I’ll be honest… I’d be pretty worried about trying to evict a violent felon. Other posts indicate it is common to evict violent felons in the process of cleaning a community up. I understand that an attorney should handle this process, but if you live close enough to the park, I would be worried about an angry felon seeking reprisal. I know that 99% are decent people, but that 1% can make your life miserable. Is this a concern for anybody?
Actually the percentage of descent people in the general population is closer to 90% and in our type of community often lower.
Dealing with these people is part of life. Regardless of the type of business you operate you will likely cross paths with this type of individual. Obviously evicting is different than simply refusing to do business with a criminal however you have to realise evictions are a major part of being a landlord and any individual you evict may seek reprisal not just the felons.
Is it a concern that someone you evict could cause you trouble …yes… but it’s just part of being a landlord.
Personally I believe it is a lot more dangerous in the US than Canada, where I am, but it is still a risky business.
Cleaning up a park requires that you put out the trash and in doing so you have to expect to get your hands dirty.
I have been evicting people for 20 years and I have never had somebody come by my house and bother me in any way. But you have to use common sense: 1) your park should be owned in an entity and not your personal name 2) you should never identify yourself to the manager or tenants as the owner 3) you should never interact personally with your tenants either verbally or in person 4) you should file any eviction that concerns you with an attorney and let them handle it.
Your advice says a lot about how dangerous it is being a landlord.
Unfortunately starting out it is much more difficult keeping your identity secret from your clients especially today when everyone plasters their personal life all over the internet. Have you ever done a google search on your own name Frank.
Fortunately the more successful you get the easier it is to distance yourself from direct contact with your clients. Sounds weird, like being a landlord is part of some underground organisation.
I have had ex tenants come by my home, I have been threatened, regularly, and assaulted. I have had to deal with drug dealers, psychopaths, sociopaths and schizophrenics. Unfortunately when starting out I did not have the money to insulate myself from my tenants and had to be in the trenches to make it work. Most landlords start that way but in time, with success, it is possible to escape.
I guess that’s part of the reason why the return is high.
True, risk and reward but really how many landlords do you hear of getting killed doing their job. Assaulted maybe but now a days with society as violent as it has become that can happen in a job.
This is great advice. I am in the process of finding my first park. I will follow those four points! Thanks Frank!
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I honestly do not know of a single park owner who has ever been assaulted by a tenant, and I talk to literally thousands of park owners on a regular basis. I know of an owner who was accused (and later dismissed by the court) of assaulting a tenant, but zero cases in the other direction. That being said, some owners may not volunteer such information, but I’d probably hear of it if it was a common occurrence. Considering the fact that my first park was in the worst part of Dallas, and I officed in the park for a year, I’m pretty confident that the risk is not worth worrying about. I got a concealed handgun license when I officed in that first park, but quickly realized that it was not necessary and discontinued it – and I’m a zero risk taker when it comes to personal safety.
Frank, how should one identify oneself to the manager and tenants? I assume there are no standard answers since you didn’t mention in your posting. But maybe you can list a few options that you have been taking when you deal with your park managers or tenants.
thanks in advance
Chris
From the day you first hit the park or meet your prospective manager, you simply work for the management company that is in charge of managing the park. You can also skip using your last name, and simply be “Frank (of whatever your first name is) from the management company”. which makes you impossible to find on-line. Another important item that many park owners screw up is to get a dedicated cell phone only for park calls, to never call your manager or tenants using any other phone, and to buy this phone service under the name of your management company and at an address which is a P.O. Box. That will insure that nobody can find you through reverse look-up online, and you can also then turn the phone off at night when you go to bed, so that you don’t get crazy calls from tenants in the middle of the night. How would the tenants get your phone number to begin with? Caller ID if you ever accidentally call one, or when you fire the manager they will give everyone your number to screw you over. If you don’t have a dedicated cell phone for park use only, you may end up having to change your personal cell phone number at some point when too many tenants have your number, and that’s a real pain. You must also NEVER call from your home or office, as they then have that number in caller ID and you have blown it.
I guess the weak link is the previous owner if you’re not using a broker, who may look at you funny if you refuse to give a last name, especially if you’re trying to establish trust.
I have never had a need to incorporate, but I believe utilizing an attorney as the registered agent would also provide additional privacy since the listed address would be the attorney’s.
I searched my name and state I live on the website Spokeo, which listed the street I live on, and an arrow pointing to my exact home on a map. And this was for free. Kind of scary if you’re trying to evict a member of the Hells Angels.
With buying the nicer properties in upscale areas we do not have evictions and one little guidelines is if we as owners would not be comfortable with our family in the park we will not buy. Some investors think that buying a slummy park is great if they can make money but generally trying to upgrade a property is very time consuming and can be costly plus management has to be on guard on the time. My residents know my phone number, where we live etc. and have a great mutual relationship and friendship–we are owner operators and would not like it any other way. We have own numerous parks at one time and found that not satisfying especially vising the parks once a month for instance and the main concern has everyone paid they rent or how much we can raise their rent. One can be very well fixed owning one or two great properties and ENJOYING the paying residents.
Probably one of the best insulators is having a good manager or management company handling all tenant issues. Assuming they can be trusted to keep your identity secret they will be the face of the landlord and will be front line facing any hostile tenant situations rather than the park owner. A good rental property management company is experienced in dealing with potentially hostile situations and has the expertise to deal with all tenant issues. That after all is their business.