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I didn’t start out with a plan to manage real estate, but by 2021 I had three properties. They were incredibly stressful to manage, especially as I live in London most of the time. I finally found tenants who will do some work themselves and hired a property management company. Loading Loading something.
“This is definitely not one of our receipts,” said the manager of the Rumford, Maine, hardware store about a receipt my handyman had sent me for reimbursement. The manager confirmed what I suspected – that the last staff member at my property had lied to me and dared to present a forged receipt.
This was the latest incident in a long line of missteps in hiring people for my property 3,000 miles away. My last year as a remote homeowner drained me mentally, emotionally and financially.
It didn’t start that way. In 2013, I bought a one-bedroom apartment for $144,500 in cash in Portland, Maine, to live in when I wasn’t in London. As of May 2021, without a real estate growth plan, he had a full-time job managing three properties, including a geodesic dome in a western Maine ski town.
Properties took up all my time and energy, gave me heart palpitations and kept me on my toes at all hours London, England, where I live most of the year. Even though this problem was of my own making and a privileged one, I couldn’t let it go. I didn’t want to sell them; I just needed my life back.
Experts see pivoting as a natural part of long-term real estate ownership. Natalie PalmerAirbnb trainer and host of the Airbnb podcast “Not Vacant,” he told me that the best thing about real estate is its flexibility.
“The great thing about real estate is that if you still find that hosting the property isn’t right for you, you can outsource to a property manager or convert to mid- or long-term stays,” Palmer explained. I knew I needed help and used two management tactics on my three properties to get my life back as a homeowner.
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I found great tenants with house pride
Previously, in my rentals, my tenants were either moving to Maine or visiting for a short period of time. While this meant higher rents for me, it also led to wear and tear and more hours.
Before turning to a property management service, I tried to find dream tenants who could manage the houses themselves and call only in case of an emergency. Despite the most robust rental market in Maine history, I offered incentives to get the right tenants into my homes. For example, I provided a set of tenants with $1,000 to spend at Home Depot and Sherwin-Wiliams for anything they wanted to improve on the place.
I offered to lower the rent on the other set to meet their budget. In return, both groups of tenants help with repairs and redecorating. Even though my returns are lower, these tenants have a home pride that can’t be bought.
During this summer in Maine, both tenants took me through their improvements to my houses and lawn. Previously, I spent up to 10 hours a week managing the two properties, and now I spend an hour a month. I pay my cousin 5% of the rent to cash the checks and be a contact on the ground.
I am using a property manager
I achieved The Enchanted Dome remotely, working 30 hours a week between marketing, management and care for departing guests five star reviews on Airbnb. Although my benefits were encouraging, I felt sick and constantly panicked, spending nights watching the outside surveillance cameras and reading local Facebook groups about the area.
After the police were mistakenly called in the middle of the night for a disturbance (thankfully, the wrong house), I hired the property management agency that could take over the Dome the fastest.
This national property management team retains approximately 40% of my property’s gross income. While cutting my benefits isn’t sustainable for my long-term financial goals, it works to keep things going. I now have breathing room to interview property managers at a 15-25% fee level, which is the industry standard.
It took six months to implement these changes, which were my version of silent resignation for the owners. While I loved being a homeowner in my 30s when I was constantly connected and my kids were young, it doesn’t sit well in my 40s. Going forward, I will monitor more closely how my management style serves my long-term goals and continue to adjust before I burn out.
Kathleen Porter Kristiansen
