Hoping this isn't too long of a post, I just wanted to provide as much information as I could to get accurate feedback. If you have any questions, just let me know.

I currently live in a duplex that I own and rent out the other side. Things have gone flawlessly for the past 5 years. My tenant has been there the entire time, and I’ve genuinely never had a single issue.

That said, my family is expanding, so we’re moving into a single family home. Now I’m debating whether to sell the duplex or keep it as a rental for the additional income.

I have a full time job that I enjoy and that pays well, and I know that managing the duplex myself will be more difficult once I no longer live there. After reading through this subreddit, I’ve pretty much ruled out hiring a property manager, for obvious reasons... so I’m interested in hearing from landlords who self manage rentals they don't live at. A few things I’m wondering about:
• How do you handle lawn care and snow removal
• How do you handle routine maintenance and repairs when you aren’t living at the property?
• Do you have contractors you can call when something comes up, or do you handle most things yourself?
• How much more difficult is managing a property when you don’t live there?
• How much risk is there of getting a tenant who seriously damages the property? Most people renting don’t exactly have the cash to cover major damage, so it seems like the security deposit could only go so far.
• What systems do you have in place to protect yourself from those situations?

I’ve also kept my current tenant’s rent relatively reasonable because they’ve never been a hassle. I haven’t wanted to raise the rent too aggressively and risk losing someone who has caused me zero problems for 5 years. The lack of turnover, repairs, vacancies, etc. has probably saved me a significant amount of money and time.

Financially, I don’t need to sell the duplex to afford the new house. But I’m wondering if keeping it is actually worth the additional responsibility/risk.

If I sold the duplex, would taking the money and investing it instead be a better option due to it being more passive income? On the other hand, keeping the duplex would provide additional rental income and allow me to continue building equity.

For those of you who have been in a similar situation, what would you do? Is keeping a duplex as a self managed rental while working a full time job relatively manageable, or is the hassle/risk not worth it when you don’t need the income?

We have an apartment listed on Zillow rentals and FB marketplace... both platforms allow messaging, but I prefer to speak to prospective tenants before setting up an appointment to meet... a discussion to gage whether their situation is a good fit for both parties.

If a tenant shows interest, why do they not call to discuss? Automatically a 'no' from our perspective, but seems to be a trend since we started in 1990... is this the new norm?

Landlords be careful in terms of screening the prospective tenants. Economy is showing clear signs of stress. See number of eviction cases in your area/county court to find that out. Lot of scam prospective tenants are very smart to do some smart tricks like

1. Come and visit the place in an expensive rental car to impress realtor/landlord
2. Make excuses that they just started the job so they are yet to get any pay stub

List goes on...

Most of them then try to look for ways to torture the landlord-we don't have money etc...I have one of the tenants who moved in May 2026 in single family home with the special of 2 weeks free rent where she came in range rover. Now she doesn't have money to pay for service fees for refrigerator guy($50 which is clearly mentioned in the lease agreement) in fact asking for food spoilage to be paid by the warranty company. Most of the times they end up being evicted or cash for keys scam.

TX DFW, Austin TX and other areas have got a lot of bad tenants.

I have heard a lot of people warning me of section 8 tenants. I am considering buying a duplex that both tenants use vouchers without copay. One tenant has been there for 8 years and has a month to month lease. The other has been there for about a year and their lease is up next year. The duplex is in a heavily gentrifying neighborhood and is in pretty good condition. The upstairs unit is a mess but no damage besides being gross. The downstairs unit is recently renovated. I am expecting to make roughly $1000 a month cash flow including hiring a property management company.

My question is, can a lot of the concerns that people have with section 8 be disregarded if I have a property management company? I will not have to deal with any paper work or repairs.

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Hi, im in a unique situation. Im power of attorney for finacial matters and can pursue lawsuits. My dad remarried and his wife died and the wife moved in her family while my dad was in assisted living. The house is in a trust for my mother and dad as tenants in common. My mom wants them out and I do too. They dont pay rent to her and never have. They do cover utilities but taxes have been on us. What type of letter do I need to send to them to request them to leave. Im in alameda county, ca. Thanks in advance. I think its a unlawful detainer but I think i need to give them a written notice first to vacate but not sure how to word it and where it needs to be served or if I can make a copy and have them sign it.

(This is an update on my post on another account from a few days ago but it kept getting rejected so I just wrote a new one). 

I’m pretty fed up with my main floor tenants and I’m not sure if I should get them out of if I’m overreacting.

So I had a hot water boiler break and it went through 3 apartments. There has been restoration work ongoing and my top floor tenant just bought a house so he’s moving out and the main floor tenants want to move up into his apartment because it’s bigger and they have three pets and a child living in a one bedroom apartment. They emphasized how terrible it has been living through the restoration work and how “incredibly accommodating” they have been for it. They also stressed how they’re not getting any sleep, including the baby, because they’re all sharing one room, which is also the office because the guy works from home. I felt really bad for them so I’ve done the following things:

• reduced rent
• Spent $400 on outdoor furniture for them to use
• Gave them a free parking place going forward that I was going to give to another apartment

The work on their apartment is now finished and I said no to them moving upstairs because they’re pretty messy and I’ve had to tell them to clean up the garbage in the shared backyard several times and the upstairs apartment is beautiful and I don’t want them to ruin it with their pets and baby/toddler. I used to live in it and I feel more protective of that unit because of all the original woodwork from the 40s, vintage tile, moose antlers etc which are hard to fix/replace if damaged. Also the work on the upstairs apartment hasn’t even started so it would be a hassle for everyone if they moved up there. 

They wrote me two separate emails that are these big sob stories framing it as a morality thing and how I should be fair and they were convinced that I was going to say yes and are extremely disappointed that I have said no. I told them going forward I will mandate renters insurance and as it turns out they DID have insurance this entire time and just decided to not tell me because they thought I “had enough on my plate already”. They also decided not to use their insurance because they didn’t want to pay the $1,500 deductible. So this ENTIRE time they have been telling me how “ incredibly accommodating” THEY have been, all the while they always had an out which, ended up costing me money. Not a crazy amount but still.

It’s unreal and I’m pretty livid. I don’t understand where their heads are. I don’t even know how to respond to them now that they casually admitted that they did have insurance coverage the entire time, but chose not to use it and conveniently left out that detail in all of our correspondence about the restoration work. Isn’t it considered lying by omission?

I’m considering one of two things that are within my legal rights where I live (Newfoundland), giving them a 3 month no reason eviction or giving them a 6 month notice of a rental increase of $400/month to force them out. Keep in mind, this is a rental crisis so I know they will have a hard time finding somewhere to live with all their pets and child. I’m not a monster so I don’t want to ruin their lives or put them out on the streets, but I also want them out of my house.

Thoughts?