One thing I've learned over time is that there's no one way to do things; only preferences. I was reminded that here recently by two incidents:

The first incident involved someone who lived across the street from my building who sent a Zillow inquiry. They had been evicted a couple of times and the house they're in apparently had a code violation against the LL. The city had posted a notice on the door shutting the place down. I sent them a message declining a showing due to evictions and the following week I ran into them while at the building and they approached me. They told me that they were paying 1800/mo for their unit which is well above market for what they're getting. It was clear the LL was taking advantage of them and charging them through the nose. With their eviction history, they don't have many options. They had a couple of young kids and I honestly felt bad for them; not bad enough to reverse my decision, but that they were being financially abused. Obviously, their choices played a huge part in this, but there are folks out there who will rent to them at huge premiums and they have no choice but to pay. That's not my cup of tea through.

I ran across the second incident in a local FB group today. A tenant posts the following complaint: " Please help!! I was supposed to move into an apartment today and when I went to go check it out Movers came. It was in no condition to be moved into. The apartment smelled like stray, cat urine, and there were cockroaches everywhere. When I spoke to the landlord, she’s asking for a few days to get the apartment better, but I just cannot live there knowing cockroaches they don’t ever go away. I need an apartment ASAP for me and my three kids......"

She posted this under her real name and so I did a quick court records check and this person just got evicted a couple of months ago. When people started confronting her about her due diligence and why didn't she see all of this at the showing, she said that this was the only place she could afford and the LL didn't do credit checks. Another slumlord taking advantage (and another person who put themselves in that position). LL has the money and is insisting they have a signed lease. Strangely enough there were LL's in the group all over her pushing her to come take a look at their units. The first thing I'm doing is looking up the court records before I'd even consider offering my unit blindly. As a matter of fact, I WOULD NOT do that as I figure that's the purpose of Zillow and Turbotenant. Just having ads with requirements screens out these types of tenants as they're looking for something that involves informal screening or none at all.

Here I am taking 60 days on average to fill a vacancy. I guess I could find one right away if I changed up. But on the flip side, it's been several years since I've had to go to court for an eviction.

"Strangely enough there were LL's in the group all over her pushing her to come take a look at their units."

I have seen that as well. I think some of it is scammers and then there are those LL who just want to fill a unit. You would think they would get tired of court to evict someone and determine it isn't worth it, but I guess they still think it is worth it.

My slowest renting building seems to have picked up. I think it’s people being back in the office. But as always the people I hear from immediately are rarely qualified. I had one person beg me for the unit yesterday. She seemed nice enough and I felt bad but told her it’s not personal and she seemed to understand.

There are a lot of slumlords in my county. I am friendly with a couple of them.

When they get a place rented they collect enough to pay for the eviction. They rarely do a clean up between tenants as they don't care.

One of them is a property manager more than a landlord. I know they get to charge the owner for the eviction proceedings. I honestly feel that is the main reason they do it like that. Charging $100 for an eviction and stacking five, six maybe more on the day or court makes for a nice little side hustle. They are only out time.

I see the same thing on a Facebook group that I follow, it's a state-wide group so I don't know any of them. As I read through the posts I can often times pick out the ones that are just naive and inexperienced and those that are filling a service to those on the edge. There seems to be a larger portion that are just plain inexperienced or are confusing investment properties with benevolence activities. I suspect that is why so many people get in and out of RE in such a short period of time.

GKARL, I don't think the slumlords are taking advantage by charging higher rents. They are taking a lot higher risk and if they are taking evicted tenants their costs for damage, hauling away garbage, and cleaning are going to be a lot higher. Plus the high risk of having to evict and have months with no rent on top of court costs.

There was a guy at convention a couple years back that specialized in renting to un-rentables.

I think maybe ex-convicts? I also believe he took in evictees as he knew he could charge more.

With the convicts he said something like they were mostly on the up and up because they didn't want to get tossed back in jail.

Life insurance premiums are higher for people in poor health.

Auto insurance is more expensive for people with poor driving records.

Seems like it makes sense to charge higher rents for people who are at high risk of being evicted.

Choices have consequences...

Robin is exactly right.

I charge more monthly if someone has an animal. I am charging more for my smoker as well.

I can promise you I tried my best to get my 12 year tenant to realize what she was doing to herself when she forced us to court in May. I think she's at mom's now but I don't care. My DH said wait until her parents go to the lake for the weekend and leave that bunch there unsupervised for the weekend! LOL

I too would not rent to someone with an eviction. Not ever.

I only have 20 doors left. It has been since 2022 (I think) since I have had to evict someone who was still in the place. She was a great tenant until she got a new boyfriend.

The lack of evictions now can mostly be attributed to this site.

Vetting prospective tenants is much easier now. I do not have to fight with anyone. They all know I will do my best to take care of them, but I will also not blink an eye to boot them if it is warranted.

Sure I have a couple that pay late, with fees added, but they take care of the place and have been getting better along the way. I used to get more worked up over rents being a day late, now I collect the late fee and go on my way.

Only have one tenant who keeps the place like an old bachelor because well, he is. He has grandfathered in. I no longer allow that kind of treatment with my places. He doesn't destroy the place he just doesn't do anything to keep it up.

He is an occasional smoker as well. I only have one other full time smoker. Her rents go up no matter what because of the extra cleaning I know I will have when she leaves.

Otherwise I have a good group of tenants. I am happy to admit that I save a lot of money on evictions and nasty turnovers now.

I personally screen to the max it's better to let a house sit empty. Than get trashed and go through a eviction.

" I feel ashamed that we owned something in that shape."

Hmmmmm there is a difference in the subject title.

Some LL have diff stds

or is it

Some LL have diff STDs?

Ray--let's be clear. My comments were only about a few observations, I'm not looking for the cockroach complainer to "help me out" nor am I particularly concerned about filling my vacancy. I did find it interesting how many other LLs were rushing to rent to an evictee. Lowering "stds" can certainly fill units quickly which is not something I'm willing to do.

As to the stats you quoted, do you know the basis on which Turbotenant based its statistics? Generally, statisticians use random sampling techniques to draw conclusions about items they're attempting to measure. Random sampling involves using data from a broad population rather than a narrow group. Were Turbotenant's measurements based only on landlords who use their platform or the broad universe of landlords? If limited to their users, they may not be truly representative of the experiences of all landlords. Moreover, these stats are going to vary by property class, region and local economic conditions. Therefore, they're more useful for comparison purposes if parsed that way. Otherwise any conclusions drawn are similarly limited. Did you consider any of this before drawing your conclusions?

Turbo tenant does shot gun marketing. There sample was more than 80,000 landlords. Indeed variation is going to occur. But a sample size of that scope, could cover a variety of economic conditions.

Please don't shot the messenger. It's part of a report - actually one saying great things about mom and pop investors.

A much bigger problem, I find when doing shot gun marketing is getting those 30 leads in the first 24 hours with many of them not following directions and being Non-Quals. Out of that initial 30, you need those two or three that are qualified and not the other 27-28. If you are able to master the shot gun - awesome. It is a valid method for you get 30 leads and spend an afternoon in frustration, in my opinion. I haven't had that much success using that style marketing here - as I tend to get lots of desperate leads.

It is easier, in my opinion, to go to an animal hospital and get referrals from them instead after you pet proof a solid rental. It will cost you a bag of dog food for the shelter they are affiliated with. It does require picking up the phone and visiting the clinic. Folks that spend that much money on Fido and Felix tend to also qualify for my rentals.