A rental property is a stable source of income for any lucky property owner or investor. These diamonds are excellent assets to have and present innumerable benefits, but they do demand their fair share of work to produce any level of gain. Here are some tips to help make managing your property easier.
1. Hire a Property Manager
What’s the easiest way to rent out your property without incurring any extra hassles? By hiring a property manager! A property manager can do everything that you’re supposed to be doing, but don’t always get around to. This includes:
- Screening tenants
- Collecting rent
- Maintaining the property
- Initiating the eviction process
- Handling any claims
- Processing late payments and fees
- Communicating with third-party services
- Complying with government regulations
Although renting out your property cannot be completely hands-off, a property management team can get you as close to that point as possible. Rental management software can keep all your documents and tenant information safe and easy to access. Additionally, property rental management software with a tenant portals feature will make rent collection, lease signing, maintenance requests, and tenant communication far easier than it used to be.
2. Treat It Like a Business
If you treat your rental property like a side hobby, then expect only side hobby income. Treat it like a bonafide business, however, and you stand to reap unlimited rewards. A genuine business will have established procedures in place and behave with the utmost level of professionalism. Treat your rental process like a business to attract the best tenants, avoid legal problems, and ensure long-term cash flow.
Utilize Making Tax Digital (MTD) for landlords to streamline your rental process and run it like a business, attracting high-quality tenants, avoiding legal issues, and maintaining long-term financial stability.
3. Set a Fair Rent Price
The right price for your property is important for attracting tenants and filling vacancies quickly. Too high of a price, and you’ll find trouble renting out the property. Too low of a price, and you may not make enough to cover expenses. A fair market price will keep your rooms occupied and your bills paid.
4. Find Tenants With Listings
The easiest way to reach a large audience with minimal effort is with listings. Internet and classified listings will extend your reach beyond the perimeter of your property and alert potential tenants about your vacancies. They will be able to view the description of the property, check out the pricing structure, and perhaps engage in a virtual tour. A listing can exponentially increase the odds of finding a tenant and at a much faster rate than would have been possible to do otherwise.
5. Get Everything in Writing
It may seem trivial to produce a rental agreement for just one tenant, but consider a property that hundreds of tenants call home, and you’ll find these to be invaluable for daily operations. A written agreement will present all the important information needed to process transactions and keep legal issues at bay. Additionally, your tenants will have the information to keep for their own records.
6. Obtain and Keep Digital Records
In the digital age, nearly everything can be stored in some type of digital format, offering an enormous advantage when it comes to keeping records for your rental property business. Paper documents can be lost or destroyed, which can cause trouble for you down the road. Digital records can be stored forever, so you’ll have access to them whenever the need arises. Whenever possible, scan and save your rental agreements, receipts, and any other paperwork you may need to cover your legal obligations.
7. Don’t Let the Good Ones Get Away
Rental properties can become a source of painlessly passive income once you get everything set up. To a landlord or property manager, a stable tenant is the holy grail of passive cash flow. A good tenant will pay rent on time, stay out of trouble, and keep your property in excellent condition. If you’re lucky enough to find one of these keepers, do your best to make their stay as bright as possible so they can make your life uncomplicated.
Being a good landlord isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but it can become second nature with a few protocols set in place. Follow the above tips to make the entire property rental process that much easier on both you and the tenant.
