moved out .... well, yeah, they paid up for the damages.
Honestly though, if you are that worried about what might happen - just don't rent it. If you can't afford to fix (major) things out of your own pocket - just don't rent it out. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2154
Location: USA | An unused home will deteriorate faster than one being lived in. If you decide to rent, make sure you have legal binding agrement. Do background and credit checks on potential tenants. Depending on how close you are to the farm, drive by on occasion to check it out. If your not close, get a trustworthy friend or even hire a real estate company to rent it out. My brother had several properties and he had a real estate company rent them out. Their comission was not big at all, and they made sure everything was kept up and if there was an issue, they contacted my brother right away.
Another thought, if you aren't close and decide to not rent it out, have a security system installed, if you don't already, to keep out vagrants |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 600
Location: Oklahoma & Texas | OK - I am in same boat as you... I made the choice to rent out my ranch... my husband and I both were offered promotions we couldn't refuse to move to Lubbock, TX - we didn't want to sell the ranch because it was our dream home and place and it took so long to find it - and we're pretty sure eventually we'll move back to Abilene... anyway.. we are using a realty company - which I highly recommend using someone like that.. they only take 10% - and didn't charge us any marketing costs - they do all the marketing to get it rented and show it for free.. houses here rent fast but its still important - ours rented w/in a month once we put it up.. however.. that being said.. there are a lot of people - not like us - who take advantage and have no regard for other peoples things/dreams. We require a 2k deposit for each tenant that is reimbursed depending on cleaning/repairs at end of lease - we also have background and credit ran by the company for each applicant.. I have good renters in mine - they've been in there about 5 months.. they've been late w/the rent twice already.. once last month by 10 days.. and then this month just a couple days.. rent is due no later than 3rd and they paid today.. that being said - the realty company is the one that enforces that, calls them, and follows up - and sends the letters and handles it w/the local county court if they have to be evicted... i'm hoping we dont run into that - but you never know.. anyway its a huge weight off my mind to know that i dont have to do any of that - especially living 2 hours away... So in my experience - definitely use a realty company worth every bit of the 10% they charge.... also - make sure you have a side pot - of savings - because repairs will come up and with tenants there is no - wait til payday or wait til you can save to fix it - the laws protect them too so have to be able to do those repairs when needed. We have a 300 dollar account w/the realty company for small repairs and anything over that they have to call for permission and money for... that 300 as they use it they refill it w/the monthly rent money thats paid so occasionally I dont get the full amount if the septic needs emptied or small repairs need made... I was like you - very fearful ofsomeone detroying my home... the only consolation is really - make sure yuo have a great home insurance policy - to cover yourself (liability) as well as the home.. and make sure you get a decent deposit... most people aren't willing to part with 1500-2k the same way they are 500 bucks... not to mention a contract that holds them liable in court. Good luck w/yours !!!!! |
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 Star Padded Honey
Posts: 8890
Location: NW MT | We had 2 rentals but are down to one now. MOST of the renters have been pretty good, but the couple nightmares are the ones that stick out the most in the mind. We have had to go to court over 2 of them, the other couple bad ones were not worth the whole effort. The one renter we have now has been there for over 7 yrs & she is great. She is a past horse owner and vet tech & has been invaluable with animal things here ... we both take care of each others' animals, help each other as much as we can. She is more of a friend/neighbor than a renter!
As someone suggested, either go w/a GOOD rental company to oversee all of it or get a very particular contract for them to sign after doing credit & background checks, plus be sure to have someone really keep an eye on it for you. You can also have it written in your contract that you or your representative can "inspect" things every month, 2 mos, etc if you want. |
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| Ive rented 3 "ranches". Left them in better condition then when we moved in. Got all 3 full deposits back plus extra cash.... for all the work we did... not all tenants are pigs. I have 3 big dogs 3 young children and 5 horses. We have always taken care of the places we were blessed to move to. I loathe nasty tenants because they ruin it for us good folks that just need a temporary place! |
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Renting and being a landlord.