High Maintenance Residents

Great News - the place I closed on last week has someone moving in. That sounds great but there is a darker side to it. He is a semi-retired doctor.

He is well qualified by all means, but I am able to see that he is going to high maintenance along the way. He has asked for example for lawn care as he just got a hip replaced. He is also wanting snow and ice maintenance included. I have made it clear that he able to get anything he wants as long as he pays the right price. He is alright with that. Then again when your credit score is over 800 and you are cringing in 11 times the rent, I believe there might be some OCD - after all, how else does one become a doc?

What are some tools and methods do you use to reduce self-induced Drama and/or high maintenance residents? I am recalling back when my chemistry professor was schooling my garage install contractor about how springs work.

I plan on having him hire out his own folks so he can control those standards himself and have a couple hundred-dollar repair deductible.

Every situation comes with its own set of challenges.

When I purchased my first 5 homes, I wanted to do the lawn care and pool service for 2 homes with a pool. But I also was working 32 hours a week and attending CSUN, College. I was 18-19 years old.

So I said to myself, is it worth my time to save a few bucks mowing lawns myself and servicing 2 pools each week? Or is my time WORTH SOMETHING!

I saw that when I let tenants take care of their lawn and pool, it was often skipped one week during the week.

So I contacted my real estate agent help find the homes I purchased and asked her about her pool and lawn service.

At that time weekly pool service was around $42/per month and lawn trimming/care ran about $45/month. So like an idiot, I was loosing $700 in Salary to save myself $220 in professional service.

So I did something remarkable! I decided to charge tenants more monthly rent to cover these costs. Rents for an average 3 to 4 bedroom home, 2 bathroom with a pool ran $895 a month. So I raised the rent/asking price to $950--covering more than half my costs.

Very good example, Robert J.

Ray, is this a class A place?

In a SFH, is it not already expected that they are responsible for lawn care and snow removal, wither they DIY or hire it out?

I have found it very helpful to set boundaries. I don't answer my phone during certain hours. I have also found (as suggested by others on this forum) that being too responsive encourages further requests.

"High maintenance" or "full service"?

For me, a high maintenance tenant makes numerous requests of dubious merit, like the tenant in another recent posting who wanted the landlord to do something when the power went out during a storm.

The situation here, at least as Ray describes it, seems to be different: this is a tenant who is thinking ahead, realizes there are important tasks that he can't or won't do himself, wants to be sure they're handled, and most of all, is willing to pay for the privilege.