Life – a user's manual Part II - Boksidan

Mine and other property owners experience is that it is requires a fairly modest effort to manage small
apartment block and that it very well can be combined with other work.
To maintain the buildings in good condition and keep costs down for this it is necessary to have knowledge
of what steps need to be done and how they should be prioritized in relation to each other. To keep track of
this, systematic walk-through’s are the property owner's responsibility (see the chapter Building
management at a small scale). Furthermore, it is advantageous to be fairly handy. The financial management
is much simpler and consists mainly of a few different elements, which soon will become routine.
The biggest problem with owning real estate is none of the above. Instead, it’s the disputes that sooner or
later occur with any of the tenants because of interference, unpaid rents or damage.
However, there are also some marginal benefits of owning apartment buildings in addition to the income
and/or appreciation that they will hopefully generate:
+ The feeling of owning something lasting (i.e. land).
+ New acquaintances as tenants and artisans.
+ If necessary, perhaps a home of their own.
Cons:
- Hard to handle conflict with problematic tenants.
- The houses must be constantly managed.
- There is always a risk that something serious occurs that requires urgent and costly measures.
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