Can a Landlord go on Vacation? Yes

You heard a lot of reasons why not to be an active landlord when you first got into real estate investing. One of them was this: you'd never be able to take a vacation again.

Maybe now it's been five years since you bought your first property, and you verily haven't taken a vacation in all that time. Those trip brochures look pretty inviting. Or maybe there's an investors practice or cruise where you could relax and get new ideas about our industry.

Cell Phone Backup

The truth is that you can get away for a weekend or even a week, as long as you put in order ahead of time. The making ready is no dissimilar than what any other pro needs to do. Simply put, you must make sure that everybody who depends on you knows you are going away; that you have backup population in place to take care of any problems that arise while you're gone; that you can be reached in case of an absolute, drop-dead emergency; and that you don't have any definite task that requires your presence scheduled for the same days as your trip.

My longest ever trip was two weeks to China in January of 2005. For 14 days, I'd be verily on the other side of the world, in a country where my cell phone wouldn't work and email would be occasional at best. I began making ready for the trip two months in advance.

Find a trusted friend

My first job was to find a friend or relative who could take on the asset management while I was away. He had to meet five criteria. First, he had to be someone I utterly trusted. I could not take a opening on someone who might misbehave and cause damage to my reputation. Second, he had to be a dependable someone in all respects. Third, it had to be suitable for him to take on this further responsibility. Fourth, he had to be at least as handy as I was (not request a lot). Fifth, he had to be willing to do it.

Remember that there is a inequity in the middle of trustworthiness and reliability. My stand-in asset owner would have passage to the company checkbook. A trustable someone wouldn't take off with the money in the account. A dependable someone wouldn't leave the checkbook where somebody else could take it.

My option for my stand-in was my brother in law Will. I asked him with more than a month remaining before the trip so that if he couldn't or wouldn't do it, I would have time to find somebody else. Fortunately, he agreed. We also discussed recompense at that time. It's foremost to rule this interrogate ahead of time. I didn't want Will to do it as a pure favor, even if he would be willing to do so. We decided on a flat fee for the two weeks and an further fee for any visit he had to make to the properties.

If your trusted friend refuses money, you need to find some other way to show your appreciation for the big favor he's doing. Give his family a terrific thank-you gift or make a donation to charity in his name.

Let everybody know what you're doing

My second job was to let all of my foremost contacts - which included all of my tenants and quarterly contractors and utilities - know when I would be away. I wanted their routines to stay the same as much as possible, so I told them about Will, and that he would have my cell phone and email address. I asked the tenants as a favor to not bother Will with small complaints, but to leave those for me to rule when I returned. And I took care of any current complaints before I left. I similarly cleared up any superior issues or unpaid bills with my contractors and utilities and made sure they had nothing scheduled for when I was away. I made sure the utilities, in particular, knew that any bills that came in while I was gone would not be paid until I returned.

Put together your "travel kit"

My last step before the trip, done as close to my departure date as possible, was to make sure Will had all he needed while I was gone. I gave him a box including:

A perfect set of keys for all properties, including apartment keys. Keys and data on any post office boxes I use. sufficient blank, signed checks so that he could pay any bills which must be paid on the spot; for example, for urgency repairs. A list of all of my tenants including their addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. A list of all my adored contractors and their caress information. My cell phone, with charger. My email catalogue address and password. My personal rules for caress by tenants; how often I check email and when I turn my cell phone on and off. A check to pay for his services.

Finally, I took him colse to the properties and pointed out problem spots. We also discussed some of the procedures that might come up (for example, how to bleed air from hot water lines).

One thing to add to this list would be the rules that tenants must obey. That way, your trusted friend will know if someone's doing something he shouldn't. However, you don't want your friend to have to be the enforcer. Just have him note the issues and let you know about them for later.

During and after your trip

Going to China, I verily did not know when I'd be able to call back to the Us or go on the Internet. Fortunately, this is a pretty rare situation. Most places where you might go on vacation, you'll be able to connect semi-regularly. It's clearly better to call than to email, since you can get answers right away.

Obviously there's not much you can if you are thousands of miles away and a serious situation develops. But you might be able to give your friend some guidance to help him rule the problem, or at least make him feel better. And if the qoute involves a definite complaint from a tenant, caress the tenant and let him know what you will be doing. Obviously such a qoute demands your immediate attentiveness when you get back.

When you do return home, meet your trusted friend as soon as possible to get your "travel kit" back and pay him any money he is still owed. And thank him profusely, of course. Then succeed up on any situations that arose while you were away as soon as possible.

Can a Landlord go on Vacation? Yes

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