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3 expensive mistakes I learned the hard way after buying and renting out a 12-unit apartment complex
Ryan Lais says he learned to ask tenants about issues up front after spending $35,000 to fix a parking lot full with potholes.
By Ryan Lais
In October of 2018, my in-laws, wife, and I purchased a 12-unit apartment complex in Madelia, Minnesota. I had a tremendous amount of anxiety about the $100,000 down payment and the $300,000 we borrowed to invest in the purchase.
Besides the money, I also worried about getting phone calls at all hours of the night with tenant issues and maintenance requests.
But over the first year, the phone didn’t ring. Texts trickled in, but in an underwhelming fashion. In all of our brilliance had we purchased a maintenance free building? Not so much. Here are three costly mistakes I learned the hard way.
1. Invite your renters to “complain” from the very beginning — it’ll save you money
As leases ended and people moved out we did walk-thrus and suddenly heard about leaky pipes, broken bathroom vents…
