Renting out is emerging as a new trend among homeowners, especially the move up buyers. For some homeowners keeping the old house and renting it out makes more sense financially. It’s not surprising since rents are up, steadily rising in last three years. If you bought a house at the right time and locked in on a low interest rate, renting out can bring in more money than the interest you pay every month.
To ensure that your rental property stays profitable you need to follow some basic yet important steps.
To attract better residents and maximise your rent value, improve your curb appeal. You can edge your sidewalk, mow the lawn and trim tree branches and bushes. You dont have to spend extravagantly on interior renovations but small things like cleaning up the rooms and carpets, painting the walls, or replacing light bulbs will help you get paid more in rent.When you’re done take some pictures highlighting attractive features of your house and upload them to different realestate websites.
Before renting out your house, make sure it’s well maintained and meets all state and local codes. Hire a house inspector and fix any issues your find to ensure your residents get a safe and smoothly functioning house. Once your residents move in, provide them with a list of phone numbers they can call for various emergency or maintenance situations.
Review your insurance policy, instead of homeowners insurance you’ll need landlords insurance which covers liabilities, the property and house and also reimburses lost rental income in case your house becomes uninhabitable due to a covered loss. Landlords insurance doesn’t cover resident’s belongings so its recommended your rental agreement requires resident to cover their belongings with a renters insurance.
Follow a strict screening process, don’t approve a resident no matter how good a judge of character you consider yourself. Verify employment status and request a credit and background check to assure timely payments. In case of violations of lease agreements or issues with rent payment evict the residents as per the contract terms.
Your duties as a landlord can be overwhelming, if you feel that you’re not up for the job consider hiring professional property managers. We at Real Property Management can help you with the tasks mentioned above and much more.
Be sure to check out our video highlighting what we can do for you.
