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Rental Property Asset Allocation

Saving-MoneyAre you holding the proper rental property asset allocation?

My investment account has finally recovered from 2007.  That’s right.  My investment account has finally surpassed my account balance record set way back in October 2007, over eight years ago.  (It actually passed the mark a few months ago, and I just got around to writing this post.)  It was only just about $50K higher in 2007 that it was back in 2000 or so.  My current 401K, which is nearly as high as my investment account is today, was at $0 in 2003 when I started at my current mega-corp, as I have always converted my previous employer 401Ks to an IRA, and a Roth wen i could afford to pay the tax hit.

If you do not have the proper investment allocation, you could be in for a large surprise in your quest for financial independence.  Being financially independent is not just about having a large amount of money.  It is about multiple income streams and redundant sources of passive income.  And living below your means.  Here are a few insights into what I have done to become financially independent.

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How to Handle Tenant Disputes: Part II

tennis-court-338537_1920In an earlier post, we talked about using the good cop/bad cop method to resolve tenant disputes.  But if you own and manage the property by yourself, that doesn’t really work.  If you fully commit to the split personality, you might be sent to a mental institution.  So if you’re flying solo, you have to take a different approach.

This post is compliments of Amy aka “YETInvesting”.

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How to Handle Tenant Disputes: Part I

tennis-court-338537_1920

This post is compliments of Amy aka “YETInvesting”.

If you’re a new rental property owner/manager, or if you’re just not comfortable handling tenant disputes or confrontations, then you might get panicky just thinking about having to confront tenants about issues that arise.

My boyfriend has this problem.  Apart from his current rental which began just a year ago, he has no prior landlord experience, and watching him learn how to handle issues has reminded me of how terrified I was when I first started.  When I had to handle my first tenant complaint over the phone, I remember my hands shaking because I was so nervous.  I’m an introverted person, so I hate talking to strangers anyway.  But this was going to be even worse: I wasn’t just introducing myself to someone I didn’t know, I was going to be fighting with them over money!  Yikes!  Maybe most people are braver than I am from the get-go, but I felt like I was going to throw up.  Good way to start a phone call, right?

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Getting Rid of a Bad Tenant

Graphiti-PDThis post is compliments of Amy aka “Yetisaurus”.

If you have thought about being a landlord, you have thought about the possibility of getting rid of a bad tenant.  The first two rules of being a landlord are (1) collect all of your rents, ON TIME, and (2) keep your rentals full.  But that’s not the end of the story: it is equally important to get (and keep) good tenants in your rentals.  If you have multiple rental units near each other, such as a duplex, fourplex, or even an apartment building, a bad tenant can spoil the whole bunch.

Tenant screening is critical.  It’s important to run income and credit checks on your prospective tenants, and to meet all of the people who will be living in your rental, and maybe even their pets (photos can be deceiving in terms of size and personality).  But what if someone makes it through your screening process, and turns out to be a bad apple anyway?

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