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I need advice from experienced LL's. I am going to be renting out my single family house and any and all tips are welcome. And i do have some questions like...
1. Should i put utilities in my name or tenant? Im mostly worried about the utilities not being paid on time.
2. What to do about mail? Im afraid of tenant receiving sensitive information and snooping through my mail but i do want to use the residence as my primary residence although i wont really be living there.
3. Should the deposit be equivalent to the monthly rent?
4. How to screen applicants? Any good sites to make sure they are not criminals, etc?
Any info will be greatly appreciated by this newbie LL.
Have you fully read and understood your state's landlord tenant laws?
Have you put together a lease which not only meets your state and federal laws but has been gone over by a dedicated real estate attorney to reflect your own particular situation?
If the answer to either of those questions is no, I suggest you sign up with a property management company to handle your rental for at least the first year so you can use that year to learn about being a LL. This isn't something you just go into with eyes wide shut - it has to be run as a business and it's a tough business, as you'll see if you read through the threads on this forum! The questions you're asking are very basic and are the least of your potential worries. Do due diligence and find a good property management company before you think of doing the job yourself - it'll be well worth the small investment. Good luck!
Never put utilities in your name if you do not live there, you are extending these people credit, want to buy their lunch also. If they do not pay rent you have to evict them and keep the utilities up also...
Your mail can be forwarded to another address, Post Office will do it for you for free.
SD month rent and more if you can get it.
Ask where they lived before, how long they stayed, and check it our, do a drive by,
Been evicted
How long at a job.,
Credit Cards, checking account, employment record, and amount of income,
income needs to be 3 times rent.
Ask about old LL, soon they will also be talking about you the same way..listen to what they say how they say it, and how they look, clean shoes, clean clothes, be careful of the God Bless word,
Write down 10 good reasons to rent to them, if not 10 keep looking, or you will be throwing money out the door...
The screen door is there for a reason....
There are no slum lords only slum tenants, all LL start out with the best intentions, and get stuck cleaning up the mess.
Sure you want to do this...it is a business, run it like it is. Get a lease with attorney fees covered by the tenant.
Do not give a key out till you get the money....and all is signed...
Just like the guy in the Flea Market...no cash. no merchandise...BS walks and money talks...
Good Luck...You are giving the keys to a 50k house for $500 and hoping he does not burn it down or leave it in a mess,,,,I Hope he does not take your stove or any appliances...or brings any court action against you...
Any more questions? Welcome to the LL World...we do not have a Union.,
Many tenants are great, and I have had many great tenants...I planed it that way..it was not luck.
If you're not going to be living in the house, maintaining that as your primary address is going to cause you some grief down the road, including the possibility of being sued for fraud or attempted fraud. DO NOT do it. Having the tenant go through your mail will be the least of your worries.
folks never know the issues that come up from just taking a house and renting it.
after 25 years of landlording here in nyc i say nothing is a problem until its a problem .
folks turn their homes into rentals without learning the ins and outs.
i can tell you many are going to get burned by the way they do things.
so many take deductions for expenses but don't bother to take depreciation . they are shocked to find when they sell that whether they took it or not they have to pay it back.
they get nailed using ho3 owner occupied insurance and then enter a claim for vandalisim, theft or liability and find out their tenant is an insured under the landlords policy as a household member.
they get burned by not realizing their mortgage can be called due if not owner occupied.
many blow it by not handling their rent payments correctly, not issuing leases and trying to put things in leases that go against their states laws.
real estate is a profession like any other and requires all the knowledge and skills any other profession requires
Sell it now (or this spring) for what you can get.
Take whatever that yields (or costs) you and move on with your life.
As a house renter since 2005, I want to argue with you about this comment, but the truth is, if I had a single family house to rent out I'd probably agree with you. It's got to be a hassle to deal with even good tenants. For example, I moved into a new place in November. Charming little 1920s house. Three weeks after I moved in, the upstairs faucet began leaking down through the first floor's ceiling. I felt utterly awful having to call up the landlord so shortly after I moved in to tell him something was wrong. And of course, he doesn't live right next door, so he's got to trust that I know what I'm talking about re: leak, call a plumber to have it fixed, deal with my schedule for letting the plumber in, and trust the work was done right without seeing it first-hand. What a pain for him (it's the first time he's rented out any property).
For the OP, don't forget to put a clause about renter's insurance in the lease. I get it anyway, but I imagine there are some out there who wouldn't consider it otherwise.
I need advice from experienced LL's. I am going to be renting out my single family house and any and all tips are welcome. And i do have some questions like...
1. Should i put utilities in my name or tenant? Im mostly worried about the utilities not being paid on time.
A. Utilities should be the tenants responsibility for a SFH. Just be aware that you may be on the hook for for unpaid bills, it depends on your locality.
2. What to do about mail? Im afraid of tenant receiving sensitive information and snooping through my mail but i do want to use the residence as my primary residence although i wont really be living there.
A. You should NEVER claim a place is your primary residence, unless it is. Have your mail forwarded to your REAL primary residence. If you are trying to get some sort of property tax break for continuing to claim it as your primary, don't do it. The fines are very expensive, you will be caught eventually, just charge enough rent, if you can for the house and area, to cover the additional property tax. You should also have the place correctly insured as a rental. This has doubled my insurance costs btw. Again, charge enough rent if you can get it.
3. Should the deposit be equivalent to the monthly rent?
A. I charge first, last and security each at a months rent. Check your local laws.
4. How to screen applicants?
A. Any good sites to make sure they are not criminals, etc? There are plenty of places to do tenant checks. Just use google, you will have to sign up and confirm you are a landlord/owner of the residence and have the correct forms signed by the potential tenants giving you permission to do such checks.
Any info will be greatly appreciated by this newbie LL.
Thank you.
Other things to think about. Who will be fixing this place when it breaks? Do you have 4 months mortgage on hand to cover it should a tenant stop paying, and take 2 months to evict, and leave 2 months of damages? Do you know what to do when a tenant fails to pay on time? Are you ready to do inspections and do lease violation letters and start/pay for court proceedings to get the deadbeat tenant out of there?
You can do all the background checks you want, there are plenty of people who know how to game the system. I have been through quite a few and I think I have now learned all my lessons. I no longer have a "heart" when it comes to a non-paying tenant. I have all of my paperwork in order, and the money saved for the mortgage, damages and court in a separate account where I can't easily access it for other things. I don't allow partial payments, I collect all late fees.
Just the fact that you want to say you're living there when you are not, implies to me that you don't have your act together, and like you can't afford to pay the mortgage yourself. It sounds like you want someone else to live there and pay the mortgage, yet still get the tax breaks or whatever other breaks you are getting to call that place your primary (better school for the kids, cheaper auto insurance, etc).
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