There are a lot of reasons why landlords can become tired of their rentals. Annual upkeep, maintenance for rentals, the occasional eviction, and damages to the property can all be expensive and can happen at any time. Annual property tax increases and just being wary of dealing with the day-to-day that comes with being a landlord can take its toll. Landlording while trying to deal with a nine-to-five job can become increasingly stressful. Staying compliant with the law and screening new tenants can take a lot of time outside of your day-to-day job.

When you have tenants that do not respect and abide by the lease agreement, a lot of damages can happen in a matter of weeks or months. An already stressful situation can quickly turn even more so when there are a lot of repairs to be done due to negligence. This was the case for Benjamin in Baltimore, Maryland.

Benjamin’s story

Benjamin is a 40-year-old mailman in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2019, when Benjamin’s grandmother passed, he inherited her home. At the time, turning the home into a rental seemed like a great idea to help with Benjamin’s retirement income. Baltimore requires all rental and non-owner occupied rentals to be registered annually, inspected by a home inspector, and licensed before they can be registered and ready to rent. The home inspector inspected Benjamin’s home for utility issues, smoke detectors, lead paint among other housing repair issues. After completing the needed repairs, Benjamin was issued his registration and license that would be active for 2 years. He was ready to rent the house to tenants.

For the first year, Benjamin had really good tenants, kept up his maintenance schedule, and managed with minimal need for repairs. In early 2020 that changed. When the new tenants moved into the house in March of 2020 Benjamin had no idea what was going to happen next.

Benjamin began to notice that garbage and large items had started to accumulate outside the rental. He notified the tenants to get this remedied and to offer help if needed. The tenants decided to just move the trash to the side and back yards instead of carrying it off.

Benjamin receiving notices regarding the garbage wondered if the inside of the house looked like the outside. He knew that his licensing was due to renew in a few months, and wanted to make sure everything inside was maintained and cleaned.
He notified the tenants that he would be checking the house the next week and gave them the required time to move out of the house. If they couldn’t keep the outside clean, he was worried about the inside.

Damages Inside

The inside of the house had been badly damaged. The tenants did not change filters for the air conditioner, clean the vents/ceiling fans, and there were random holes in the walls. The oven had not been cleaned in a while and the floors in several places were stained beyond repair. Everything was a mess where the tenants had not taken care of the property by following their lease.

Benjamin started to clean after his job every afternoon. The cost of the repairs was starting to add up and he was exhausted from working all day and then trying to make repairs. $1300 for a new stove and refrigerator, replacement windows around $800, and cleaning and replacing the vents in the kitchen and bathroom that were not cleaned.

Then there were the repairs to the outside of the house. The garbage and junk would need to be hauled off. The landscaping would need to be repaired. Benjamin knew with his day job he did not have the time to take off to do all that needed to be done. He contacted a junk removal number. After the removal specialists came to look at the outside, they informed Benjamin it would be several hundred dollars plus an hourly fee to remove everything.

Property taxes were around $3000, the cost of repairs mounting into the thousands, licensing coming up and no rental income was starting to become stressful for Benjamin. What was supposed to help with retirement income was quickly becoming an expensive issue. He just could not deal with the repairs himself and continue working his much-needed day job.

Benjamin’s Solution

Feeling overwhelmed, Benjamin decided to research online all the repairs and timeframe it would take to get them finished. His homeowner’s insurance would repair some of it, but the leftover cost and increase from the claim would be a huge hit to any rental income. He was not interested in continuing to rent the house once it was repaired.

He decided to do some further research online. He read where Akin Developers pays cash, and quickly, for homes in almost any condition. Benjamin decided to contact Akin for a no-cost, no-obligation quote on his home. After speaking with an Akin representative on the phone, we set up a meeting to look at his home. We met with Benjamin and after inspecting his home, offered him a fair price which he accepted.

Benjamin’s house closed in about 12 days and he was able to put the money from the sale into his retirement account. He could now focus on his day job and no longer have to worry about the stress of being a landlord.

Conclusion

Being a landlord is a full-time job. Good tenants are wonderful but if you have a tenant that continually damages your property, it can be extra time-consuming and costly with repairs. Adding property taxes, licensing, and maintenance can make sometimes not be worth the extra stress and time involved, just like in Benjamin’s situation.

If you are looking to sell your home quickly for cash-whether you are just tired of the repairs, other distressing issues or your house is in perfect condition-contact us here at Akin Developers, and let us see what we can do for you too.