So you are a landlord and you are thinking about some security cameras for your apartment building. Maybe you are having issues with vandalism, vagrants, break-ins, or other issues. Installing cameras may be an excellent way to both figure out what … [Read more...]
Grow Your Rental Portfolio
Are you looking to grow your rental portfolio? Maybe you have 1 property and want to get to 4. Maybe you have a couple duplexes and want to get to 20 units. Managing a couple units yourself is pretty simple. Once you get above 4 you need to have … [Read more...]
Hire a Property Manager or Self-Manage?
I was reading my news feed and came across a thought provoking article by Pine Financial Group named: Rental Properties: Property Manager vs Self-Management. The author, Scott Craft, makes some good points to help the reader decide if … [Read more...]
Evict Your Tenant for Non-Payment
You have tried everything, but have decided that it is time to evict your tenant for non-payment of rent. While I have written about this previously, a lot has changed in the post-COVID times. With evictions currently taking 2-4 months to get to … [Read more...]
Landlord Retaliation
You may not have heard the term landlord retaliation before, but this is a legal term for behavior such as any type of eviction, threat, harassment, charge, or other discrimination against a tenant for exercising their legal right. Examples of this … [Read more...]
Notice to Vacate
What is a notice to vacate and when/how do you use it? In Minnesota, a notice to vacate is a notice by either party (but generally considered to be used by landlord) to give tenant notice to move out in writing. This is used when a tenant in a … [Read more...]
Renting to Friends
I know it is very common for people to rent their homes or apartments to friends. I suspect that like most things in life, 80% of those rental relationships do just fine. I probably just here about the 20% that do not. Here are some tips to making … [Read more...]
7 Ways to Increase Rental Property Income
I have yet to meet a landlord that doesn't want to increase rental property income. One of the best ways that I have found is by adding single family houses to your investment real estate portfolio. They are stable, good income producing … [Read more...]
Repairs by Tenants
It would be great if tenants paid on time, they stayed forever and if anything broke, the tenant fixed it (and paid for it) themselves. Unfortunately, none of those are really true! Over the years, I have seen a few leases state that the tenant is … [Read more...]
Tracking Tenant Rent Payments
How do you track your tenant rent payments? Are you using spreadsheets, maybe Quickbooks, or are you doing it in your head? Every day, I am amazed by owners that have more than a few properties that don't have any system for managing rent payments … [Read more...]