The Absentee Landlord People become landlords for different reasons - some by design and others out of necessity. We are aware that those are very general and broad terms. What we're planning to blog about today is the absentee landlord and some of what can happen.
First, we would like to say that for the majority, being a landlord works out well. For some it does not.
Here's a landlord out of necessity scenario. You own a house and for whatever reason, you have to move out of town - maybe a few towns away or a several states away. You decide that you'd rather rent your house than sell it. Reasons for this vary - there isn't enough equity in your house right now and you'd be a short sale or maybe, your house is paid off and the extra income from the rental would be nice or any number of scenarios.
So you move, your tenant takes occupancy to your house and the rent is paid on time every month for the length of time the tenant lives there. You don't have an occasion to stop at the house and check on things while the tenant lives there. Everything has been great or so you thought.
One day, you are notified that the tenant has moved out. You call a local Realtor to go over to the house and have a look at it, so you can rent it again.
The Realtor finds this:
That's just the outside of the house. You can just imagine what the inside looks like.
So, what's the point of this blog? Just to remind that you should you find yourself in a position where you need to become an absentee landlord, make sure that you do your best in chosing your tenant. It would also be helpful to make a point of visiting your property once a year or having a trusted friend or family member do this for you. No news is not always good news. The Absentee Landlord