My wife and I have been married for 45 years now and 37 of those years have found our Central Maine summer camp our joy, refuge, and now our permanent home. As a young married couple, purchasing a summer "camp" on a nearby lake was a bit of a stretch, but in those days many locals had modest "camps" which dotted the many glacial lakes and ponds in our area. With careful budgeting we were able to cover the modest monthly mortgage payments and were able to cover taxes by renting out our home in town to students taking summer courses at a local college, Getting our home ready for these seasonal tenants (we prefer to call them guests) was good practice for what was to come. What we learned over the years can be summarized in the following principles:
Use Sweat Equity to Build Value
When we first purchased our "camp" the water supply was pumped from the lake. While there was a flush, there was no shower or hot water. The walls were bare studs and the aluminum "storm" windows did little to keep out the wind which could be downright bone chilling in the Spring and Fall. Over the years, many improvements were carried out as cash was available. By performing most of the work ourselves, we were able to insulate, install new kitchen cabinets, a shower, hot water, space heaters, insulated windows, knotty pine walls, suspended ceilings, a new septic system, a drilled well, and a slab foundation. These investments allowed us to ultimately transform this little camp into a desirable year round rental cottage. In subsequent years, we built a larger structure on the lake side of the camp road which is now our home.
Use a Professional to List Your Property
Our initial tenants worked out well and were friendly, kept the property clean, and always paid their rent on time. When the breadwinner of the family had trouble finding work, we did a little networking and helped him land a job. This was not only a neighborly gesture but good business as well, since a job would be necessary if he was to continue paying the rent. A subsequent tenant opened our eyes to the horror that can await the unsuspecting landlord. Being in a desirable location on the lake, the camp brought hundreds of replies to an ad in the paper. After one party had rented the cottage for over a year, another family moved in with them and one of the two original lessors moved out. After a couple of months the rent checks stopped coming and the exterior was beginning to look kind of messy. . It turned out that they had brought in cats, but no litter box. The cats urinated and defecated all over the inside making quite a stinky mess. By the time we were able to evict these folks, which was a trying process, the damage had been done. It was necessary to tear up all carpet and dispose of all furniture to get rid of the smell. Subsequently the services of a property management company were used to screen prospective tenants and to draw up a detailed lease.
Cleanliness is Next to Godliness
When preparing our property to rent, we scrub everything until it shines. Carpet and linoleum are cleaned or replaced. A responsible tenant appreciates this extra effort and will usually make an effort to keep it that way.
Practice the Golden Rule
Listen to your tenants. Once we were advised of a mouse problem, an exterminator was contacted and took care of not only the mice, but also the spiders, ants and other pests as well. To make tenants feel welcome to the lake, my wife prepares a little basket of goodies or a plant for them. When the Tree Service had to remove a dead tree from the property we gave the tenant a heads up that some noisy work would be taking place. We always provide numerous phone numbers to use in case of an emergency.
Establish Good Relationships With Your Suppliers
We had used a tree service to remove dead trees in the past so when we came home on the 4th of July to find a storm had knocked over a huge maple with branches lying on the roof of the house, a call to the same tree contractor had him out the next day to take it down. We recommended this contractor to neighbors as his jobs were fairly priced, he has excellent equipment and, most importantly, he works with meticulous attention to safety. We also make sure to pay him before he leaves the job site as this saves him paperwork for billing and helps his cash flow so he can pay his help. We indeed are fortunate that in this part of the country most contractors still take pride in their work and want to keep their reputation as most of their jobs are from word of mouth recommendations.
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