How does one go about renting out their house? (Portland: flat fee, renters)

[portlandshaws]

We're contemplating moving out of Portland and I can't bear the thought of selling our house, in case we want to come back. We have a 2,200 sq ft house right off of NE Alberta that has a completely redone back yard and beautifully renovated kitchen (complete with Viking range). We painted last summer so it's truly beautiful from the exterior. How do I know how much I could get for it? Do people typically pay all their own utilities in a detached home situation? Please help!

[Bendite]

When we rented a couple of years ago, it was a short term rental of 6 months length. A rental agency was involved - I'm sure they got a nice commission, but they did all the advertising, background checking, money collecting and maintenance so the owner didn't have to be involved at all. In our case, we needed to arrange for everything to be in our name but the water (i.e. trash, electric & gas & phone.)

Sounds like you have a lovely home that would be a shame to rent out to the wrong person. I'd recommend contacting a couple of rental agencies, (including one that specializes in renting to corporations) to see what they charge. They'd also know what a fair price would be.

[TechmanOR]

Originally Posted by Bendite

When we rented a couple of years ago, it was a short term rental of 6 months length. A rental agency was involved - I'm sure they got a nice commission, but they did all the advertising, background checking, money collecting and maintenance so the owner didn't have to be involved at all. In our case, we needed to arrange for everything to be in our name but the water (i.e. trash, electric & gas & phone.)

Sounds like you have a lovely home that would be a shame to rent out to the wrong person. I'd recommend contacting a couple of rental agencies, (including one that specializes in renting to corporations) to see what they charge. They'd also know what a fair price would be.

That's very odd.

[Donn2390]

Interview and find a good property manager. They will handle everything. Rates vary from 8 to 10 % a month for the service, and most require half of the first months rent.

[Bendite]

Originally Posted by TechmanOR

That's very odd.

Do you think so? Hm. My daughter rents a townhome and has the same requirement. I thought it was pretty common

[delta07]

If you go with a property management company be sure to be very specific about everything and put it in writing. A few years ago we rented our house out in Colorado and used a management co. with a good reputation. It turned out to be a nightmare! We must have had the worst property manager possible. We were specific that we wanted NO smoking, yet because we didn't have it in writing (we didn't think it was normal to allow smoking) our renters smoked in our house. We also wanted a 1 year lease, but mentioned that we would consider a 6 month. We assumed the property manager would contact us if they had renters who wanted a shorter term lease. Again, this was not the case. Our renters only signed a 6 month, and because we said we would consider one, our agent took that as a yes. It turned out to be a good thing since the renters smoked. It sounds like you have a really nice home, so I would make sure you are very specific with what you want. I would also ask for a nice security deposit to make sure you are covered for damages. Good luck!

[fierce_flawless]

Originally Posted by delta07

If you go with a property management company be sure to be very specific about everything and put it in writing. A few years ago we rented our house out in Colorado and used a management co. with a good reputation. It turned out to be a nightmare! We must have had the worst property manager possible. We were specific that we wanted NO smoking, yet because we didn't have it in writing (we didn't think it was normal to allow smoking) our renters smoked in our house. We also wanted a 1 year lease, but mentioned that we would consider a 6 month. We assumed the property manager would contact us if they had renters who wanted a shorter term lease. Again, this was not the case. Our renters only signed a 6 month, and because we said we would consider one, our agent took that as a yes. It turned out to be a good thing since the renters smoked. It sounds like you have a really nice home, so I would make sure you are very specific with what you want. I would also ask for a nice security deposit to make sure you are covered for damages. Good luck!

I cannot second this advice enough. My mother has rented out my childhood home for 20-something years now. She has been through it ALL and has learned the hard way. Yes, her leases are now novella length but they are SPECIFIC and she has her butt covered this way.

She has managed to keep the house in good shape due to stringent leases, but it hasn't protected her from people skipping out and breaking the lease and not paying and so forth, even with thorough credit and background checks and even though it's a higher end rental home (for the town)...

She has had property managers screw her over and over. It's a small town so what seems to happen each time is that the prop. manager becomes buddy buddy with the tenant and with one property manger in particular it came down to her asking "Just WHO are you working for, anyway?" She fired her and got her fees back from the agency over the mess, but overall she chooses to use a property management company only to initially list the property, get the lease signed, do the credit check and such, then they are off the deal. She pays a flat fee for this vs. monthly. It's risky because she is doing it long distance but she's found it works better for her in the long run, after losing monthly PM fees for PM's who weren't doing anything about lease violations, properly handling needed repairs, etc.

I am in a similar situation as the OP: we just bought our house 2 years ago and I, too, cannot bear selling it... but we want to get out of the area so we're considering renting it out, but it terrifies me, because we're in a lower income area and we cannot be as "picky" about tenants.