Recently I put a nice duplex on the market in San Rafael at 233 Glen Park Ave. It’s pretty much ready to rent or live in and the owners have done a lot of work to it. In 2019 when the downstairs was vacant the owners remodeled the unit with a new kitchen, bathrooms, and flooring. At the same time they took the opportunity to put on a new roof and siding. Since then, they added mini split heating and cooling systems in both units. All the major stuff is done.
The question becomes, why are they selling? The husband is over 70 years old and they’ve owned the duplex for 18 years. It’s been a good investment for them, as it will be for the next owner. But in time, not now, it will need maintenance as all properties do. My sellers are ready to just enjoy retirement. The upstairs tenant was in the property for the past 10 years, it’s now vacant and so if they are going to try selling now is the best time. It’s so much easier to sell a place when one unit is vacant, and it’s even better when both are. The downstairs tenants aren’t going anywhere though, so we’ll be showing that unit by appointment only after potential buyers look upstairs.
I also recently signed a listing to sell a condo at 91 Forest Lane in San Rafael which is coming on the market late next week. The tenant moved out, so once again it’s the right time to sell. My sellers are both over 80 years old, and it’s really not the right time in life to have the responsibility of being a landlord. It’s the golden years, time to relax and enjoy the time you have left. These aren’t the only elderly people I know who are selling.
I volunteer as a technology tutor at Vivalon, a healthy place for aging in San Rafael. One of my clients there who is over 80 years old has a house in Tahoe that she rents out. To put it mildly she is not satisfied with her property manager. This week while in session she showed me an email from the Tahoe water district that said her property had an ongoing leak. I called and emailed her property manager who said they had a plumber fix that leak already, but apparently not. The Realtor was going to get her plumber out there ASAP.
Sunday morning came around and I had an email from my Vivalon client’s son asking about my interaction with the property manager and asking for suggestions on how to approach the situation with her. I was shocked because this was a full 4 days after I had called the property manager. Shouldn’t everything have been resolved by now and my property owner updated on the resolution? In the immortal words of Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon franchise, “I’m getting too old for this.”
When you own a property you need to take care of it, or have someone responsible taking care of it for you. As you age, basic maintenance becomes more challenging and in many cases unadvisable. Up until last year when I had my roof replaced I was still cleaning my gutters every fall. I had gutter guards installed so I didn’t need to do that ever again. If not for the gutter guards would it have been time for me to hire someone to clean the gutters? That would have been the safe way to go for sure because I’m almost getting too old for it too.
I wouldn’t advise someone in their 70’s or 80’s own rental properties unless they truly enjoyed it AND have dependable property management. At some point it’s time to pass the torch to a younger generation. For more and more people I am coming across these days, that time is now.