Chickens are coming home to ROOST!!! and they don't have the rent
Since late April, I have been sending brochures (3-panel printed on my laser printer) to homeowners who can't sell their homes * overpriced, poorly presented in listing photos (don't get me started) * the properties are PRIMO from a rental prospect * 4BR, garage, basement...The flyer has a reprint of the the article entitled * REAL ESTATE * Rent Now * Sell Later * Local housing market stalled? Consider becoming a temporary landlord. By Pat Mertz Esswein *From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, February 2007.
I've done 15 property presentations from these flyers and gotten 10 new properties to manage for 12 to 18 months...of the 200+ flyers I have mailed out, I've tracked which ones ended up listing their home for rent with their listing Realtor or attempted to rent and manage themselves.
Over the last week, I've gotten 2 calls from property owners * one who rented themselves and one who rented through their listing Realtor * both of whom have tenants who have not paid rent and the owners are now out of the area...I asked the first homeowner why their REALTOR is not assisting him and he said the Realtor does not know what to do * DUAH!?! and he can't afford to keep the home since he has a second home to pay for now. The second owner did not screen the Craigslist tenant he was lucky to find on his first property posting AND allowed occupancy without a deposit....JEEZE!!! I'm going to go back and see if these properties were overpriced to begin with when originally listed for sale.
In both instances, the wives had kept my brochure and urged their husbands to call me when their rent did not arrive with the Xmas cards....one owner I will assist and deal with the wife and the one with no documentation on their tenant I will refer to my local attorney with permission to use my name to get their phone call returned.
