A Landlord’s Must Do’s

You’ve got a house or an apartment or a cottage in your backyard practically begging for a renter. You’ve already got the sign in a window “Space for Rent,” and you’ve listed the place with a real estate agent. People are knocking on your door, ready to sign. But before you hand over the keys, or even the pen, make sure you do your homework. If you don’t, if you simply pick the first candidate without much thought, you could very easily find yourself in a giant mess.

You could rent to someone with bogus credentials, someone with abominable credit, a serial evictee, or a mysterious family of 12. So start by checking references. You should get employee references as well references from where they previously lived. Talking to other landlords is a good thing. In fact, it’s a must. If the applicant passes the reference check and you think you’re ready to sign, wait a moment and buy insurance. A tenant can get into any number of sticky situations that, without proper coverage, will haunt you rather than him. Protect yourself. And while you’re at it, hire a property manager, someone who can take care of the details when you can’t - someone who is paid to deal with stress.

When that’s all settled, focus on the agreement. Your best bet is a standard lease. Make sure the paperwork involves ground rules as far as pets, number of occupants and other stipulations. Take into consideration anything environmental that may affect the tenant - lead paint, for example - warn the tenant about these things and provide him with information on how to stay safe. Finally, get a security deposit and make sure that check goes through before the tenant moves in. If it doesn’t, he does not step through the door, and you save yourself months of rental aggravation.

Renting can be profitable, but only if you work to make it so.

Best of luck!

Joe

River Place Real Estate | Cedar Park MLS Listings

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