Sometimes the money just isn’t worth it. My Dad had rental units and it seemed like bad things always happened at one of the properties late at night or on a holiday. Dad missed my high school graduation because of a flood in one of the apartments. I got over it, but at the time it seemed like a big deal.
We rented our vacation place for a month a few years ago and used a realtor (friend of a friend) who said she would vet the renters so we wouldn’t get wedding parties or other rowdy groups. She persuaded us to allow pets with an extra damage deposit. A group of families rented both our main house and the guest house. We had our cleaning crew go in and clean two times during the time the renters were there. When the renters left, the realtor called and said everything was fine—very messy but no issues. The cleaning crew was scheduled to came the next morning. In the interim, a friend of ours called and asked if his nephew and new wife (they were on their honeymoon) could stay at our place for a night–we’re on an island and ferries were canceled for the day and they couldn’t find another place to stay.
When they went to the house they found dog feces in the dining room as well as in two upstairs bed rooms. Apparently, the renters lied and had two dogs (this was a report from the cleaning crew after the fact). The newly weds took pictures and sent them to us right away. They also cleaned up the messes. That event soured us on renting and ruined our relationship with the realtor. Life is too short and we just don’t want to deal with messes like this.