Help from you rental slum..., er, LANDlords

Hire a property management company to handle everything, its worth the cost.

No pets, no smoking, first, last and 3 month deposit.

It will probably be different in the US but I use a letting agent to find, screen, select a tenant and sort all the legal contracts out. This costs me 1 months rent. I dont bother with the full package as I know plenty of tradesmen that could do work cheaply and cant justify the 10% fees they take every month on the off chance something goes wrong with the property.

Secondly get landlords insurance !

Oh another trick I picked up is to try and find your potential tenant on Facebook and have a peek at there lifestyle, ie would you want them living in your investment ?

Hope this helps

My daughter just gets her Dad to take care of everything.

The only time I've ever had problem with my rental was when I had a real estate agent taking care of managing the property.

I had an older guy that was doing it prior to that, and when he retired, his kid, who was a RE agent took over his duties. Within six months I had a midnight runner who took off leaving behind a damaged apartment. My agent didn't even know the guy was gone until we called him up asking why the check bounced.

If you choose to go that route, then get some referrals on the people you're considering.

I don't know the laws in Colorado, but if they are anything like Ca you can't. You just have to interview them, run their credit report and try to get a feel when you're talking to them.

I don't know the value of your property, but since you said "slum lords" I will assume its a cheap one. Rent to an illeagle mexican family, honestly on low rent properties, they are the best tenants. I've had a family in one since the day I bought it.

1st, last, security deposit. Make up lease contract to cover yourself and decide whether you want it month to month or yearly. Add your option to evict and out by a set number of days and get it signed. I have had pretty good luck with renters and have even dropped the rent by quite a bit to keep some folks that were in a tough time and sometimes even trade labor for rent.

My best advice is never ever rent to any family or friends. I`ve done both and wish I had listened to that advice the first time.

Who can take better care of it than you?

Rent it to 3-4 college guys than can help with repairs.

My rental experience has not worked out very well.I had my house and the next 2 one acre lots paid for. The ex and i had a loan set up in case we found something we wanted for an investment.The neighbors house was about to go into foreclosure ,so we scoop it up.I spent evenings and weekend for 2 months putting in windows flooring,painting, etc.Not once did Iget any help from the ex,not even a sandwich or a beer.Ihad the place rented to an employee .He did keep the place spotless,in fact he made me take my shoes off when I came to visit.The old lady and i split the sheets,she takes the remainder of the loan along with every nickel that wasnt nailed down.My renter /employee is diagnosed with MS. The next day his wife is laid off her job at a failing hospital.They have no way to pay rent,they have 2 kids ,what was i going to do put them on the street?I let them slide on the rent,social security denies his claim for disability.They are now 5 months behind.The ex gets wind of this,next thing i know my renters have to move the ex gets to move into the rental,right fucking next door.What do I get,payment taxes and insurance.My freinds say "thats the fucking you get for the fucking you got" but I didnt get any fucking.....being a landlord hasnt been to cool so far,

GraMerR ANDspellengpolease, sarry,, bout theBIg pairagrafF

Property mgmnt companies charge a leasing fee and a monthly fee. The company I use for seven of my units charges me 50% of the first months rent for showing the unit and screening tenants with credit, background and renter history checks. The monthly fee is 5%, cheap when compared to other companies that typically charge 10% and up. The lease agreement varies state to state so be leary of generic lease agreements off the internet. The mgmnt co has done pretty good for me the last few years but screwed me good once letting someone move in on a six month lease with a dog. I made them cover the costs of repairs as it exceeded the security deposit. Guess they got even with me as it took them 4 months to re-lease it. Demand a minimum one year lease. Other than that, pretty smooth service. I get checks every month and if any repairs had to be done there is an invoice attached showing any deductions. All my checks from them bounced one month.....they cleared it up quick.

Our beach house is leased through a realtor and they pop us for 20%. That one stings but does include a cleaning service going through each week after every renter vacates, getting it ready for the next.

My wife handles all the paperwork and leasing associated with our other rentals. She has lease agreements that are state apartment association approved if I remember the phrase correct. Credit and background checks with previous address listings are available for about $40.00 each so we charge an application fee. That weeds a bunch of the potential deadbeats out right off the bat. You'll shit when you see how many previous addresses some people have had!!

You might not see the benefits of leasing out one unit, you may even consider it to be more of a pain that what it's worth. I hear that a lot from people who have one rent house. But get a good number of them up and running and it's the easiest and least stressful money I make. With the housing market taking a big dump the last few years I've bought a bunch of townhouses pretty cheap and with every foreclosure that's one more family that is back to renting. I seldom have a vacancy. Oh, and this is not our primary 50 hour a week job either.....LOL

Holy f#&k, whatever you do, do not rent it to 3-4 college kids. Not only can they not help with repairs, they will destroy it. I made the mistake of renting to two twenty somethings once. Turned into 6-8 twenty somethings crashed out ragging your house out partying all the time. They had to go quick.

Duplex? Find a single middle age woman that doesn't look like a slob who has a grandkid who stays with her. Take a peek at the car your potential tenant drives. If it's filthy f'n dirty and trashed inside, that's what your house will look like after they move in.

Family, friends or employees.

And don't buy a beach house! Also, don't tell my wife I said that.....lol

Rent it to 3-4 college guys especially since you live next door.

I was kidding the first time, but having college pussy around for awhile can't be all bad.

Really, rent it to someone that won't be home much.

Don't rent in my hood, they all do the pay a month and stay 3 months deal then leave the house in shambles. Most likely they will be selling crack out of your house.

I cant remember how the story goes exactly but...

My wifes boss lived and bought a house in Utah. When he decided to move to Washington, he hired a guy from his church(Mormons, I'm not mormon btw) who ran a property management company with a few other guys. The partners split up later on and the guy that took my wifes bosses account didnt make the house payment like he was supposed to for 6 months and kept all the money that was supposed to be making said payment.

My wifes boss found out about it when the bank sent him notice they were going to foreclose. $20,000 later in losses and lawyer fees to sue the property management guy, he files for bankruptcy.

I have 1 rental here in Tempe & have had as many as 4 at once. All single family homes for 15 years. I manage them myself.

They are in nice areas with good schools. I have only had one issue with a tenant who had some bad luck but we worked things out. You will learn more as you go along.

Rental laws vary state to state. Get a copy of your current "Residential Lanlord & Tenant" bylaws & read them.

Get the BEST rental contract you can find. Your realtor should have access to one.

Do solid background checks.

Be fair but firm with your tenants. All of ours except one have left on very good terms.

My rental philosohy is different than most. I like to charge a little less per month which gets me two things; more candidates I can select from & longer leases (the turnover is what kills you). I never do anything less than a 2 year lease. Towards the end of the lease I opt for an extension keeping the rent the same. Again, keep it full. I have seen people asking for an xtra $50 - $100 per month for rentals that are vacant for 2-3 months... ridiculous.

DOCUMENT ALL CONVERSATIONS & INTERACTIONS!!! Keep your property well maintained.


Good luck!

Rent to a cute union girl with big tits , she will make rent every month and have more skills if you know what I mean .

Here are my helpful tips:

-Keep the property in good shape (much easier if you are living there), as the curb appeal will attract a much higher quality of tenant.

-Trust your gut on tenants (but do some research: credit report, references, etc...trust but verify). It's cheaper to leave the place vacant for a month or two, while you wait on someone that you trust, than to rent it real quick to someone that is going to trash it and then not pay you.

-Learn what your rights are as a landlord.

-Asset protection isn't necessarily a bad thing. Quit Claim the property into an LLC that you own (and its even better if you can run the LLC through a limited liability trust...but for one property, that you live in, that might not be necessary). You want to put as many "layers" between you and any law suits your tenants might file. The LLC will allow you to keep their grubby fingers off any other "personal" assets that you have. (there are ways to pierce that corporate veil, buts its much more expensive and difficult...most dirt bag renters don't have the money for that).

-Run the place like a business. It's not personal...you pay you stay...make an exception even once, and you'll be taken advantage of and walked all over. Some Renters are master manipulators...don't fall into that. It won't be fun evicting a single mom with a kid who claims they have no place else to go...but its business.

-Screen your tenants...do your best to only put people in your building that will make all the other things I mentioned unnecessary.

-No smoking, no pets (even outside ones). And its not negotiable. Both will destroy your place.

-My personal favorite tenants...young newly wed couples (there are ten bazillion of them here in Utah). Young families (couple with small children (under 2 years old), Adult (like 30+) single folks (men and women are equally good here, though women are cleaner, they seem to call all the time to fix stupid little things ...the men seem to just fix things on their own without calling you every time the faucet has a leak, but are far more likely to stain the carpet)...retired folks...

-My least favorite...large families. Trashy looking folks.

"DOCUMENT ALL CONVERSATIONS & INTERACTIONS!!!"


AMEN TO THAT!!!

No cats.

Background checks on renters.

Try not to rent to people under 25.

Never, ever, ever, rent to friends or family.

Yep! I know the feeling!

Thanks for the info guys. I'm thinking about renting out my house as well. I'll be going to another college here next school year and I want to rent my house for the 2 years that I'll be gone.

My mortgage is only half of what I could charge a renter because I paid for over half of the house cash when I bought it. The income from renting will really help pay for living expenses when I move to school.

There's 3 possible scenarios that I'm still undecided on. I have a current roommate, and adding another one would cover the mortgage and a little extra. The advantages would be more control. The disadvantages would be I could make more money renting it out completely, instead of room by room.

I'm still on the fence about using a rental agency, or renting it out myself. Some of you guys make it sound easy, and others make the rental process sound like you could really get screwed over. One thing I have problems with is the thought of turning over the keys to another person and having very little control while they're renting the place. Since I've bought the place a year ago I've put alot of work and sweat into this place, and it will be my home once I'm done with school.

Hard decisions!

Always tell people there was already a few ahead of them but taking apps just in case.

A few years ago I had the wierdest coincidences happen when someone on here posted a link to your locally commited crimes and pedifiles by area code. My wife and I just browsed through a few randoms quickly because we needed to leave for a kids check up at the doc's and came across this really disturbing looking old bald character with a huge blue gotee and all pierced and just strange looking. We just commented on how scarry the guy looked. So we get to the doctors office and would you believe it, there he is walking out and then right past our car in the parking lot. We did not even exit the car because we did not even want our kid to cross this guys path in any form. Crazy huh. At the time we were looking for tenants for one of our units and got a call from a nice sounding guy that I made an appointment with. We were at the rental and heard a car pull up and I looked out the blinds and I say out loud "It's him!" It was sureal. I humored the guy as he told me about how he wants the rental and also has a bed at hospice for cancer and that the kids called him papa smurf. Our stomachs were turning the whole time. How does that happen like that in my large city?