Managing a rental property?

Question

Where can I find information that tells me step by step how to rent my property? Like what paperwork I need from the tenant, how to do credit/background checks, etc?

Answer 1

You can check out www.Landlord.com. It is a site with a lot of information for land lords.
Here are some tips on being a landlord:
1. If you rent property, manage it as if it were a business. Set a rent that's fair for your market, not one that's based on your mortgage payment.
2. Require prospective tenants to fill out an application, and ask them to supply a copy of their credit report.
3. Make the security deposit a little higher or lower, but not the same as, a month's rent.
4. For landlords with just one or two properties, include a repair clause that makes the tenant responsible for the first $50 cost of any repair. To do this, you may have to charge a little less in rent.
5. Provide a $25 or $50 discount for early rent payment.
6. Do a move-in inspection and move-out inspection of the property to protect yourself in case you have to keep part or all of the security deposit to cover damage.
7. If your tenants do not pay the rent, be prepared to evict them.
8. If you're relocating far away from your property, ask a friend or relative to handle the rental, in return for some compensation, or consider professional management.

Answer 2

You can do it yourself or you can hire a management company - they will take care of all the details for a fee. In most states an individual cannot do credit and background checks -this has been a problem for many landlords- in most towns there are companies that will do that for you for a fee of course. It might be a real estate office you can ask at the Board of Realtors. You need to advertise the place, print out a application with all the information you need (look under real estate forms online) - you want to look for someone with an income equal to three times the rent so if rent is $500 they need to make $1500 to maintain that place. If you cannot check thier credit you can ask for and check out references- old landlords may have a credit report (person will need to ok them giving the information to you). Your best source of information is from a ex-landlord. They will tell you if the person paid on time, kept the place up, left early, was evicted or anything else you may need to know( suspected drug use, immigration status etc). When you find someone go over the lease completely and then sign (both of you) and give the person the keys - most landlords ask for first months rent and deposit (can be two months). This money must be put in a separate bank account so as to keep the deposit money separated and secure.(i mean the deposit money not the first months rent).

Answer 3

Check to see if there is any Property Owners Association in your state. When I started with my apartment buildings I joined the New Jersey property Owners Association and went to the monthly meetings and picked up all sorts of valuable information, such as rental agreements, maintenance tips, screening tenants, laws and rules governing income property, tax tips, etc. This is a real good place to start. You can also get to know some real estate agencies that specialize in selling income property. They have a lot of good, practical knowledge there. Talk to people who have done it and know.

The LAST place I looked was in books. Many of these are just too theoretical and written by people with only a second-hand knowledge or with information not pertinent to your area. The best source of info is with local owners who have a hands-on experience in dealing in such matters.

While you can hire a property manager, you most likely will never get the aggressive results you might want. Their interest in the property is not the same as yours. I managed all aspects of my own properties, never had a vacancy, and ended up with rents four times higher that almost identical units right next door. A lackadaisical, disinterest property manager can not give you results like that, and I had to learn by doing.

You will have problems, but you can work around them. Right after I bought my first building there was a huge run-up in oil prices, and I discovered that insurance on the building would be double what I expected. I saw myself losing everything in six months. I complained to the broker who sold me the building and he said that all I had was a "temporary monetary situation". Even with rent control, I adopted the idea that if tenants stayed too long my rents were too low, and I raised rents several times a year. I even raised rent right after people moved in. i got to know the Jersey City rent leveling officer quite well, and more often than not he took my side in tenant disputes. Six years after I bought that building I sold it for five times what i paid for it, right after my accountant said I had a tax problem because I was making too much money. So it was a temporary monetary situation after all.

Answer 4

Best thing I did was go to the bookstore. You can find a lot of stuff online but if you have a book it will be easier to find what you are looking for since it should be organized into different categories. My suggestion is to check out some different books and see which one you like best. The library may have some landlord books to borrow also.

Answer 5

Personally I'd suggest that you hire a property manager. The first time a furnace or water heater takes a dirt nap on Christmas Eve, you'll be VERY glad that you did!

Answer 6

the best way is to have a rental agreement that suits your property.if you don't know what to put in it go to a rental place they will let you have one and you can pick what you want in yours. or you have pay a attorney to draw one up. lots of company's do the background for you. bb will do it for 20 dollars so will equifax. i make the people who want to rent the house pay for this.

Answer 7

There are a number of books about this. I do think that the ..........for Dummies series has one on rental property. It will walk you through the process.

Answer 8

I highly recommend "The Landlord's Law Book" -- it has everything you need. You can get it online or at the library.

You can view various landlording titles here:
http://search.nolo.com/query.html?st=21&charset=iso-8859-1&col=b2store&qt=landlord