subject: Rental Landlord? You Can Be Successful In 6 Easy Steps [print this page] If you are a rental landlord I'm sure you have heard that old adage "if you want to make a small fortune, start with a big one then invest in real estate". Well maybe not exactly that but close enough, real estate property investment can be a very lucrative business if you know how to manage it effectively.
Many successful rental landlords systematically invest in property, I expect if you are a newcomer to property investment you are wondering how the successful rental landlords find tenants for their rental properties who pay their rent on time, everytime and care for their properties.
Successful rental landlords have developed and follow proven processes to get the best return on their investments.
Most successful rental landlords learned the hard way from years of experience and from their mistakes that they no doubt made in the early stages of their business.
Just one bad tenant can send you into the financial spiral of doom, particularly if you are still learning the ropes of investing in real estate. Typical problem tenants can often be late with the rent payment, or they only pay part of the rent or perhaps don't pay at all, it can be a mammoth challenge trying to sort it out.
You can of course use the legal system but you have to follow laid down processes which require you to issue written notices and worst case, start the eviction process.
And if your property has been damaged by the tenant it just adds to a bad situation. Before you can start looking for new tenants you have to fix it up.
When it comes to court, assuming you get a judgement in your favour, realistically what do you think your chances are of getting cash out of your ex tenant any time soon.
To add to your already stressful situation, no rental income, expenses to fix your property and to find new tenants, you still have to meet your loan repayents otherwise the bank or your financial lender will foreclose on you.
You can avoid those problems by following simple steps to get good tenants.
Step 1
Do your homework before you even think of buying your investment property, settle on the type of tenants you want. Will they be long-term tenants, a family, couples without children, single tenants or shorter-term tenants?
What about pets? Are you going to include or exclude tenants with pets?
Your choice of tenants determines where you need to look for the property you want for your business. If you are going to rent out your property to a family then you would look for houses or residences in a respectable area that has easy access to good schools, shopping, convenient transport to places of employment and good facilities.
The best tenants would be more attracted to a good neighborhood. Much depends on your budget as to which area and what type of property you can afford.
Step 2
Become familiar with "The Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act" and the appropriate law in your state.
Be aware of your tenant's rights and expectations, understand your responsibilities and rights as a rental landlord.
Step 3
When you have purchased your investment property, prepare it for your future tenants, avoid doing a quick and cheap makeover, prepare it as if you were going to sell it then you are more likely to attract better tenants.
Step 4
Advertise your property in the local neighborhood and also use online services.
Step 5.
Have your potential tenants complete written applications and do a thorough tenant screening. You can charge an application fee to cover your overheads for tenant screening.
It doesn't matter how genuine your prospective tenants may seem or who recommended them you must still go through the full screening process.
When screening your tenants look up the respective contact details yourself in the directory rather than using any contact numbers for employers etc provided by the applicant.
Step 6
After you select your tenants it time to sign the lease agreement. You would be crazy if you didn't have a written tenancy or lease agreement so get one even if you have to pay for it. It's worth its weight in gold.
So just follow this proven process and you can quickly become a successful rental landlord.
