Rental War Stories – Part 1: Bee Ware

Rental War Stories – Part 1:  Bee Ware.  Loretto Properties founder Lamar Hunt Jr. has seen all kinds of problems when buying homes and talking to other landlords.  Here’s one story.  A landlord had a decent rental unit that abutted a large field used for agricultural purposes.  For whatever reason, the landlord did not inspect the property much because the tenant paid on time.  One day, the rent stopped coming in.  The landlord let it slide for a few months hoping the tenant would get caught up.  He didn’t.  Finally, the landlord dragged his carcass out to the property to discover it was vacant.  As he walked around the property, he drew close attention to a tree growing into the back side of the house.  The trunk was just touching the soffit. When he got nearer to the tree, he heard a buzzing sound.  As he looked carefully, he saw a large bee hive in the soffit.  It looked massive.  Along the soffit were joints every four feet.  Little bits of honey dripped through the first joint.  He followed the soffit and saw that honey dripped through at least three more joints.  This was an incredibly large hive.  Rather than deal with the bees, he sold this property cheap to another real estate investor.  That investor called a beekeeper that was looking to add more bee hives.  The beekeeper charged $250 to remove the bees and the real estate investor then made repairs to the soffit.  He also took down the tree.  In less than a week, the property was ready for rental.  At the low price he had purchased it, he cashflowed that property nicely.  The lesson is:  inspect your property often.  For more real estate tips on rental real estate property or other subjects, see our blog stories often.  You can also call us at 913-236-2902 if you have a property to sell.