Beginner Landlords: First Things First

If you - as a beginner landlord - don't want your house of cards to fall to the ground you simply must get the basics right. What are the basics? I can spell them out for you: R-E-S-E-R-V-E-S! And since you know I say nothing that is not from personal experience, you can be assured this one was a lesson I did not want to learn.

A few things happened all together: our tenants moved out after their lease expired, my husband got stuck in government red tape at his job and was given an ultimatum that if his licensing didn't come through soon he wouldn't have a job and our brokerage didn't make a profit that month. The perfect storm, wouldn't you say?

Even though we are nowhere close to being beginner landlords, these events all together shook us to the core. We began asking hard questions, the really hard questions - what would happen if my husband was unemployed for a while? How long would our savings last? What if we didn't get tenants right away? What if the brokerage didn't make money soon? Would we end up as the thousands of people and landlords losing their homes, their investments to foreclosure?

Now that the issue has been resolved, I can talk about it. But for a while there, it was pretty scary. It's amazing how quickly things can get extremely frightening without sizable reserves. I'm not talking $5,000, I'm talking $50,000. As a beginner landlord, it's easy to assume things will always be easy, but be prepared for the hard times because they will come.

Start putting money away as soon as you can. And when you feel like you have enough, ask yourself the really hard questions. How much is enough? You can't use normal calculations - you have to ask yourself if you can support the rentals and your own bills for six months or more. Then and only then are you okay.

Landlords -Time to Review Rent?

It's come to my attention that we just haven't received as many calls on our rental this time. The rent is about $100 less than it was two months ago. Our tenants were the best - they honored their two year lease and bought a house. We were sorry to see them go, but we were expecting them to buy a home of their own someday. So it was expected.

Take a look here: pretty spacious and lovely home for $1200 a month. So if you know anyone looking, be sure to drop me a line!

Until then, beginner landlords take note. There may be days when landlording might not seem worth it. That's when you need to read The Dip by Seth Godin. Believe me, it makes a lot more sense when you're actually going through it. Rents have fallen and there is more competition out there. But handle the dip well and hold on to that home - the future rewards are worth the wait.

Reviews of Landlord Landmines

Beginner landlords! Sit up and take note. If you don't know the landmines to avoid, you might end up spending thousands of dollars in vain. Why not pick up a copy of Landlord Landmines today at Amazon and avoid learning your lessons the hard way?

"Landlord Landmines represents the PERFECT balance to all those "How to get rich investing in real estate" books! Only the IRS thinks being a landlord is a "passive" activity! What do they know?
"Purva has written her experience in a light, often funny style, that's easy on the digestion, concise, with a ton of hard earned insights. From me to you: Get a credit report EVERY TIME! People who pay their bills on time will pay their rent on time. Good reading!"
- Huck Ferrill, Sacramento mortgage broker.

“This little book points you in the right direction.
“I like this little book - it contains a lot of what to do and what to avoid. If I was a beginner, I would take it and put tabs on some of the pages, put it in a three ring binder, then add to it whenever something changed or I discovered a great way to do something - Sort of like mom's old cookbook!
“I think the book offers a lot of advice to prospective landlords. You do not have to be certified to be a landlord, but you do need to know a lot about a lot.”
– Michael Mast, landlord for over three decades.

“As a real estate investor herself, Purva and her husband, James, went through their share of landlord horror stories. Landlord Landmines is the book Purva wished they’d had when had when they were getting started. Landlord Landmines is written both from her own experience and from the experience of many other landlords who she interviewed for the book.
“Forget the theory and the spreadsheets — Landlord Landmines puts together decades of collective experience and stories from real investors, who teach you what you need to know and what you need to avoid.”
- John Lockwood, real estate broker of Elite Properties.

Beginner Landlords: Advice is Here!

If you're a beginner landlord and want - no - NEED some advice on how to get started and the usual pitfalls to avoid, you have to read my book Landlord Landmines, available now at Amazon. In simple, straightforward and pithy English, it lists what you need to know and perhaps more important what to avoid. Read some reviews here. Then go ahead and pick up a copy today! It includes a rental contract at the end!

Tenant asks for Reduction in Rent

I knew it the first time I saw it! MSN had an article about how to negotiate a lower rent and our tenants probably read it. Now I should say they're excellent tenants and sooner or later we knew they would buy a home, so I hold nothing against them. But we're trying to decide how much we can lower the rent and still manage the family budget.

Note to self: Keep a good gap between mortgage payments and rent to ensure cash flow. Also, HAVE RESERVES!!!

Landlords... it's almost here!

I know I've been saying this for a long, long time, but I'm finally in the last few steps of finishing this book. It's been sent for initial reviews and I will be completing my final edit by this weekend.

Stay tuned. It will be out this Spring. And it will be on Amazon! Needless to say, I'm very excited.

Landlord Landmines: the Book

I'm very excited to be sharing this with you. I will be talking with a publishing consultant next week to see what I can do to get this book to you. What first started as an e-book might now become a full fledged print book you can hold in your hands and read! It's full of things to avoid as well as important pointers on what it takes to be a successful landlord.

As always, I will keep you updated!