What Nobody Tells You About Becoming a Landlord When You Have a Family

Many of us will eventually reach a time when we start to reflect on how to make our money do a bit more work. It could be that childcare costs rise every year, and grocery shopping becomes more expensive each week. One can hardly be surprised that women (Mainly mums) who are looking for an extra income have been seeing real estate as an option. I can see the attraction very well. Besides that, rental income can provide a sense of security that many other side jobs don’t.

Though, if you are a parent, working, and managing day-to-day life besides, the very first thought that might come to your mind is: How the heck is it even possible to find time to be a landlord as well? The fact is it is not always that easy. Being a landlord can definitely be done with family commitments. Though it is not the effortless source of passive income that people sometimes think it to be. Like parenting, it involves planning, patience, and deciding to go with the flow as things don’t always work out the way we want them.

Why Property Strikes a Chord with So Many Parents

One of the main reasons that property attracts families on the go is that it truly can be profitable for you even if you don’t think about it every single day. Most side jobs that are popular these days need you to work late into the night, on weekends or you keep searching for business. If you are already busy working on something else that includes taking care of flash cards and schoolwork with your kids, preparing food or making them eat, putting them to bed or running the washing machine, there’s just no room for a second job. 

Property rental is a different story. There will be times when you will be busy, mostly when you purchase a property, locate your tenants, or get maintenance done. Still, once everything is settled and you have tenants who pay rent on time, there can be quite a few days when you only do a little bit of work on the property. It is this kind of freedom that lures parents to the idea of an additional income source without having to give up even more family time.

What most people don’t mention is the mental aspect of being a landlord. In other weeks, when you are not physically present on the property, you still have to handle all that. You have maintenance on your mind at all times and apart from checking renewal dates of contracts, replying to emails, organising inspections, and keeping yourself up-to-date with changes to landlord legislation, there is little that you would be doing directly.

If you have been shouldering many invisible mental burdens at home, which is something many women do, then taking on the management of an additional property might at times seem like too much.

This is the reason why you need to set realistic expectations right from the start. A rental property is not just a rent check every month; it is also about being ready to find solutions whenever problems occur.

Deciding What You Can Manage Yourself

Firstly, really, every landlord has a different approach. Some of them decide to manage their investment personally. Such landlords do everything from advertising the property to meeting the applicants, scheduling repairs, conducting inspections, and handling issues directly.

Though some landlords figure out pretty soon that letting agents’ fees are a good investment.

Usually, a competent letting agent can take on this:

• Getting the property advertised
• Locating the right tenants
• Doing the tenant referencing
• Rent collection
• Repair arrangements
• Inspection scheduling
• Renewal of leases
• Being initially contact point for tenants

Parents juggling work, school, and other child care aspects will really appreciate how outsourcing such daily tasks can quite a bit improve their lifestyle.

Admittedly, letting agents’ fees is one more expense, but quite a few landlords consider those ‘paying back to themselves’ with time and stress saved.

Budgeting for More Than Just the Mortgage

One of the mistakes that many first-time landlords make is to think only about the rent money they will get.

Actually, managing a rental property involves the cost of running it and that is something that one must take into consideration right from the start.

Some of these costs include:

• Mortgage repayments
• General maintenance
• Emergency repairs
• Gas and electrical safety inspections
• Letting agent fees
• Service charges or ground rent (where applicable)
• Tax on rental income
• Replacement of appliances
• Decorating between tenants

Besides that, there are the costs of things that you cannot always foresee.

• The heating system might break down in the middle of winter.
• The clothes washer might suddenly be out of order.
• When a storm passes by, there is a chance that a roof tile could be blown off.

Such things are not the result of your actions; they are the kind of things that one should expect to happen occasionally when one owns a property. 

By saving some money for such unexpected repairs, you will be able to handle these situations with much less stress.

Preparing for Quiet Periods

If anything, it’s quite easy to forget that rental income may not arrive each and every month.

There are instances, for example, that tenants move out without new ones moving in right after them and this can result in what is called a void period.

During this time, you will most probably have to carry the mortgage payments and other running costs even without the rental income.

Because of this, one of the most common pieces of advice from experienced landlords is to have a financial cushion when you decide to purchase a rental property.

This means that you will be less worried if a couple of weeks without tenants are to be a reality, drastically impacting your household finances.

Protecting Yourself Before You Hand Over the Keys 

What really is behind one useful tip that many experienced landlords have shared time and again? They say that prevention is nearly always more convenient than curing the problem once the issue has come up.

There are quite a few things to do and check off the list before tenants move in, like ensuring that the property is absolutely safe and up to code, which is a must. Among other things, this involves conducting gas safety checks, ensuring that electrical installations are safe, having working smoke alarms, and generally making sure that the property complies with the law.

Properly vetting potential tenants should be given just as much attention, if not actually more. By reviewing their employment, asking the previous landlords for references, checking the affordability and identity will definitely decrease the chance of problems later on and also make everyone more comfortable with what is going to happen moving on. One more very sensible thing that will definitely be of great help later on is to set up the landlord insurance.

Knowing that you have the proper coverage in place allows you to safeguard not only the building itself and the contents owned by you as a landlord, but it also extends to providing you with liability protection. Being able to do this can be a very reassuring factor for parents who are always busy and, at times, hardly have a moment to themselves, that one unforeseen incident won’t be able to turn what was supposed to be an additional source of income into a terribly unexpected financial burden.

Organisation Makes Family Life Easier Too

Parenting will show you, more than anything else, the significance of proper planning and management. The situation is similar when you are a landlord.

Having digital copies of your certificates, making inspection reminder notes, securely storing rental agreement documents, and having well-known tradespeople on the standby list can elicit the biggest relief in the face of stressful situations.

Often enough, small organizational steps result in a clear divide between you being perpetually overwhelmed and you being in control of the situation.

And, it doesn’t hurt to think that you cannot do all things on your own. Whether it is the use of a letting agent, the hiring of trustworthy contractors or the consultation of an accountant for tax matters, professional help can be considered a well-thought-out investment and not just a needless cost.

It won’t always be a breeze or a success all the time. Even if you prepare yourself very well, there will be surprises. For instance, a phone call about a dripping faucet may disrupt your leaving for the school run.

An unexpected, very expensive repair may be required. These situations are really annoying, but they do not necessarily mean that your decision was wrong.

They are just one of the aspects of living in a house. One of the reasons why it becomes a lot more manageable to face such obstacles is having a proper attitude towards property ownership, with the right expectations.

Conclusion

Managing rental properties and raising kids simultaneously is not devoid of difficulties and being a landlord is definitely not a way to get quick money without work. The landlord has to be ready and willing to regularly comply with paperwork, arrange maintenance of the property, stay up to date with the legal matters and be available to the landlord for unexpected repairs.

But, at a certain level, it can be a great source of building a secure financial foundation for one’s family over time. If each one’s expenses are well planned, with moderate anticipation of the results, keeping the property well organised and with professional help when needed, it is quite possible to combine running a rental property with family life on a daily basis.

The most important thing is to be aware that you don’t really need to do everything in a perfect way or to face every difficulty alone. Establish reliable systems, be open to getting help when it is a reasonable option, and from your investment point of view, it is wise to take measures to protect it right from the start.

In many ways of family life issues, being a landlord is like a balance that you find for yourself. Besides having the elements of needing a certain level of responsibility, it can also be one’s assurance that they are doing something that is a lot helping the future of their family – step by step, one tenant, and one nicely managed property at a time.