Episode 206: Jennifer Salisbury on Property Management Law Solutions Podcast
Summary
If you’ve ever worried about calling up a lawyer, where your rentals are located, only to not get help and get a big bill - well, you can reduce that chance by doing your homework in advance. Tim Baldwin, Florida Real Estate Attorney, was a guest on My Life As a Landlord in Episode 183. Today, he’s back impacting the landlording world by interviewing me on his podcast called “Property Management Law Solutions”. In this show, we discuss common pitfalls new landlords have, when to know if you should even be a landlord at all, and what to look for in hiring a property manager. Join me and Tim on today’s practical landlording show, and learn a nugget or two!
Listen to the full episode :
This Week’s Blog Post:
In this episode, I joined attorney Tim Baldwin on the Property Management Law Solutions podcast, and we talked about what it really means to be a landlord and why so many people struggle when things go sideways. I shared how my life as a landlord spans both sides of the border, how our business is fully mobile, and how the podcast My Life as a Landlord focuses on awkward conversations, best practices, and helping people realize that landlords may not actually be for everyone.
Identifying as a Landlord
One of the biggest hurdles I see is whether people actually identify as a landlord, even if they only own one single-family home. A rental is a business, and the IRS, the CRA, or any tax authority will see it that way. Many new landlords don’t take it seriously, especially if they still have a 9 to 5 job, and they treat it casually by putting in whoever has a pulse. I explained that landlords need to treat rentals like a business, recognize whether they have the skill set to self manage, and understand that if they don’t, hiring a property manager is not a failure.
The Biggest Mistakes Landlords Make
I talked about the biggest mistakes I see landlords make, and the first one is not screening tenants, especially when they panic over a vacancy and a mortgage payment. Taking whoever comes in the door with money only makes things ten times worse. The second major mistake is not knowing the rules of the game, meaning tenancy laws in their city, county, or state. Trying to be a landlord without knowing the rules is like trying to play soccer without knowing how to score or what the penalties are, and the laws change constantly, so landlords have to stay current.
Staying Engaged and Maintaining Control
I explained how we stay on top of our properties by being highly engaged and treating people the way we want to be treated. We triage calls into emergency, urgent, and convenience, respond quickly, and take things like water issues very seriously. We keep realistic budgets, pad them with time and money, and plan for replacements like appliances instead of patching old problems. Good quality control comes from engagement, documentation, and being realistic about both time and money.
Running Landlording Like a Business
I wrapped up by talking about documentation, record keeping, and why excuses like handshake deals, friends and family rentals, or being out of state create long-term problems. How you do anything is how you do everything. Whether it’s choosing tenants, property managers, or professionals, landlords need systems, written records, solid leases, and consistency. My Life as a Landlord exists to speak in facts, share real experiences, and help landlords understand that this is a business, governed by law, and success comes from treating it that way every single day.