If you’re focused on becoming a real estate investor and getting tenants to pay their mortgage, you’ll want to upgrade to a property manager. After all, nothing beats Cash Flow Apartment Buildings as a good real estate investment. But to maintain good cash flow, you need to know your legal requirements, absolutely no province or state has exactly the same regulations. You need to pick high-quality tenants and make sure you have a system in place to do so. Get it right, and to a greater extent, it will be a great experience and inspire you to get more rental real estate.
Learn about the legal requirements in your state or province, such as how often you can increase rents and if there is a limit to the increase. Google the Tenancy Act for your region is a great start. You’ll need quality lease forms for applications, rental or lease agreements, and check-in/check-out reports. There could possibly be an organization of property professionals in your city that you can register with, definitely worth it, that will provide you with guidance along with a library of forms.
You must discover ways to choose high-quality tenants. A smart technique when showing the accommodation to potential tenants is to organize the visit for everyone at the same time. This can create some urgency as they will definitely know there is competition for the house. Make sure you have the applications with you at the presentation to hand out to interested people and make sure they know that you will definitely contact all of them. Do not choose the new tenant until you have checked it out! Where permitted, you’ll want to run credit checks and contact the previous owners, but not the current one, as she might be too happy to get rid of them and not provide you with the correct assets. Also, don’t be averse to “trust her gut” when something doesn’t sit right with the tenant, even though everything went well, don’t rent from her and move on to the next one!
You need to set up a whole process, for example keeping individual files for each property. Know where to advertise… The For Rent sign on the property, posting in the classifieds, posting at the local college or university, or a website like Craigslist are ideal methods for locating renters. You should establish a list of excellent professionals for painting, electrical, plumbing, window and gutter cleaning, etc. One of the first things to do with a new property is to change all the locks so that you have a master key for your own benefit. Virtually nothing is more irritating than having a pants pocket full of property keys and trying to figure out exactly which key fits what!
Keep in mind that owning rental property is really a business, so treat it like one. Know your legal obligations, choose high-quality tenants, and set up a system. Learn to be a great property manager and you’ll get great tenants almost every time. And they will pay off your home loan on your behalf, making you rich!