Fixing Toilets At 3 A.M.
Hi, All
How many times have you heard, "If you own real estate, you will be getting calls at 3 A.M. to fix toilets!"?
How many of you have gotten such calls (or similar calls at very late hours)?
I have never gotten one and my initial reaction would be to give directions for finding the back yard!
What say you?
Happy Holidays and Prosperous Investing in 2004.
-Ed
if you dont want calls at 3 a.m. get a MGMT CO. to do it...other wise it happens.. it is a numbers thing though. My parent owned and managed 200 units of apartments in los Angelos when i was a kid. and i remember dad only having to go to calls where someone was shot..otherwise his 10 dollar hr pager wearing help and the mgr on duty who got free rent took care of it.
[addsig]
WheelerDealer,
Property management companies that I have used never told me of off hour calls either. My point is that I believe this is more myth than fact.
-Ed
emergencies happen in the middle of the nite. apartments may be different than single family dwellings. when i got older i did matenance calls at nite. its not myth but its also not as big a deal as you might think
[addsig]
Have always managed my own apts.
Why do the tenants even have an emergency number for you which can wake you up at 3AM?
If the house is on fire call the fire dept.
If some one is hurt call the abulance.
If some one is dead call the police.
If a pipe/toilet breaks shut off the water main. Which of course I have shown to them.
They smell gas get out of the hosue and call the fire dept.
The roof starts leaking, it wont since I take care of the property.
A hurricane blows the roof off, the phone wont work anyways.
A window gets broken tape some cardboard over it til tomorrow.
What else can happen that can not wait until the morning??
You are their landlord and should do whatever you can to make their stay a plesant one but you aint running the Carnival Cruise line.
[ Edited by MrMike on Date 12/08/2003 ]
MrMike, I agree.
My lease states that the tenant must fix all minor problems or lose a $50.00 discount that he gets every month for doing a list of about 12 things ( Includes paying the rent on time and fixing running toilets, and calling me)
I have had as many as 70 tenants at one time.
I get a call - infact got one last nite - only about two or three times a YEAR - after hours. The one last nite came from my office building cleaners - came while I was having dinner - that someone had thrown a rock through a window.
I thanked him for the call and went back to dinner.
Let the rumours fly about how hard it is to be a landlord. If it was easy - everyone would be doing it!
[addsig]
Hey,
It is a total myth and it is what Mgmt companies use in their ads!!!!
I have owned rentals for nearly 10 years and have NEVER received "the call".
Landlords do NOT receive emergency calls. Period. Amen. If there was an emergency, you would be the last one of the list anyway. You will not get a call that requires you to drop everything and run over to the house.
The most time senstive call I ever received was when the sewage was backing up in the tub. Real landlords will know that 95% of the time this is:
a) because the tenants drop a toy down the sink
b) because the tenant has been pouring cooking oil down the sink
I gave them a the number for the RotoRoter man. His removed the blockage, which was a "grease log".
MrMike you wrote my response except just get them to dial 911. I had a management company call a plumber at 2 AM for one of my low income properties because the toilet was clogged. Cost me $180 after I told them that I was doing all the maintenance on the property. They got fired. No way a toilet cac not wait till am
Good LUCK and HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Ted Jr
I have printed out Mike's instructions.
I bought 3 properties a couple of months ago. I have a manager for 2 properties and I have no problem. A handyman lives in a low-income property. I give him a break to deal with calls and fixing stuffs. But the previous owner did a very poor job in maintaining the house and dealing with complaints. The super(handyman) has lost some credibility in the eyes of the tenants.
I have been getting some calls. I am taking better care of the property. But I will print out Mike's instructions and implement the general rules from there
I think you hear the horror stories from one of these groups of people:
1. someone who's trying to get you to invest in something other than real estate.
2. Someone who just got into the buisiness and thinks that they have to go on site everytime someone calls them, they haven't learned to delegate, and they can't identify an emergency from a non-emergency. These people will eventually either learn or get out of their properties (In which case I'm around to buy them!)
3. Someone who was never cut out to be a landlord for various reasons. (Too picky, not picky enough, doesn't take care of tenants needs, too lazy, doesn't want to be inconvenienced, etc).
Those people have given the business the reputation that it has (fine with me). If you don't fit into one of those 3 groups, you'll be fine and create very few stories.
I think a lot of people with no experience in RE perpetuates these myths. Everytime I told my friends that I was considering RE, they would ask me about calls at 2 AM about a toilet leak. I have heard this from cross-section of people from all over. They are not talking from experience. This is like an overused joke, telling it is a sign of your wit, then you deal with all sorts of BS at work all day without a second thought.
Quote:
On 2003-12-09 11:02, ahmedmu wrote:
I think a lot of people with no experience in RE perpetuates these myths. Everytime I told my friends that I was considering RE, they would ask me about calls at 2 AM about a toilet leak. I have heard this from cross-section of people from all over. They are not talking from experience. This is like an overused joke, telling it is a sign of your wit, then you deal with all sorts of BS at work all day without a second thought.
Ditto.
I have owned and managed properties for 20 years and have had very few off hour calls. Interestingly enough when I was contemplating getting into Real Estate investment / property management, EVERYONE tried to talk me out of it for a number of reasons including the "call." Thankfully I did not listen to them..... I have NO regrets!
I carry extra baggages because I came here as an immigrant and I have a decent job and advanced degrees. I don't discuss RE much. If I do, people look as if something is wrong with me. I heard about this call from my immigrant friends as well, this is universal.
On one of properties, I have a couple of troublemakers who called me a few times unnecessarily, ignoring the super. They also theaten me they won't pay rent if I don't take care of a situation. They had leases with previous owner. I won't renew those leases and throw them out at the earliest opportunity. Any advice how I accomplish that?
ahmedmu-
You might want to start a new chain on this one or even post to the legal forum.
I like the idea of having an "insurance" premium for calls that comes off the $50 discount.
How should I handle this with Section 8 tenants? I guess I should check the rules and regs in my state about doing something like this.
Thanks
-Ariel
I have 32 units currently and over the past few years have only had one late night call (around 10pm)- the furnace went out. I live in Green Bay and this is not something I could leave until the morning. I did not have to leave the house though as I have a heating co. that I can call for emergencies.
I always explain to the tenants what they can and cannot call me about in the middle of the night. As Mr. Mike says most emergencies can be handled by others, and anything else can wait until morning.
Ron
I hear the phrase too - in fact I even said it before I started invested. But then I asked myself - "how many times have I had a toilet problem in the 12 years I rented or own my own property." Ask yourself that question. I think that will clear up your thinking. Doesn't happen all that much.
Quote:
On 2003-12-09 12:43, ronjung wrote:
I have 32 units currently and over the past few years have only had one late night call (around 10pm)- the furnace went out. I live in Green Bay and this is not something I could leave until the morning. I did not have to leave the house though as I have a heating co. that I can call for emergencies.
I always explain to the tenants what they can and cannot call me about in the middle of the night. As Mr. Mike says most emergencies can be handled by others, and anything else can wait until morning.
Ron
HA HA Ron you hit on a good one.
Yea no heat in the winter up north DOES need immediate action I would say.
I thank all of you for your lively responses.
Certainly there are emergencies that require immediate attention. Having a furnace go in Green Bay demands immediate response. My most recent was a break in where the doors were removed. My tenant left and went into hiding because she was so frightened.
Like bbnx, I too have NO REGRETS over selecting RE as a wonderful activity. To quote a friend : "No one buys real estate for the thrill of management!"
Happy Holidays and Happy Investing,
Ed
My sense was that the "toilet in the middle of the night" is more lore than truth which seems to be confirmed by your responses.
Like one of