[throwaway173738]

Mostly the issue with being a small landlord lies in how the landlord-tenant laws are written to treat you like a large corporate landlord. You have the same legal obligation to go through very lengthy eviction processes and to be very verbose about criteria but you can’t amortize the risk of a bad tenant over even tens of units like a corporation can. If you get one bad tenant they can cost you more than you get from them in rent, and they can destroy the rental house before you get to the eviction hearing.

I’ve had more than one conversation with my wife about just keeping the house empty instead while we’re gone, but I still think I have a moral obligation to rent to someone if I can.

[hd95489]

I think short term rental lowers that risk by having more renters but none under contract. Air b&b is a terrible thing but also the local maximum for individuals