Ideas for renting out my condo (apartments, leasing, condos)

[luckydawg003]

I bought a new house last month and need to rent out my condo. I've already repainted and cleaned it.

I have no idea about being a landlord, I'm a full time college student.

Looking for advice, should I try and lease it myself or try a realtor or my condo management people?

The condo management wants one months rent plus 10% of rent every month. Which seems too high to me. I already have to rent at a huge loss for what my payments are with the mortgage and HOA's.

Thanks for any help.

[gumbyfly]

Wishy washy answer #1:
Whatever option makes it reasonable and fair for a potential renter.
If you add in a bunch of mark-ups to cover your costs, and it makes the asking rent too high for the place, you may not find a renter.

[chi_tino]

I'm not sure why a full time college student keeps buying properties while losing money, but that's a whole different discussion.

Another reason for going the DIY route:

1. toilet is leaking -- could be a 10 minute fix, but the renter doesn't want to handle it
2. renter calls the mgmt company
3. mgmt company sends a plumber with a $150 minimum charge to fix it
4. you are now losing an additional $150 that month

[jacothedog]

Send me a PM - location and price - I'm looking for a place to rent.

[user8]

i own a condo up in the dc area. i weighed the pros/cons of hiring property mgmt but couldn't justify their outrageous costs, so i took a risk and do everything myself. luckily part of my condo fee covers the cost associated with basic maintenance (the association has a 3 man maintenance crew that handles small repairs, plumbing issues, etc). i replaced most of the appliances before i moved to florida, though, so i consider the risk minimal. haven't had any calls from my tenants yet. been about a year. *knock on wood*. is your condo here? i'd definitely go the DIY route if it's local to you. that's a no-brainer.

whenever my condo is up for rent, i put an ad in craigslist, apartments.com, etc. 9 out of 10 responses are from the craigslist ad.

[Maggi07]

If you decide to go through a management company, make sure you interview them first and ask what they do, exactly. We own a house that we rent out and we decided not to use a PMC because all they do in that area is drive by once a month, and they wanted one month's rent and then 10% of the rent monthly. If there is a maintenance problem, all they do is call us so we can set something up. Seems like an awful lot of money for nothing. We manage it ourselves.

I should add, though, that I HATE being a landlord (landlady?). We lose money every month. I want to sell, but I think it's going to be a couple more years. If there is any chance you can sell your current property, I think you should consider that.

[luckydawg003]

Thanks for the replies. I'm too far underwater to sell it. I live one street down from my condo so I guess I could try and manage it myself. My only concern is finding a good tenant and figuring out how to set up a lease and how to screen them and find out there credit report.

[SAKIRAV]

Originally Posted by user8

i own a condo up in the dc area. i weighed the pros/cons of hiring property mgmt but couldn't justify their outrageous costs, so i took a risk and do everything myself. luckily part of my condo fee covers the cost associated with basic maintenance (the association has a 3 man maintenance crew that handles small repairs, plumbing issues, etc). i replaced most of the appliances before i moved to florida, though, so i consider the risk minimal. haven't had any calls from my tenants yet. been about a year. *knock on wood*. is your condo here? i'd definitely go the DIY route if it's local to you. that's a no-brainer.

whenever my condo is up for rent, i put an ad in craigslist, apartments.com, etc. 9 out of 10 responses are from the craigslist ad.

How do you manage to do this from out of town though? get new tenants, paint, etc? Don't you need a management company to do this? How do you check out new tenants/ credit?

[user8]

Originally Posted by SAKIRAV

How do you manage to do this from out of town though? get new tenants, paint, etc? Don't you need a management company to do this? How do you check out new tenants/ credit?

i know a guy up there who does paint/floors so i ask him to fix the place up when necessary. he's a family friend. my family's still up in the area so that helps w/ coordination. as far as getting new tenants, i just coordinate with the current tenant and schedule the prospective renter to come over either while she's there or have a family member w/ a key show it, although usually i just do the former. not a big deal. in fact, i just had a guy sign a lease on it as my current tenant is moving to tennessee. advertised on craigslist and apartments.com. i run my own credit checks. you don't need a prop. mgr. to do that for you.

folks who don't have the advantage of family local to their property, just know that you can also hire a property manager to just do everything up to day 1 of a lease (advertising, showings, credit checks, etc.) if needed.

[Magnolia Bloom]

Originally Posted by luckydawg003

Thanks for the replies. I'm too far underwater to sell it. I live one street down from my condo so I guess I have a good one for my tenantcould try and manage it myself. My only concern is finding a good tenant and figuring out how to set up a lease and how to screen them and find out there credit report.

If you live nearby, you could manage the property yourself. If it becomes a hassle, you an always get a property manager.

Make sure you know what the leasing restrictions are at your condo. Also, they may do their own background screening- which might be a good thing. Some condos will share the report, others won't. (They don't have to and really shouldn't, but I've seen it done.) Otherwise, you can use an online service.

The language in the lease is important. I am renting my place, as I moved to another area. I am also a tenant. My landlord has a horrible lease from the landlord's side, good for me as a tenant..... The lease I have for my tenants covers more that a landlord would want to have in a lease.

Whatever lease you use, make sure it is clear that the tenant must abide by the condo documents and give them a set of the rules and regulations so that they know the rules from day one. Both you and the tenant can be held responsible for violations, so it's best to make the expectations very clear at the beginning.