For whatever reason, if you had to mow the overgrown grass/weeds at a rental property, what type of mower would you use? Push type, riding mower or Zero Turn type? I am looking at mowers right now and my budget is around $2,000.00.

I've got a guy with a zero turn who will mow any standard size city lot for $50. Dial and done. ;-)

But since you're a DIYer, the best brands of mowers I know of are Snapper, Husqvarna, and John Deer.

Zero Turn mowers start around $2,500 for the el-cheapo brands like Cub Cadet and go up to $4,000 or more for good ones. Might be able to find a used one for $2K. Stay away from Cub Cadet: my MIL had one and it was nothing but repair after repair... I think within the first 4 years of owning it they paid out as much in repairs as the original cost of the mower.

A standard good brand rider should run around $1,000 - $2,000 depending on features.

Funny you should bring up mowers, since I just bought a new one this week. I have several push mowers and a riding mower. I do cut the grass at one house that has a heavily treed lot, and also cut at vacancies. I’ve always used a push mower at vacancies, and the rider on the heavily treed lot. I’ve seen those zero turns being used by pros for years so I finally took the plunge. I was wanting a gravely, but found that Ariens is the same mower , just different name. I could get both for $3099 everywhere, but ended up buying at Home Depot when they accepted my Lowes 10 percent coupon. It is a zero turn with a 52 inch cut and 23 hp engine, with a steel welded deck. Since I had never used a ZT getting used to no break and no steering wheel is a challenge, but from talking with other people that have one, once I master the controls I would never want to go back to a regular riding mower. Yes, I will write the whole mower off this year, like I did with all my other toys. ( stump grind, lawn and leaf vac, wood chipper,etc). As always I look for free interest , even though I had the money to pay cash, the Home Depot card offered 24

Sid,

This post is for DIY types only which I think is the majority here. I do appreciate your mower recommendations though! :)

The problem I have with hiring it out are issues like,...'your rental house yards are small, some are hilly, some have tree roots running across them, some are in bad neighborhoods and they are just an all around PITA ,...blah, blah, blah. Earlier this week, a pro grass cutter told me it was not worth his time to drive an extra 5 miles to cut the grass at a house that was on the north end of town near the county line.

For years I have hired this out but I just getting sick and tired of hearing all of the whiny B.S. these knuckleheads are feeding me. These are the types that normally mow the lawns in Class A and B hoods too.

It depends on how overgrown you are talking about. If it's 4 feet tall I doubt a lawnmower will do it. I have an old DR Trimmer with a metal blade attachment. It's one of those two wheel machines with the spinning blade at one end and the handle on the opposite end. I cut it loose and usually get a day laborer to pick it up and load it on the trailer.

If overgrown, be sure to ‘walk the property’ first to pick up rocks, cans, bottles, other debris that could foul up any mower.

Most of my little city lots are too small for a rider, and steep front yards might not be safe with a rider. But, for the one large back yard, I wish I had a trailer to haul my husband’s John Deere. Long term plans for that yard is to landscape to reduce some of the mowing ( garden shed, patio, plant beds with mulch. But, that’s a long way off.)

I use a Honda walk- behind gas mower, self -propelled for four yards, weekly. I bought a pay of sturdy ramps to get it up onto the back of my pick-up truck. If I ever turn mowing back over to tenants, I would recommend they buy a cordless electric with two batteries, but, they would just be mowing the one yard each. . I also bought an electric mower and a 100 ft cord, and, I can get my yards done with that, but, I get tired of flinging that cord out of the way.

If I had more properties, like you, I would get a trailer, a rider, and a walk-behind. To get all of that on $2000 means buying used, replacing with better over time. And buy a good sun hat *grins* Providing landscape services has gone over very well with my tenants. It’s frequently mentioned in ads I see for other properties as well. Saves all of the monitoring to see if it’s mowed, bad mow jobs, ugly yards, city notices, tenant fines. Tenants aren’t very garnishable in my city, or so I have heard. So, for me, it’s a good way to keep an eye on the property, keep city and neighbors happy, and more importantly TO ME, have a very nice looking yard.

Roy,

Whatever my mower guy pushes or drives.

Pro landscaper guys? No. I use the little guy, self operator,

pick up with some rust and a trailer, his wife writes out the bills, who wants to run his own business. $20-25 per yard.

If I did my own mowing I'd never have time to post here!

BRAD

Regarding the tree roots and hilly, I DO address those over time, for my OWN ease of mowing. Trees with lots of surface roots, such as maples, can be edged ( I used a half-moon shovel) and mulch spread over the roots. I sometimes use round-up to kill grass first, or, spread thick layers of newspaper, then mulch. But be careful if it will be walked on- mulch over newspapers can be slippery!

When I was having a bad sidewalk taken out and relocated, I had the guy with the skid steer reduce the steep drop off at the front of one yard. It was a little nerve -racking for me to mow that steep drop off. Now, the slope starts much further back, is a more gradual slope, and I am no longer fighting to keep the mower from tipping, or fighting for good footing myself.

I already have a Honda push mower, Echo weed eater, and a Stihl blower, so lets focus this discussion on 'riding mowers'. I am looking at John Deere, Husqvarna, and Craftsman 42 inch riding mowers.

$20-$25 per yard Brad!?! Holy mackerel! The twelve year old kids with the mower charge $20-$25 just for a front yard only around here. And then, they mow in flip flops ....

We've never been able to keep any small engine running. Can't count the number of mowers we've gone through. Now we hire it out.

I pay anywhere from $25 - $50 a yard. The $50 is because the grass at that one grows so fast and thick that he has to do double passes on it to get it under control. We could have him mow more often but then it would be $40, so no savings there.

Just so you all know Brad isn't making this up...my yard guy charges $20 for a small yard, $25 for a standard yard. This includes mow and trimming. He does it as a side-hustle to his main job for pocket money. I see similar ads on bandit signs all over town (Mow & Trim for $25).

Btw, in case anyone is interested on the prices my guy charges...

$20-$25 is for a weekly mow of a small or standard lot.

$50 is if I send him to do a vacancy, which I mow about once every 16-18 days depending on how wet or dry it is. He may or may not take a rider.

Are you asking a tax question or mower question?

I am not suggesting mowing the lawns at all of my rental properties,...it is in my lease that mowing is the tenant's responsibility.

NE,

when i need a new mower I buy it for myself and my place. Take the mower that I had been using here and ship to the rental business.

Lawn mower drag racing, MYOB? Lol!

We bought an Ariens from HD back in 2009? 2010? That thing was always breaking belts. And we couldn't always get it into the back yards of the rentals, because the riding lawnmower was wider than the width of some of our back gates. So we'd still have to end up mowing things with a push-mower.

So I wouldn't recommend an Ariens, but I would recommend getting a tape measure and seeing how wide of a gate you can fit anything you're considering.

If things are severely overgrown, I'd hit it with a weed whacker first, to get some of the height down and make sure there aren't hazards in the tall grass. I remember one vacant house we were considering buying had a bunch of drinking glasses buried in the tall weeds. Was talking to my handyguy who mentioned once upon a time, he had been walking past someone who was mowing their grass-- and their lawnmower caught a screwdriver and pitched it into his arm. Bricks, sticks, branches, sewer clean-outs, and concrete things are more common, but can do damage to a blade and knock it out of alignment. Mowing would come after everything had been weedwhacked and walked, to make sure there were no surprises.

South Eastern equipment rental Gadsden Alabama has a John Deer zero turn rider for rent.

So, even if, for some reason, you wanted to own a rider for such rare usage, you could try one out first.

Deanna,

Yes, on gate widths! Most of my rental houses have chain link fences and many have gates that are around 45-48 inches wide. For this reason, I am limited to a riding mower with a 42 inch deck and even that can be a tight squeeze.

Two, soon to be three Lesco 54" hydros - these are the rare wishbone front suspension models. Circa 1989.

One Wright Stander 42"

Husky 48" zero turn

Ferris IS3000 61" zero turn

For back up mowers, 2 48" scags, 1 52 scag, 2 36" scag/toro

I even have some Honda riding mowers. But riding mowers are for looks. Too slow.

Brad, Sid, and others.

Be cautious and do background checks(criminal)on those cheep mowers. Had a neighboring estate executor ask me about mowing her yard and I called a guy from a bandit sign about mowing yard for $20 and accidentally found he just got out of jail for theft. I did not hire him and ended up with the job myself.

myob, that's funny. I am surprised you didn't fix it yourself.

Deanna, good point about the SD and judge and other things.

Busy, I like seeing the supped up mowers at the tractor pull.

Plenty, funny.

Roy, It sounds like you will not be needing this often. You may find it cheaper to rent instead of storing and maintaining. Anything with gas can have problems if sitting to long and other things dry rot. If you still prefer to buy I would recommend a JD. At that price it will be a home owner model not commercial but is still better built then most and parts are fairly easy to find in stock.

I have some steep yards and I was concerned about the stability of ZT mowers on the hills. I ended up getting a Cub Cadet XT2 EFI 46" mower. The EFI is supposed to get 20% better gas mileage and decrease the chances of over winter it won't start itis. Been happy with it.

Mowing could take a significant amount out of the budget so I do the duplex and the unrented SFHs. You need a car or truck that can pull a trailer so there is extra stuff required to "save" money.

" but I need a riding mower recommendation now "

6x6,

My last reply was just another reason why I think I am done trying to hire out mowing. Most of my rental properties could benefit from both a riding mower (some have big yards) and a push mower for tight spots where the riding mower can't get to. Plus, a weed-eater and blower are needed for a nice well groomed finished.

I'm using a 48 inch John Deere, GX355E.

Mixed review: best mower I have ever cut with. Smooth ride, FAST cut, even cut, fairly quiet. Very little string trimming needed afterwards.

I got the 48 because that's the biggest that will fit on my trailer and through my backyard gates.

Cons: It's eaten two belts in two years. Both times a small stick ended up on the deck and got caught in the belt.

Belts are extremely difficult to locate! JD carefully hides the details on their belts to make it hard to get a generic. And they carefully hid the part number for the correct belt. My local Lowes guy assured me "this is the right belt". It was not.

As of a couple months ago, they don't yet make a bagger for this model. I'm hoping that will change soon.

I have a hand-me-down Toro lawnmower. 22" self-propelled I use at my home. Probably 12 years old now. No problems on it yet.

I will add for what it is worth.

For 2K you are not going to get anything that is built well and not going to be problems.

Buy a honda push mower for now. Wait until winter time.

Here can always find a good commercial brand or better models of the cheap brands like John Deere or Ariens.

Lot of people selling are the ones that decided to start their own lawn care business and give it up after a season.

Thinking they can make a living and build a business in one season.

Can expect one season use and half price on a mower.

For knocking things down I have a DR Pro trimmer walk behind that has speed adjuster. The newer DR models have easy change trimmer lines. I also have the beaver disc which is a chainsaw chain that cuts trees up to 3 inches.

My yards are too small for a riding mower and too small for anyone to really want it as a job, yet grass makes sense.

I got a lowes battery power mower last year and it scks. The battery does not last and if you use the power mode it really quits fast. I screwed up and missed the return window and now I own it. Have 2 corded ones that really jam, but avoiding the cord is frustrating and takes longer.

The corded one will run off my tacoma's power if the cord is not too long.

I too got tired of gas mowers going kaput. Same w/ gas trimmers. LOVE my B&D 36 V trimmer w/ auto feed line.

Frank,

Roy,

Tip: Riding mowers need space to turn and are not efficient for smaller yards.

BRAD

Brad20K,