You have your first investment property and are ready to put up a listing for rent. Congratulations! So, where do you begin? While being a landlord might seem straightforward, there are many factors to consider. If you want to forego property managers, here are a few tips to make you Landlord Of The Year.
1) Your Rental Isn’t Just A Side Hustle
This can’t be understated: your rental is your business. You may have initially bought a rental property for some extra cash on the side, but your rental is someone else’s home. It’s important to put systems in place so that the tenant is not always calling you when there are small issues. you’re not at a tenant’s beck and call every time something goes wrong. Landlording can be a demanding job, day and night. You may need to consider how to tackle maintenance requests especially when you’re out of town.
2) Screen, Screen, Screen
Property managers and landlords both fear the possibility of ending up with a bad tenant. No one wants to chase people around for rent and the last thing anyone wants is to evict someone. This is why the screening process is important. There’s a reason why property managers and landlords run background checks and call previous landlords for a reference. This keeps the property safe and saves you a major headache, energy and money. 3) Once You’ve Screened, Keep Them Happy
Tenant screening is time-intensive, costs money, and is, frankly, not fun. Once you’ve found good tenants, it’s in your best interest to keep them happy. Why? Because retaining tenants is a lot easier than finding new ones. Treat them with respect, take their concerns seriously and get repairs done in a timely manner. You don’t have to be best friends with your tenants. In fact, it’s likely you won’t like some of them. But you do have to respect them because, at the end of the day, business is business. Your personal feelings shouldn’t come into play. 4) Set Your Business Hours
If you don’t want texts at 9 pm, set some firm business hours. This doesn’t include emergencies, which you should be available for (that means providing an emergency number). For any other reason, though, they should know your business hours and stick to them. 5) Don’t Manage Your Own Property
This is for all you owners out there. It’s not likely you’ll see this point too often but being one removed from the property makes things easier. Landlords have to make hard decisions all the time and need to take the appropriate time to make the right one. It’s a lot easier to minimize confrontations and awkward conversations when you can use the owner as a scapegoat while also buying yourself time.
If you’re ready to hand over the responsibility of sifting through tenant applications, interviews, move-in and move-out, it may be time to get in touch with us. We don’t take just anyone, either. We make sure to choose the properties we manage wisely, so it doesn’t jeopardize our service to you. Protect your financial return and choose the experts: McQueen’s Management.
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