Do you Feel Emotionally Attached as a Landlord?

Being a landlord is challenging enough between maintaining a property you’re not living in to dealing with difficult tenants. When you’re the type of landlord that is emotionally attached to your property, things can be even more challenging. Your job is to run a real estate investment of your property and not to look at the property as anything more than a business.

It’s not meant to be something you become attached to or look at as your home or family’s home. It’s meant to be a business and something that you make decisions based on that alone. If you think you may be an emotionally attached landlord, you be aware of the facts below.

Defining Emotionally Attached Landlords

When you look at a property as a place that contains your personal memories rather than a place with siding and shingles, you are too emotionally invested in the property.

If you are consumed with the memories of eating in that kitchen as a child, sliding down the staircase or the marks in the wall are your measurements growing up as a child, you are going to struggle to keep the property functioning as a business-owner would. You’ll feel pain handing over the keys and you’ll struggle to not have access to it anymore. It’s crucial to put your tenants’ needs above yours or the property’s needs.

What can Happen?

If you become an emotionally attached landlord, you will constantly worry about whether or not your tenant is caring for your property, you may impose too many rules that tenants will never agree to rent and you may even refer to the property as your home rather than your property.

You may avoid repairs and cosmetic upgrades to avoid changing your memories of the house and you’ll feel insulted when a tenant complains about something with the property.

As a landlord, you’ll risk losing business if you can’t let go of your attachment to properties. Be sure to refer to it as a “rental” or “property” rather than a home, learn about local tenants’ laws in order to ensure you’re following them, use common sense when it comes to business decisions with the property and consider hiring a property management company that can help you follow the law and make good business decisions.