Monday 19 January 2015

Seven Things to Consider When You're Going to be a Landlord

Once you invest your money in a property, you are the owner and whether you hire a property manager or not, your are now a landlord. Here I'd like to share some property management tips for owners who will be managing their property directly.

Invest some more money:

 Give that property an attractive look which can impress any potential tenants.  Think about how you would like a similar property type to look if you were to live there.  I'm assuming that you'd make a great tenant so to attract a great tenant you have to present them with a place that they'd like to live.  The amount of rent you can collect depends on how attractive the property is.

Make sure to market it:

  As soon as the property is vacated, you should clean the premises and post the requirement for new tenant. Online classifieds like kijiji are a great place to start and should provide plenty of leads.  Since you've already made the property presentable, take plenty of pictures to pique potential tenants' interest.  A lawn sign is also a great way to reach potential clients as they may be staking out a neighbourhood that they like looking for vacancies.  As always, some of the best advertising is word of mouth.

Make it fully functional:

  If you handover an ill maintained property to the new tenant, then every day you have to face their complaints against the property and frustrations will build. So it is better if you manage the property in advance in order to avoid building any animosity. When you want top dollar, it is your responsibility to maintain the structure, clean the area, repair any leaks and maintain the HVAC system. It should be the owner’s headache to groom the property and make it work for the tenants.  Do not promise any specific date move-in date until the property is ready.

Only rent to good tenants:

It is easy to get a tenant, but can be difficult to get a good one if you don't have a proper process in place. Make sure to have a rental agreement in place, as well as rules and regulations and an application with references for screening. Verify the references before making any decision.  Also, don't neglect to do an initial walk through with the tenant, taking pictures of the premises for your records.  Always take a deposit as allowed by law and if the tenant will be responsible for the utilities, don't hand over any keys without proof that the utilities have been put into their name.

Maintain the property:

  After you've acquired tenants, you must take all complaints seriously and at least investigate them in a timely manner; ideally within 24hrs.  Make any repairs at the earliest stage possible.  Look at the tenants as being your clients, it is necessary to provide them with a good customer service experience. They are paying for the product they are using after all. Having good lighting around the property will help to make the tenants feel safer at night.  For any emergency needs, the owner should assist them with the emergency services or provide them the help line number for any such service.

Know the law:

Learn about any laws concerning landlord and tenant issues in your jurisdiction.  It's a good idea to peruse any relevant legislation or to at least visit the website of any landlord and tenant governing body for any helpful information.  If any problems arise, don't wait for them to become more significant; first see if you can resolve the issue directly with the tenant ASAP.  If working it out isn't possible, immediately consult a paralegal for an opinion; in my experience you can get some pretty good free advice, but it's still best to hire one to work for you on your first incident so that you can learn the ropes.

Keep it profitable:

  If you're running a tight ship, your tenants will appreciate your attentiveness because they'll enjoy living at your property and consider it to be their home.  With this in mind, you have to keep making a good profit to continue to provide good services so make sure that you know the local rent increase guidelines and follow them.  Expenses get higher every year so make sure that you keep your rents in line as best as you can.

Although managing your property yourself will save you some money, if you don't keep it well maintained you can run into a number of unpleasant surprises, so always focus on maintenance.  Also, when going away on vacation, be sure that there is an additional emergency contact that you can trust to handle any issues that arise and require immediate attention.  Of course, proper maintenance will reduce the chances of any such emergencies arising.

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