Tag: How to become a landlord

How to be a great Landlord?

In order to have great tenants and keep them you have to know how to be a great landlord.  What does that look like?  Great landlords treat their tenants as customers.  They follow the law and the lease that is in place. Additionally, a great landlord is professional and remembers that they are running a business and their actions reflect this.  

Here are some tips on how to be a great landlord.  You can decide if this is something that you can do.

  • First and most importantly provide your new tenant with a clean place to move into. Moreover, that means appliance and the carpet professionally cleaned too.  
  • Be warm and welcoming to your tenant.  If they are new to the area, provide them with some helpful hints and ideas on where to get groceries, pharmacies and where to get a good burger in town.  Let your tenant know trash day, where to park and other information so they can feel at home. 
  • Stock the bathroom with toilet paper.  Make sure there is a roll of paper towels in the kitchen and perhaps a bottle of an all-purpose cleaner.  Furthermore, this shows them you care about cleanliness.

Some Other Ideas

  • Review the lease with the tenants.  Make sure they know what is expected of them. This benefits both of you.  Let them know that you follow the lease to the letter, ALWAYS.  That way they know exactly what to expect.    
  • Be professional and look the part.  Tenants are not your friends but a friendly professional relationship is ideal. It is a business relationship.  Keep your emotional distance.
  • Always keep your cool whatever the situation. Additionally, be respectful.
  • Be accessible.  If your tenant needs to reach you, you need to be reachable. Respond promptly when your tenant emails or calls. If you are going to be unavailable for a period of time, provide them with an emergency contact. 

Being a good landlord is not complicated. 

Treat others the way that you would want to be treated.  Additionally, be respectful, professional and available.  Make sure that you properly maintain your property and you will be considered a great landlord. Contact us to learn more and ask to be placed on an email list for our upcoming book The Naked Truth About Being a Landlord.

How to Buy an Investment Property

So you have thought about investing in real estate and becoming a landlord. I bet you think that it sounds pretty nice to have a monthly income outside of your 9-5. Guess what, you would be right. Maybe you are wondering how you can make this happen for you. Perhaps you don’t even own your own home. Maybe you don’t have 20% to put down on a rental property. Let’s discuss three different ways of how to buy an investment property. This way you can make your dream of being a landlord a reality.

House Hacking:

This is the process where you purchase a multi family property and then live in one unit. Then you rent out the others. You are able to collect rent from one or more tenants which directly helps to pay for the mortgage. This is beneficial in a situation where you don’t already own your own home. Also, if you are concerned about paying a very high mortgage. No one wants to be house poor. This situation can help with that while at the same time setting you up to be a landlord.

How to Buy an Investment Property, Cash Out Refinance:

If you already own a home and have a bit of equity you can engage in a cash out refinance. This allows you to refinance your home while at the same time pulling out equity that you can use as a down payment on an investment property. Doing so now may allow you to capitalize on the record low interest rates currently available to borrowers.

Buy Today, Become a Landlord in a Few Years:

If you don’t have 20% down, and don’t already own a home this might be the best solution for you. You can put down less than 20% depending on certain factors and buy a personal residence now. In the future you can either purchase another personal residence and use the first home as a rental or engage in a cash out refinance as explained above.

When wondering how to buy an investment property with these three tools becoming a landlord is not as far out of reach as you may have originally thought. Stay tuned for more posts about becoming a landlord. If you have any directed questions don’t hesitate to contact us.

Considering Being A Landlord?

Are you considering being a landlord?  Perhaps the last time you meant with your financial planner he/she said to you that you should buy an investment property.  Or maybe it is time to move from your current home, it is just not working for you anymore.  You are finding it too small or the floor plan just isn’t right.  It is time to move and you do have money for the down payment for the next purchase.  It would be easy to keep the current home and turn it into a rental.  But you feel like this is something you know nothing about.  What do you do?  Why should you become a Landlord?  Lets go over some of the benefits of investing in real estate and answer some of those questions you have. 

Advantages

The advantages for investing in real estate are numerous. Investors can enjoy predictable rental income from your tenants (cash flow), appreciation on their investment, tax benefits and the diversification that your financial planner was suggesting. You also have greater control over your investment.  Investing in real estate is less risky than investing money in the stock market.  Andrew Carnegie was one of the most successful businessmen ever.  At its peak his fortune was worth over 300 billion (in 2007 dollars).  He is attributed with saying that 90% of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.  He died in 1919. However real estate is currently on the list for the top-ten creators of billionaires. But you are looking at just owning a couple of properties. Data released in 2017 shows that 47% of rentals were owned by individual owners.  That is people like you! 

What does all of this mean? 

It means that people just like you can own real estate and be successful as a Landlord.  You can build wealth and appreciate the benefits of owning rental property. 

Setting yourself up for success includes many little details.  It is time to meet with professionals that can help you.  Talk to a mortgage lender, your realtor and a good attorney. Ask lots of questions. How much do I need for down payment?  Is this a good area for appreciation?  Is this fixer-upper worth the investment and why?  How much can I charge for rent on this property?  What interest rate will I be charged on an investment property?   Armed yourself with information.  Research, research, research. 

Maintain a business mindset.  Your rental property is a business with legal obligations that you must follow. Learn how to manage the property effectively.  Create systems for handling maintenance requests. Have your list of professionals that you can call including a handyman, plumber, electrician, realtor, attorney and locksmith that are available for you.  Know your rights and understand the rental laws. Have a local attorney draw up your lease.  It is your most important document for your new rental business.  It will protect you and provide you and your tenants with a guide and expectations of both of you! If you are considering being a landlord, contact us. We would be happy to help.