battlemaiden Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 We live in Hawaii. I have always said there is NO WAY I would rent out a home that far away, but here I am hearing from my realtor that the rental market is picking up and that this may be our best chance. $%%#@%&%$$ housing market :glare:. My dh is at sea (and will be off and on for the majority of our tour here) so this falls on me. Blech. I hate this stuff. I say this just so you know that I really, really, really, really, really don't need this responsibility added to my plate...I want to cry. So there. Time to put on the battle armor and face this challenge. Where do I start? How can I select a renter so far away? I will have to use a property manager since I'm so far away, but what exactly are they responsible for? How do I coordinate routine maintenance- A/C service, gutter cleaning, etc.- things that I would normal tend to if I was in the house? Or can we all just pray collectively right now that the perfect buyer will walk through the door today and I won't have to deal with this? Please? Pretty please? Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepy Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 Oh, you poor dear. This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to crawl back in bed. I have no helpful advice, but I sure do hope the perfect buyer shows up soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 I'm praying that the best thing happens, whatever that is! I'd LOVE it if it were a buyer! PRAYING FOR YOU!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in Hawaii Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 We rented our home in Pensacola when we lived in Japan and part of our tour here. Our property manager took care of showing the house, doing the lease, and making arrangements for repairs, etc. He was NOT good at communicating with us, and would take us by surprise with money out of our account for repairs, etc. When we got fed up with this, we sold the house. If you can find someone who knows and can recommend a property manager, you should be fine. Just keep some money saved up for those unexpected things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 Where do I start? How can I select a renter so far away? I will have to use a property manager since I'm so far away, but what exactly are they responsible for? How do I coordinate routine maintenance- A/C service, gutter cleaning, etc.- things that I would normal tend to if I was in the house?Jo We rented out a house in another state at one point. Can you ask your realtor if there are any decent property management companies? Ours was great-they had a list of routine maintenance and handled it all. They handled problems too. They found the renters. But we had to pay a portion of the rental to them, and some repairs etc. ended up costing more than they should have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSMP Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 I take it you are military....SOOOO.....here is what my husband's family did.....You can register the house with the base and rent it through the base...there are some great pluses for doing this. If anything happens to the house or rent is reneged on.....the Military will get it fixed for you and go after the soldier. The only other thing is have the realtor do it for you........I have a friend who is in realty.....I can ask her for some other suggestions. Find a realtor in Hawaii and ask them for advice on how you could handle this..... Hope this helps....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie in Oh Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 This just sucks. I am sorry. Hopefully I can help some. Have you seen this site? http://www.militarybyowner.com/ You can list a home for sale, for rent, or both. It is only for the military community. That is my first recommendation-- to only rent to another military family if possible. We have a rental we are not renting to a military family, but it is here in this town and we know the family, and, you get the picture. If we were far away, we would only rent to military. There is just an understanding there. You know what I mean. A property manager will list it for you, collect the rent, and will contract repairs etc if necessary. They are expensive, especailly in that area. We have friends in Bowie and they are moving and not getting bites on their house. They have looked into a rental agency and they want lots of money up front-- like 2K, and then several hundered per month. If I can help in any other way, let me know. And if we have anyone PCSing to that area this summer, we will send them your way. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKapers Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 Hey Jo- When we moved back to Ohio after living in Pittsburgh, we couldn't sell our house. So, it is rented. We found a managment company who does all the work. They find the renters and they collect money and handle any issues that come up. They assigned us someone who is our contact (the person has changed since we have been renting over 10 years.) When we renew the contract they get a fee. They also take out a mangement fee each month. Several things to be aware of, make sure in the contract you specify different things you want: For example, if you don't want them to have pets, or to smoke. Also, we made the mistake of not setting up with the utilities that if the renters leave, it automatically goes back into our name. If the utilites get turned off, you have to pay a fee to turn them back on. So, check out how that works in VA. It might be different in different areas. The only other thing we have had to work out was when things needed fixed in the house. We had set up that they needed to call us for any work that was over $50.00. Well, the managment company was saying they tried to reach us and couldn't and than would go ahead and fix the problem- even if it was over $50.00. It got out of hand. We now how the renters call us directly and we work with people who we know are reliable. I think you could just opt to have them call you no matter what and until they get a hold of you, they couldn't fix anything. I know the mgmt company told us what happens if there is an emergency and we can't get in touch? Like the water is flooding all over the basement....My husband told him, we have two cell phones and a home phone: this shouldn't be an issue. Also, you never know, not all people are honest, and they can charge you more than what the cost was to try and make a little extra money for themselves. Overall we have been happy. All of our renters have stayed there for 3 years or more and have taken really good care of the property. Make sure that you don't rent too cheaply but that it isn't too expensive. This helps weed out some of the renters who might have more financial issues. Feel free to email me if you have any further questions regarding specifics:001_smile:Hope some of this was helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom to Aly Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 I had neighbors who were renting from people who had a property manager (I'm in VA, but probably not in the same area, but they went through their realty co.), and they were great. Your realty co. might be able to handle it, if not they should be able to recommend someone, and make sure they give you someone who is reputable and good. You can choose who you want for maintenance, if you know someone or have a contract. Also, you can have your realtors show the house while people are renting (that is in a standard rental contract, the house can be sold while it is being rented), but, nasty as this sounds, I would not let them know or no one would rent. I would wait a bit, or it is really unfair to let them move in. If you want to email me, I can write back to you separately, especially if I'm in your area, I know a good bit around here, since I'm preparing to sell as well. I'm in Midlothian, south of Richmond. Best of luck, and, if you have a good property mgr, believe me, it is not as bad as it sounds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 We live in Hawaii. I have always said there is NO WAY I would rent out a home that far away, but here I am hearing from my realtor that the rental market is picking up and that this may be our best chance. $%%#@%&%$$ housing market :glare:. My dh is at sea (and will be off and on for the majority of our tour here) so this falls on me. Blech. I hate this stuff. I say this just so you know that I really, really, really, really, really don't need this responsibility added to my plate...I want to cry. So there. Time to put on the battle armor and face this challenge. Where do I start? How can I select a renter so far away? I will have to use a property manager since I'm so far away, but what exactly are they responsible for? How do I coordinate routine maintenance- A/C service, gutter cleaning, etc.- things that I would normal tend to if I was in the house? Or can we all just pray collectively right now that the perfect buyer will walk through the door today and I won't have to deal with this? Please? Pretty please? Jo Jo, Having a house rented out can be a good thing. We've rented out a house in Tidewater Virginia for almost seven years and have broken even on covering expenses. But every year of breaking even is also another years worth of equity. The key for us has been having a good property manager. Ours has been great. She's been in the property management world for years and can give us a really good gut check of prospective tenants. On the other hand, she doesn't hesitate to tell us that there is something that we really need to get fixed. I think that our contract is 10% a month as well as an extra amount for a new tenant contract. But we more than get our money's worth as absentee landlords. Here's what our manager does for us. Shows the house or arranges for agents in her office to show it. Runs credit checks and applications for prospective tenants. Collects deposits for security and/or pets. If something breaks, she gets it fixed. We have an account with her that covers normal little stuff (like a toilet getting clogged). Bigger repairs come out of the next month's rent. When a tenant moves out, she does a walk through to see what work needs done and if money needs to be subtracted from the security deposit. She makes sure that routine maintenance (like furnace checks) get done. I can't remember if gutters are a tenant responsibility or if she gets them done. Probably the rental contract could be written either way. We have really relied on our property manager over the years. As owners of a rental on the other side of the planet, it is well worth the 10%. Ask anyone you know who rents out in the DC area who they use and if they would recommend them. If you have friends who are real estate agents, ask them if their offices have a property management side. We found ours through a church friend who was a real estate agent. We also had a couple others walk through the house to make recommendations and suggest what price they would ask for it as a rental. Our manager was the brashest and more abrasive of those we spoke with, but she is frank with us on what we need to do to be landlords who keep tenants in the house. When we were getting ready to rent out, I did read a couple books renting like a Dummies book on the subject. The library should have lots of titles. They were more than I needed to know but were good at setting lower expectations than I might have had otherwise. BTW, if anyone needs a good manager or is looking for a house to rent in Tidewater Virginia, I obviously can't say enough good stuff about Lisa Chandley from the Long and Foster office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Lynx Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 Is your home in the Tidewater area? Dang. I so need a house to rent in VA, but much closer to DC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 I am sorry your poor shoulders are carrying the burden alone. Praying for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 Is your home in the Tidewater area? Dang. I so need a house to rent in VA, but much closer to DC. I think I confused things by mentioning that my prop. manager was in Tidewater (if she covered DC, I'd already have her on the phone with Jo). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battlemaiden Posted June 21, 2008 Author Share Posted June 21, 2008 Is your home in the Tidewater area? Dang. I so need a house to rent in VA, but much closer to DC. Nope. Much closer to DC. In the Stafford area, near Quantico MCB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon in SC Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Or can we all just pray collectively right now that the perfect buyer will walk through the door today and I won't have to deal with this? Please? Pretty please? Jo Jo, may I pretty please add you to our list of board members currently trying to sell a home? :) http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=300566#poststop (Actually, I've just added you - without your permission) :-P I'll remove your name should you tell me, "no". :-D I have prayed for you home situation!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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