I’ve gotten a few calls from my tenant about little stuff in the 2 months I’ve had her. For example, there were a few homeless people fighting and making a fire outside of the apartment; she didn’t know whom to report it to.
A few nights later some meth’d out homeless dude was beating up on his girlfriend in the same area behind the apartment. So my tenant was freaking. Portland.
Refrigerator Suicide
The next text message I got was about the fridge dying. She texted me that she came home to all of her food spoiling in the fridge. She adjusted the settings, nothing. So I had to get on the phone and find an appliance tech, while collecting all the pertinent details needed to pass on to the repair tech.
I called around 2 places and they said that they don’t service that model (GE and Whirlpool are the most serviceable, I learned). I found another place which would service it only if the freezer was still working. So I had to have my tenant go back and check the freezer.
Then I had to play secretary for the repair dude and the tenant to be available at the same time. Then I had to be on standby when the repair dude arrived in order to make a decision on the repair.
He said he could repair it but that she’d be without a fridge for a week. Cost was $225 for a new fan motor and labor. A new fridge would have been $600. And I always prefer repair over replacement.
This repair will leave my tenant without a fridge for over a week. I’ve been texting friends to see who can loan my tenant a fridge until the old one is repaired. I have some awesome friends, let me tell you. Everyone offered some sort of solution but one buddy actually has a small college fridge which he’s gonna drop off for K. tomorrow.
Passive Income
I read online that rental income properties are passive income. But my friends who own them tell me what a fucking nightmare it is. They are routinely interrupted with tenant issues.
It’s not that rental income properties are all bad or all that great. Even a securities portfolio requires upkeep. So it comes down to individual preferences. I don’t enjoy getting a call or text about an imminent problem.
Though rental income properties are passive income, they are so indirectly. That’s why I don’t gravitate towards this. Had I called a property manager to deal with this, they certainly would have requested a replacement which would have set me back $600 – at the very least. I still would have had to research the kind of fridge to get which would fit into the awkward space I have my fridge currently.