My Rental Property Coach

  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 ...

As a landlord, whether you are just starting out or have years of experience, there are always going to be bumps in the road. You can be well organized, prepared and have all the best systems in place but eventually there will be a crack in the armour. And when these cracks appear, how you handle them is what matters most. What Can Go Wrong? From poor tenants to costly property repairs, things don’t always go as planned. On the tenant side, some people are very savvy and have made lying an art form. When they get past your radar and take up residence, they can make your life very difficult until you can remove them. Regarding repairs, sometimes the rental property you purchased can turn out to be a bit of a money pit with far more expenses than you anticipated. And sometimes, when it rains, it pours.  Everything seems to happen at once, like one property remaining vacant for an extra month or two, and another with some major repairs that need to be done – putti...

Evicting a tenant can be a stressful, tedious process if you aren’t sure of the proper steps to take. There are all kinds of situations that can lead to an eviction but the most common one is missed rent payments. The First Steps If you find yourself in a NSF situation, meaning that there are N on- S ufficient F unds in the tenant’s bank account – or they have failed to send the rent at all, things can go one of two ways; they can go well (the tenant pays you for the missed rent and NSF charge in a timely manner) or, not so well (the tenant misses this payment entirely and possibly more rent payments). If things go in the latter direction it is very important to act. The first step is to send them a default notice . If they don’t respond to that by paying you the missed rent, the second step is to start the eviction process . Don't Delay This is where some landlords make the mistake of using their heart and not their head. You hear all the t...

  Talk to any landlord and they’ll likely have a tenant horror story to tell – myself included! When you buy your first rental property and become a new landlord, tenants are one of the most important factors to consider. Not only will they be looking after your property for you, they will also be paying it off and ultimately building your wealth in real estate. Your ability to attract and keep great tenants will determine whether your rental property investment will be successful so it’s important to know the basics. ADVERTISING Writing a detailed advertisement has two purposes: it allows you to describe all of the benefits of your rental property and it’s also the first step in describing the type of tenant you are looking for. You can be clear about whether you allow smoking, whether you allow pets, the amount of rent and damage deposit expected and the length of lease term you are looking for. With all of this information available in the ad, you have already narrowed the f...