“Help! My Last Tenant Trashed My Omaha House”
If you own a rental property but had a tenant trash it when they leave then make sure you read this article because we’re addressing the all-too-common problem that landlords have when they say, “Help! My last tenant trashed my Omaha house!”
Do you own a rental property? Did you have a tenant leave it in less-than-perfect condition? It happens! In fact, it’s an experience that probably every landlord has faced at least once. If you looked at your empty rental property and said, “Help! My tenant trashed my Omaha house” and you have decided you want to sell your rental house fast as is in the Omaha area then here are some things you can do about it…
Is it worth going after the tenant?
You need to first assess the damage and decide if it’s worth going after the tenant. Unfortunately, it often isn’t worth the hassle because it may be a time consuming and expensive effort to get the tenant to pay you back. Many times just locating the location of the tenant can be a time consuming and costly challenge. Once you locate them and go through the legal system and win a judgment, you find out the old tenant is unable to pay you what you are awarded by the court. However, if the damage is significant enough, you may choose to do this.
Is it worth repairing the damage?
From holes in the walls to missing toilets – we’ve heard of just about everything you can imagine! Sometimes a bit of drywall and paint will fix the problem, in which case you may want to fix it up and rent it out again, and then just accept the inconvenience as the cost of doing business. However, if the damage is not worth repairing yourself then you might be interested in a couple of other options:
You could rent your house to a handyman
One little-known option that is actually really helpful is to find a handyman who wants to rent the house. In exchange for a discount on rent (or even free rent), while they are making the repairs. This is a great way you can fix up the house to make it a nice rental property again. Make sure you have a specific timeline and scope of repairs all spelled out, though, to avoid them staying too long without a lot of work getting done. This will also prevent any misunderstandings and uncomfortable situations between you and the handyman.
You could sell the house
Another option is to sell the house and move on from owning a frustrating rental property. However, be aware that if you try to sell the house on the open market, you may have to fix it up first in order for the agent to list it. Another option is to sell privately to a house-buying team like ours. (We buy houses in as-is condition and we’ll fix them up ourselves). You can save thousands of dollar by selling to a local home buyer like Harter Investments. You will not have to pay a real estate commission, closing costs or the expense all the repairs to get the house ready to sell. Also by selling fast, in as little as 7 days, you will not have the holding costs associated with the possibility of the house sitting on the market for multiple months and you’re still paying the taxes, insurance, utilities, daily maintenance and mortgage payments if you still owe money on the property.
