Quote:
Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy
Well, I'd say that its better to just require a damage deposit up front and screen your clients to a degree. Remember, if you treat the place like crap by putting in high risk tenants, not maintaining it, etc... then the people in there will show it the same disrespect and you'll be left with "land value" in no time.
Most insurance companies will offer renters insurance, but it is nowhere near the level of coverage that a normal home owner can get on their own place.
|
Definately, you always want to have a security deposit of 1 month's rent, and do background checks on the tenants (we do credit reports and criminal backgrounds if we think necessary, as well as past landlord and employer references).
However we have the exact same insurance on all our rental properties as we do our own house. That mostly covers the replacement / repair costs in the event of a fire or something, tenant damage is typically covered by the security deposit and legal action if it's really bad.
We also try to check up on our tenants quarterly under the guise of checking for anything that needs repairs; if we think they're abusing the place then we might take some actions.
It can be really hard to kick someone out sometimes (the courts heavily favour the tenants), however doubling their rent can make things happen
(I've never actually done that)