I've been a landlord for over 15 years. I own no single family homes, only duplexes, tri's and quadriplexes. That way when someone moves in the middle of the night, you still have other tenants paying the freight. Best advice I can give is to never expect a tenant to treat it the way you do. Do your due diligence, get an application, call the references. No references or he was living with Mom, I won't rent to them. My first prospective tenant was a Tech student. I checked his references. His current landlord said "he really gave you my name and number"? It seems there were 4 students living in his unit. They hadn't paid rent, or utilities. So they had no water. They were crapping off the porch at night. Needless to say the dude did not get my apartment. He didn't think I'd check. It is not for the faint at heart, but I have VERY few problems and have a high occupancy rate. My rents are due on the first, late after the 5th. If I don't have rent I start to call. If no rent by the 10th, I start to evict. You pay the rent, you stay. You don't pay, you are gone. I don't care if mama had a nervous breakdown, Granny is pregnant for the 15th time, Junior is in rehab, if they want to live in my unit they pay the rent. These people who say it took 4 months to get them out were being stalled by manipulative tenants. There is a great book 'Landlording' by Leigh Robinson. BUY IT and READ IT before you do anything else.
