Are You a Tired Landlord?

You may have been managing your own properties forever, but the COVID-19 years may have taken most of the fun (and profit) out of it for you. Maybe you are just over it. You enjoy the extra income, or at least you used to. But you just feel tired and discouraged. Perhaps it's time to let me help.

My team and I manage nice homes and we manage them well. Even during COVID, all our residents paid their rent. In fact, since I started McCourt Property Management in 2002, I have never been in eviction court and no resident has ever lived in one of our houses without paying rent.

I started in the apartment business in 1986, and I had a terrific mentor. Thanks to Wes Cordeau, I quickly became an expert at taking over and turning around distressed and underperforming properties. There are many reasons that a property can have negative cash flow. But one I saw often when I came into a new office was a list of delinquent rent as long as my arm. If the property manager has people living there for free, she is not doing her job, and that is a serious problem for the owner. You are still responsible for the mortgage payment and the taxes. You would not want to skip paying the property insurance bill, that wouldn't turn out well. The only answer is to be certain that the manager is acting as a good steward for you.

During the pandemic and the lockdown, oil bust, etc. we had a terrible time here in the basin. Our rents dropped, and they are just now recovering. Many people were released from their jobs and had to leave town. Some moved back to the state they called home. This DOES include some of my residents. BUT these residents 1. Gave notice that they were leaving, 2. Moved away so that we could show the home easily or kept the house tidy and were very cooperative in scheduling showings. 3. Continued to pay rent until the new person moved in. 4. Paid a relet fee that was more than enough to cover the leasing fee we would have to pay to release the home. In short, they did the right thing. Our owners did not lose money. Even in the worst market that I have seen since I entered the business during the bust of 1986. There was an awful lot of wear and tear on the property managers, and one house was rented three times the same summer. But we did the right thing and so did our residents.