Just bought a multifamily with one rental unit. The tenant is a dream. I’m trying to keep track of the expenses to give to the accountant. But when it comes to the house there are 3 buckets things done on our personal unit, things done on the common areas, and things done on the rental unit. Thing is I’m not hiring someone to cleanly work on one of those at a time. Today we have a guy coming to patch a bunch of holes in our personal unit, but also put some treads on the exterior stairs.

The question is, what do I show my accountant that is the least waste of his time? Should I make a spreadsheet of expenses and attach evidence? I assume he doesn’t want screenshots of Zelle payments and text messages and invoices

How are we feeling about Rent Redi? Is it worth it. I only have one property and don’t want to pay a property manager 10% of each payment.

I'm getting quotes for some work and one contractor wants to buy all the materials himself, while another wants me to buy everything separately

Sure, letting them handle it sounds way easier but I also have no idea what they're marking up or whether I'm getting a decent price. Buying it myself means more running around and making sure everything shows up when it's supposed to

What would you suggest doing?

While looking at some work I want to do around one of my new rentals, I realized the property line might not be where I thought it was. The driveway and part of the landscaping are right up against the neighbor's side and it's almost crossing the neighbour's boundary. Just a hair's difference basically. Nobody has said anything about it and it's apparently been like this for years but that doesn't seem right at all.

I checked the old property documents too but they don't really make it obvious where the exact line runs. Getting a survey done seems like the sensible move but kinda worried about opening a whole can of worms

Part of me thinks I should get it checked now, especially before spending more money on the property. But if the driveway has been there for years and neither owner has ever questioned it, am I creating a problem that doesn't actually need to exist?

I had a contractor quote $2,400 to fix a section of damaged drywall and the leak behind it. Seemed reasonable, so I approved the work.

Once they opened the wall, they found more water damage and some rotted wood. Fair enough, I knew there was a chance of finding something else in there.

The problem is they went ahead and did the extra work without calling me or getting approval for a new price. The final invoice came to $4,700.

I get that you can't know everything until a wall is opened up, and I'm not expecting anyone to work for free. But there's a pretty big difference between finding another problem and deciding on your own that the owner is paying to fix it right now.

Now the work is done, the contractor wants the full amount, and I'm stuck arguing over charges I never agreed to.

How to even go about this?

I was checking the expenses for one of my properties because the insurance costs looked way higher than I expected this year.

The payment had come out of my bank account once, for the correct amount. But when I opened the expense report, it was listed twice.

Turns out I'd entered the payment manually when I got the invoice, and then the same transaction came through again when the bank feed synced. So now the property looks like it paid twice as much for insurance as it actually did

I'm hesitant to just delete one of the entries because the bank reconciliation is already done, and I don't want to mess up the records trying to fix one duplicate.

Any advice?

So I am in a weird situation. This year I have been renting out a 2 bedroom dublex with my best friend and his gf.We split rent/utilities/internet 3 ways. 3 weeks ago my friend and his gf break up and she moves out. Luckily she is planning to still pay her share of things until our lease ends.

At the time when they broke up, my friend and I decided we'd probably need to find a new place to rent that's cheaper. I went ahead and asked our landlord when we needed to put in a 60 day notice and they told me it was the 21st of October. So I put it in for us 3.

However last night my friend and I looked into it and it seems we can still afford to rent out this place. We really like where we are at and honestly neither him or I really want to search for a new apartment.

So is it possible to contact our landlord and explain the situation and we changed our mind? Or because we put in the notice it is not possible to ask for a renewal?

Question for the small landlords here. When you bring in a handyman, plumber, electrician, whoever, do you ask for their insurance certificate before they start? If yes, how do you collect it and keep up with renewals? If you don't bother, what's the reason? And about how many units do you have? Just one guy researching an idea, not selling anything. Curious how people really handle this.

I called an applicant's previous landlord last week and the conversation was almost suspiciously easy. They confirmed the rent amount, said payments were always on time and told me they'd happily rent to them again
Then I checked the dates on the application. The applicant said they'd lived there until June but the landlord told me the property had been vacated back in March.
I haven't confronted the applicant yet because there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation, but now I'm wondering why the dates were different in the first place.
Should I ask the applicant to explain before making a decision, or treat the mismatch as enough reason to move on?

Hi,

so here's the situation:

I currently live in an apartment managed by a company, and it has come to my attention that I can no longer live here due to financial issues. However, I have already signed a renewal lease for July 2027 to July 2028, that's nine months away and they will not let me cancel my lease. I can cancel if I pay for the full amount of money for the July 2027-July 2028 lease. Which again is nine months away. I just reread my lease it said I could've canceled it 72 hours after I signed it, but after those 72 hours I am liable. I am in desperate need to get out of this lease, can someone please tell me what to do?

To give context: I am a broke college student, they are going up on rent price next year and I can't afford it. I know I am at fault for not reading the fine print, but an opportunity to live somewhere cheaper just fell into my lap a week ago. Please someone help me.

I'm so tired of checking my bank account to see who paid rent and who needs a reminder. Like why am I sending payment follow-ups every month when rent is literally due on the same day?? Do you guys use rent collection apps, automatic payments, or just bank transfers? What's actually the easiest way to handle this without making it a whole thing?

I rent out a place to a college student who’s honestly been a great tenant. Pays on time, keeps the place clean, no complaints whatsoever.

The problem is her mother.

She seems to think she’s also my tenant and has to be involved in absolutely everything. She emails me about minor things her daughter hasn’t even brought up, questions maintenance decisions, and follows up repeatedly if I don’t respond right away.

The daughter herself is easy to deal with, so I don’t want to create an awkward situation or make her tenancy difficult because of her mom. But I’m getting really tired of having to manage a second person who isn’t even on the lease.

Can I tell her off?

Would you increase rent to 5%+CPI or $1100 or $1000 or $950?

Would my expenses justify the increase or will I win the case if I have to take my tenants to court?

I purchased a multifamily unit in Binghamton, NY in Sept 2025. The tenants I inherited, one is paying $800/Month and one is paying $1100/month. I would like to increase the rent to $1100/month for the first unit. Based on the new Good Cause Eviction Law I am cannot increase rent higher 10% or 5% + CPI which ever is lower. If I do, I will need to go to court with the tenant and I need to provide evidence based the increase of more than 10%.

My current monthly expenses average (Oct 2025-Sept 2026) is $1782.64. That includes Mortgage (Interest Only), Insurance, Property Taxes, School Taxes, Water, Other Expenses. My property manager charges 9% per month.

Got a tenant who's been in my property for years and has generally been great in every way

Recently they asked if they could keep an extra vehicle on the property even though the lease limits parking to one spot per unit. There isn't really room for another vehicle and the other tenants already have to work around the existing parking arrangement

I feel bad saying no because they've been such a reliable tenant for so long. But if I make an exception for them, I can see the other tenants asking for the same thing and then I'm stuck trying to explain why one person gets different rules

What is the right move here?

I started the process of dealing with a tenant who stopped paying rent, and what I thought would be a fairly straightforward matter has become a long, expensive mess

There have been repeated disputes over notices, claims that I haven't handled repairs properly, and a lot of back-and-forth through attorneys. Every time I think we're getting somewhere, another issue gets raised and the timeline stretches out again

I've kept records of rent payments, maintenance requests, contractor visits and communication. My attorney says we're handling things correctly but obviously nobody can promise exactly how a case will play out.

The legal costs are adding up and even if I eventually recover the property, there's no guarantee I'll recover all the rent I'm owed.

I feel helpless atp

Need to replace an island stovetop in one of my units by mid-October. Where are you guys buying appliances lately? Wondering if I should order now or wait for a better deal.

Had an applicant whose rental history has a pretty big gap because they say they spent the last few years living overseas.

Their income and credit look fine, and they've provided references from other places they've rented. But verifying the overseas rental history is proving more difficult than I expected.

I'm not necessarily suspicious of them. I just don't want to approve someone without understanding their recent rental history especially when it's hard to contact previous landlords in another country.

What documents or references should I accept to verify their rental history?

Hi everyone!

I'm a construction business owner looking to expand into property support services, and I'd love some feedback from landlords and property managers.

I'm curious how many of you struggle with the time spent handling maintenance requests, scheduling contractors, communicating with tenants, and following up on repairs.

I'm exploring a service that would help take some of that administrative workload off your plate without requiring you to replace your existing contractors or change how you manage your properties.

For those managing multiple rental properties, is this something you'd consider outsourcing, or do you feel your current system works well enough?

I'm especially interested in hearing what challenges you face and whether this type of support would actually be valuable to your business.

Thanks in advance for your input!

I’ve been looking at property management jobs lately because the work sounds interesting, but I’m not sure how realistic it is to get into the field without direct experience

A lot of listings ask for experience with tenants, maintenance coordination, inspections, leasing and sometimes accounting too. Some even want you to have a real estate license before applying.

I have experience in customer service and admin, so dealing with people and keeping things organized isn’t completely new to me. I’m just not sure whether that translates well to property management or if employers expect you to already know the industry.

Most listings make it sound pretty straightforward but I’m guessing there’s a lot they leave out lol.

Give me the dirt

You will do well if you obtain property in which you receive 1% per month of the value of the property in rent. No calculations needed. Just sit back and watch the wealth build