Just yesterday someone (not a landlord) told me that I was a good landlord. My knee jerk reply was to tell him that if I was a good landlord, I would not have rents that were considerably below market rent, because of long term tenants I have let slide because they "took care of the property and paid on time." If I was a good landlord I would have given a 30 day notice on a MTM contract to a tenant who has been struggling to pay since the pandemic, instead of "working with her" and accepting continual late rent thereby causing drama and stress. If I was a good real estate investor, I would have sold all my properties when the market continued to go up and peak. In my area sales prices are declining slightly.

In my over 30 years in this business, I feel I've been an OK landlord, but not great. I've survived when many of my fellow landlord friends and acquaintances have gone under.

Good = having the qualities required for a particular role.

Here, ya won't find a Bad One.

Jasper,

Much of what you said describes me and I consider myself a great landlord. I致e been told many times I知 the best landlord someone has ever had and I believe them.

But I am guilty of doing many of the things you described. So while I consider myself to be a great landlord I know I知 not the best real estate investor and have made choices that are against my best financial interests.

I now consider myself a charitable housing provider. And fortunately for my tenants and myself I can afford to be in the role.

Ken, Well I do raise my rents and my tenants still seem to think I知 a good landlord. Then again I have tenants with common sense who realize how things work. They know I知 very reasonable and fair. All they have to do is look around to see that.

Plenty, Raising rents more than I do would not make me a better landlord. I知 already a good landlord. At least in my case being a good landlord isn稚 about the money.

Would it make me a better real estate investor? Probably so. Definitely more profitable. But all my houses are also mortgage free. Holding mortgages would make me a much more profitable investor. I just prefer the peace of mind and simplicity that comes from having zero debt.

To me being a "good" landlord means:

~Treating Tenants with Respect, With Fairness, but not enabling nor being taken advantage of

~Maintaining property in way it was rented

I was recently told I was a good landlord, he was a landlord that did not know me; his daughter was moving in and becoming a resident.

He then asked me if I managed properties for other people; I emphatically said "no".

After chatting a bit about a property he is selling out of town; he is looking to do a 1031 exchange. He then asked me if I wanted to sell any of our properties, starting to tell me why I should sell them to him at a lower price than market.

I guess it depends on who's judging.

The "housing is a right" groups, not so much.

The few tenants I had to evict, not so much.

The neighbors that don't want a rent house next door, not so much.

The applicants that didn't have a job but "deserve" another chance, not so much.

My current tenants, some yes, some no.

The friends who are still having to "work for the man" into their sixties while I'm enjoying life, "good landlord" maybe but really more envious.

My wife who will get to enjoy another 2 week vacation (3rd this year) in a couple of days in Yellowstone, good landlord.

My kids who will inherit a descent chunk of money one day, good landlord.

The charitable organizations I help, good landlord.

This question applies to all situations where you are in charge: a supervisor at work, a business owner, a teacher in a classroom, a law enforcement officer making a traffic stop, etc.

There are goals and objectives to each of these.

1) Manage the employees to work profitably for the business.

2) Manage the business to serve the public and make a profit sufficient to live on and is reasonable given the time and capital invested.

3) Educate the students on topic(s) to where they can demonstrate an acceptable or better level of competency.

4) Take whatever steps are necessary to prevent the law violator from violating the law again, within the confines of using acceptable methods to ensure compliance. (i.e. you cannot shoot someone for failing to yield at a cross walk, even though that would stop them from ever doing that again).

So...first step: What are the goals of being a land lord? Here are mine.

1) Make an above average profit on my investment of time and resources.

2) Operate on a schedule that offers me freedom to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

3) Enjoy a lifestyle above what I would have without rental units.

You will notice nothing in there about "being popular with family, friends, and tenants." Also nothing about "squeeze every dollar out of a property until it falls over and hopefully doesn't kill anyone."

So the trick is measuring my outcomes against my goals. Is my lifestyle improved better than just working overtime or getting a second JOB for W-2 wages? Am I earning a profit that justifies the effort and resource allocation? Can I take a vacation with my family and not worry that the whole shebang is going to fall apart?

The answers are Yes, Yes, and Yes! God be praised for giving me the talents and skills to be successful, and for crowing my efforts with success!

Your turn: what are you goal(s)? Are you achieving them? If not, are you making adequate annual progress toward achieving them in a reasonable period of time?

Note: Keep in mind if you're anything like most of us, you'll always be your own harshest critic. I've had tenants call me a F#$%ing slumlord, but that sort of schtick rolls off my back pretty easily. The only time I feel I've done badly as a land lord is when I see something I missed that should have been obvious, but for whatever reason (lack of diligence, lack of care, etc) I missed it and it came back to bite me in the butt. My worse area is sometimes being overly optimistic about a deal that looked much better on paper than it ended up being or a tenant who I've screened.

It happens. Learn to forgive yourself and move on. Learn from mistakes and improve.

I think of myself more as an investor and not a landlord. My tenants pay for my investment property.

I don't really care if the tenants are happy or not. If they aren't happy they can leave and I will get someone else. What I care about is that my investments are well cared for and well maintained so that they maintain optimum value.

Taking good care of my houses seems to be what makes the tenants happy. They get good service and I am pleasant to them as long as they are doing their part of the agreement and taking good care of my houses.

My vote for myself is that I am a good landlord. I'd guess many on here would vote that I am not.

I do not adhere to the letter of the lease nor the letter of the law ... absolutely the spirit of both and I am strict in my own way. I work with people all the time. I make it work so I have little turn over. When I did have a lot of smaller efficiency type units that had about a 50% significant turn over rate, I made that work by charging much higher rents than most would have been willing to pay ... but I knew my tenant pool. I look at cash flow and appreciation. I look at short term and long term. I've had rental properties for more than 40 years.

Thank you all for the interesting discussion. There were some things I was good at landlording, and other things not so much. I always offered a clean and well-maintained unit, even in D neighborhoods. I treated all socioeconomic levels of tenants in a respectful manner, from the Section 8 tenant in a D neighborhood to the middle-class in a B+ house and neighborhood. I responded quickly to maintenance requests, but almost never received a call at night or on weekends. I was lax about increasing rents on long term tenants, figuring I'd do remodeling and rent increase at turnover, but many don't move. In some cases I didn't act quickly enough to enforce the lease on a tenant becoming slow pay or causing other issues. Have I left money on the table over some 30 years? Absolutely! At this stage of my life it's not so important. My properties are paid off. I don't have debt, and I live a comfortable life while still providing good, safe and affordable housing in my city.

I stand corrected.

depends on who you ask

Some of my tenant tell me I am the best landlord they have ever had ( usually great tenants)

The tenants that I have evicted, withheld all the deposit and sometimes gone after additional--they say I am terrible