Hi, my name is Thomas J. Lucier and I’m a seasoned do-it-yourself Florida residential landlord with over twenty-eight years of hands-on experience under my belt. I'm also the author of books, kits and forms on how to manage residential rental property in Florida. And welcome to my newly redesigned Web site, Florida Landlord--The One-Stop Cybersource for Florida’s Do-It-Yourself Landlords--who don’t have a small army of employees, at their beck and call. So if you’re a landlord or landlady in Florida, who’s looking for reliable information, step-by-step instructions and no-nonsense advice on how to manage your residential rental housing business for maximum profit with minimum problems, you’ve come to the right place!

And unlike those other copycat Florida landlord Web sites where everything is kept under lock and key and only available to people who bought pricey memberships, all of the up-to-date information and practical advice, that’s available on Florida Landlord, is free to the public! That’s right, with just a few clicks on your computer’s mouse, you can immediately access a cornucopia of need-to-know information, and a treasure trove of sage advice, from a longtime Florida landlord. No other landlord Web site, on the World Wide Web, offers its visitors, this kind of useful information, absolutely free of charge!

The Florida Landlord’s Blog, is where I dispense timely, topical and relevant information every month, along with my patented no-bullspit advice, to Florida's do-it-yourself residential landlords. You’ll get my insights, observations, opinions, and advice, on everything that’s going on, which has an impact on the rental housing business, in Florida. Believe me; this is the kind of stuff, that you’re not going to read about, in the so-called mainstream media, and you sure as hell won’t learn about it, at landlord school! Just so you know; I’m politically incorrect. I don’t kowtow to special interest groups, and I don’t suck up to people to curry favors. And I’ll never be mistaken, for the type of guy, who does Pilates, uses moisturizers and drinks pink cocktails. I’m not one to mince words. As I see it, my obligation, as both a Webmaster and author, is to tell it to my readers, as it really is, while avoiding the politically correct gobbledygook that permeates every aspect of American society. For the record, I stand behind everything I write!

Brain Food For Thought

Life is not a journey to the grave, with the intention of arriving safely, in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, wow, what a ride! (Author Unknown)

Advice for Homeowners Who are About to Become First-Time Landlords

If you’re a homeowner, who, for whatever reason, is soon-to-be a first-time Florida landlord, I’ve got some ready-to-use advice for you. First off, read my book, The Florida Landlord’s Manual, all the way through, two times. Secondly, make regular visits to this Web site, to get the latest scoop on what’s going on in the residential rental housing business in Florida. And whatever you do, don’t overlook the following four factors, in your rush to convert your home to a rental property:
1. Insurance: Your standard homeowners’ insurance policy won’t cover your home, once it’s been converted to a non-owner-occupied rental property. You’ll need to purchase hazard and liability insurance policies that are written to cover rental property.
2. Homeowners’ Association Rules: If your home is located in a so-called deed restricted community, that’s governed by a homeowners’ association, you’ll need to read the association’s rules, to see if there are any restrictions against renting out your home. Many homeowners’ associations have their own lease rider, which landlords are required to give to their tenants. And if the tenants fail to abide by the rules outlined in the lease rider, the homeowners’ association will force the landlord to evict them. Please keep in mind, that hell hath no fury, like a homeowners’ association board of directors, with a real or imagined score to settle against a wayward homeowner!
3. Homestead Exemption on Property Taxes: Once a Florida resident’s homesteaded property has been converted to a rental property, it’s no longer eligible to have up to $50,000 in value, exempted from its property tax assessment. As a landlord, you’ll have to pay property taxes on the full amount of your rental property’s tax assessed value, which will most likely result in a substantial increase in your monthly mortgage payment.
4. Federal Income Tax: As a landlord, depending upon your income and participation, you can deduct all of the expenses that are associated with operating your rental house, and you can also depreciate the property, for tax purposes. However, if you haven’t lived in your soon-to-be rental house, for two of the past five years, you’ll most likely have to pay federal capital gains tax, on any profit you make, when you sell the house.

You Need Knowledge and Management Know-How to be Successful

I need to warn you right upfront, that if you adopt the old “fake it until you make it,” approach to property management, that’s commonly embraced by slacker landlords nowadays, you won't be able to cut it, in the residential rental housing business. As I’ve written for years, the number one cause of landlord failure, in Florida, is good old fashion incompetence. I know this, because over the course of a year, I’ve received over five hundred e-mail messages and telephone calls, from do-it-yourself residential landlords, all over the state of Florida. And I can tell you from firsthand experience; that the root cause of why so many landlords’ can’t turn a profit, can be traced back to a lack of knowledge and management know-how.

It's Time for You to Become an Aggressive, Proactive, Hands-on Manager

Right now, do-it-yourself residential landlords, throughout the state of Florida, are being squeezed from all sides. And in many parts of the state, it’s becoming harder and harder for landlords to turn a decent profit. In overbuilt markets, where there are more rental properties than tenants, many landlords consider themselves lucky, if they’re able to operate their rental housing business on a break-even basis. And if that isn’t bad enough, skyrocketing fuel prices have driven up the cost of everything, which has made it more expensive than ever, to operate a residential rental housing business in Florida! However, knowledgeable landlords, who use an aggressive, proactive, hands-on approach, to manage their residential rental housing business, continue to profit in tough economic times. That’s because they’ve been able to cut costs and increase income by:
1. Adopting a bottom-line mentality.
2. Establishing a bare-bones budget.
3. Keeping close track of monthly income and expenses.

You need to always keep in mind that change, is the one thing that’s constant, in the residential rental housing business, in Florida. And in today’s lackluster economy, the landlords, who can’t, or won’t adapt to change, will end up going the same way as the Dinosaur and fail to survive! As a very wise old sage once said, “ignorance can be overcome by education, but stupidity lasts forever.”

How to Manage Your Tenants with Minimum Problems

Here are three surefire ways, for you to avoid ninety percent of the tenant problems, that plague most uninformed and naïve landlords. First off, thoroughly screen tenant applicants, and only rent to rational, reasonable, intelligent, mature, conscientious, financially responsible, civilized adults, over the age of eighteen. Most of the people, who fit this tenant profile, are considerate, and respect other peoples’ rights and property, and generally don’t require much supervision. Secondly, don’t alienate your tenants, by acting like an arrogant, obnoxious, pompous, unreasonable, heavy-handed, humorless, uptight, little twerp! If you want to be respected and taken seriously by your tenants, you must project a professional image, and act in a fair and even-handed manner. Thirdly, don’t try and win a popularity contest with your tenants, by becoming their best pal, lover, boozing buddy or confidant. Friendships between landlords and tenants are usually tenuous at best, and quickly dissolved by petty disagreements, which result in the landlord losing a “friend,” and gaining a vacancy. If you follow all three pieces of sage advice, that I’m dispensing here, managing your tenants should be relatively easy.

Eight Ways to Reduce Your Risk and Limit Your Personal Liability

Nowadays, thanks mainly to those ubiquitous predatory plaintiffs’ attorneys, who run tacky “legal rights awareness” ads on television, far too many people in Florida, view lawsuits as a way to achieve the so-called American Dream, without ever having to work for it. So I won’t be the least bit surprised, when the day comes, that one of Florida’s notorious ambulance chasing attorneys, starts advertising for longtime sufferers of PTS, “perplexed tenant syndrome,” or some other nonsensical, made-up malady, which targets residential landlords. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but in today’s sue-happy society, landlords need to know how to reduce their risk and limit their personal liability by:
1. Keeping a low profile.
2. Screening the background of everyone who works on their rental property.
3. Requiring their tenants to purchase renters’ insurance.
4. Maintaining a smoke-free policy on their rental property.
5. Requiring that repairmen and contractors and their employees be adequately insured.
6. Forbidding tenants from keeping vicious breeds of dogs on their rental property.
7. Carrying adequate general liability and personal umbrella liability insurance on their property.
8. Holding the title to their rental property in a separate business entity.

Don’t Let Strangers Manage Your Rental Property

I’m an aggressive, proactive, hands-on landlord, whose bottom-line oriented, and focused on cutting operating expenses, eliminating vacancies and increasing income. And as far as I’m concerned, all small residential landlords in Florida, should take the same approach, and manage their own property. This way, they won’t be at the mercy, of so-called property managers, who may, or may not, know what they’re doing. I’m no fan of the residential rental property management industry in Florida. I think that the majority of Florida real estate licensees, who are masquerading as property managers, are grossly incompetent, less than honest and generally do a pretty lousy job, of managing other peoples’ rental property. Plus, when you hire a property manager, to manage your rental property, you’ll be required to sign a property management agreement, which basically forces you to relinquish control over your own property. No hired manager is ever going to look after your rental property like you will. And that’s exactly why, I always advise people, not to buy a small residential rental property, if they don’t plan on managing it themselves.

Ten Rules to Run Your Rental Housing Business By

Lastly, over the years, I’ve had success using the following ten rules, to run my rental housing business by:
Rule #1: Know what you don’t know.
Rule #2: Anticipate situations before they become problems.
Rule #3: Don’t let other people make their problems your problems.
Rule #4: Concentrate on doing what you do best.
Rule #5: Set a goal, make a plan, and work hard.
Rule #6: Accept full responsibility for your own actions.
Rule #7: Understand that agreements are only as good as the people who sign them.
Rule #8: Assume nothing, verify everything, and be prepared for anything.
Rule #9: Learn from your past mistakes and don’t repeat them.
Rule #10: Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it.

Please Note: In order to read certain documents, which are linked to this Web site, you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don’t have it installed on your computer, you can download a free copy, by clicking the icon below.