My Rental Property Coach

  When you’re just getting started as a new landlord and buying your first rental property, the learning curve is very high.  There is an enormous amount of information to find, read and gather before you take the plunge.  Some examples include doing a Property Analysis before buying, all aspects of managing your rental and how to deal with problems as they arise.    Finding The Information You Need To Succeed All of the information you could ever need is available online but it’s time consuming to sift through it all to find the useful articles and true expert landlords that can help you along the way. It took me many years to find everything I needed and create a system for myself to keep my rental property business running smoothly.    What starts out as a difficult task though, soon becomes a joy as your confidence grows, your rental business grows, and you see a significant increase in your net worth.  Eventually you w...

In order to be successful in the rental property business, you really do need to be prepared. Putting good systems and processes in place will give you the confidence to get started and also keep things running smoothly as you acquire and manage more properties. This business-like mindset is the key to success for a new landlord.   On that note, here are a few things you should have in place before you start looking for tenants: Rental property forms . Your basic collection of forms would include an Application Form , a Lease , a Walk-Through Checklist and a Landlord Checklist . Keep them in a handy file on your laptop and print off as needed. A prepared ad to attract quality tenants. I advertise on a few rental websites when I’m looking for new tenants.  I always keep the description along with many photos handy in a folder on my desktop.  If a tenant gives me notice, I can have an a...

Finding a good rental property to invest in can be very difficult in a city with high real estate prices.  Having high mortgage payments is a challenge for a new landlord because, if you can’t charge enough rent to cover all of your expenses, the property can soon become a drain on your bank account. If you currently own your own house, one of the easiest ways I’ve found to acquire your first rental property is to buy a new house and rent out the place you’re in.   The Benefits Here are some of the benefits of this plan: The down-payment will be less.   Banks generally want to see about a 25% down payment to purchase a rental property. Since you are now buying a new principal residence, the down payment can be significantly less (generally 5%-10%). You know exactly what the mortgage payments will be. You’re already paying them and, as an added bonus, they will likely be very manageable if you’ve been living there for s...

New landlords often feel overwhelmed when they get into the rental property business. Buying your first property might seem like a challenge at the time but it’s a cake walk when you start to delve into what it takes to manage that property. From preparing your property, getting your forms together, doing market comparables to set the rent, advertising, putting your filing system together, setting up your accounting and just generally reading up on all there is to know – it’s a lot of information! Ultimately though, the most important part of property management is finding the right tenants . If you are successful in this step, the rest of your journey will fall into place. Tenants mean the difference between a positive, profitable experience and a negative, costly experience. Having a system in place to do proper tenant screening will help you find those gems that will pay their rent on time and take great care of your property. Here are some tips to help you become a better screener ...

  Creating a good, positive relationship with your tenants is very important. Tenants are the backbone of a successful rental property business so building and nurturing that relationship will contribute to a landlord’s success. One of the best ways that I know to help accomplish this is to make your tenant’s life as easy as possible while they live in your property.   Setting The Stage When it comes to “who should do what” between tenants and landlords, conflict often arises unless your expectations are clear from the start. Begin with the lease agreement where you can list things like the rent and when it is due, how it is going to be paid, late payment penalties, rules regarding guests, minor repair expectations and utility agreements. Review the lease with the tenant page by page and have them initial that they have read it and understand your rules. Continue by leaving a small tenant binder in each of your properties. The binder can include emergency ...