REnting property I already own

If you are afraid, You might want to get a property management company to take care of you house. Or at least go sat down and talk to one. Tell them what you are doing and you need some advice even though you might not use them on this one but when you get bigger you will keep them in mind. I bet they will help you.

Randy

If the properties are in your neighborhood, I would advise you not to use a property managemetn firm; instead do it yourself, save money since you're just starting out but if you don't have basic handyman skills, find someone to do tasks on a 'case by case' basis.

Talk to people who own proerty on what to expect, types of leases to use, screening tenants, etc.

If you live a few hours away, then i'd suggest like Randy to getting soeone to watch over, but if its in your nabe, do it yourself.

First off, I want to say that you can do this and good for you. It is hard when there are so many family members or friends out there telling you what what not to do. They put themselves in "your shoes" and they think... they couldn't do it, neither can you. But you know what. If this is the decision that you came up with- there is a reason for that, and this is what you are suppose to do. Don't let those people that don't understand keep you from doing something that could be life changing for you. Good Luck.

It is fun! Remember make sure you screen your tenants and make sure you have them sign a lease. One other great tip that I can share with you, if a tenant knows that you will be soft with them and let them slide on paying their rent they will do it every month. So make sure they know when the rent is due and that you expect it there on that day. Then there will be no hard feelings when they see the "cross" side of you when it isn't.

I would have to agree with elixbrown, do it yourself, unless they are in another state, this might be hard. But you wont have to pay the fees and other stuff to the property management company. It isn't a hard job to have, and you will be able to do it yourself.

It is amazing what we can do if we set our minds to it. Good luck and keep us posted on your RE journey.

Carpe Diem
Stacey :0)

And I want to encourage you and let you know you CAN do this on your own without a property manager if it is close to you. (you can even do it cross country as well, but that doesn't apply here) Once you have them all fixed up get a good idea about what to offer your rents at. (You can find a good idea at www.Rentometer.com) You can also look for rentals in your area to see your competition and drive by them to see how comparable they are to what you're offering. Advertising that works GREAT are yard signs in the property (neighbors will tell people about your property for rent), and there are MANY free online advertising that are wonderful. (oodle.com, craigslist.com, (just search your city,state + "free classifieds") and then after some brief info and attention getters on these sites reference a link to this free site with all the details and picture spread (www.house.info))

Dean has an application on here under the documents section over <- there, as well as lease and rental items. The most important thing when finding a renter is to SCREEN WELL! If you get a good tenant, you don't need to worry about a problem tenant. Its much easier to find a good tenant than to get rid of a bad tenant. Put on your application that you do run credit and background checks.

When you get someone applying, you won't need to charge an application fee to run credit; transunion has a great new tool that is great for property managers with only a few rentals. The info you will get on prospective tenants through that site is enough to determine if you've found a pretty good tenant or not, and does a credit check and background check. I have found that there are a LOT of people that look good on paper, but when you run the credit and background.. YIKES! The intent of the credit isn't necessarily to find someone with perfect credit, because you will probably not have tenants with the best credit. What to look for is a prospect who has been very upfront and honest with you about their credit and what is going on with them, and who has detailed out to you what they are doing about it and why there are these things on their credit. Best thing is, you can have the tenant pay for the background check and credit and you get to view it. The site is https://www.mysmartmove.com/. If you need any help with your efforts when you are ready to start advertising and renting it out, PM me, I'd be happy to help you out! You CAN do this on your own, you don't need to pay a property manager 10-20% of your monthly rents! Best to you!

Another great thing to do to advertise is to hold a 'rental open house'. I usually set this up by already having some people set up to come and look at the property on a certain day. People will call or email to inquire, and then set up an appointment on a certain day and time. The more people the better. There are a few people who won't show up, and if you already have several people lined up to come, you can put an advertisement out ahead of time in the Pennysaver or local paper beforehand, and put good signage up to direct people to the Rental open house. (similar to what you see the RE agents doing).

This will bring in a lot more people in addition to the appointments you already have and optimizes your time.

Also, when you do the open house, have a sign in sheet to get people’s name, number, email address, and what they’re interested in. This is also a great way to build up a buyers/option to buy list.