Tips for New Landlords

Everything about landlord has a great tip list for prospective landlords.  As with any new business decision, it’s important to conduct your own feasibility study and prepare a business plan.  The emphasis here is on research and analysis.   While you may be passionate about becoming a new landlord, it’s important to conduct your research and then examine the facts with discerning mind, not clouded by emotion.   Sometimes the best business decision is not to go into business, at least,  maybe not right now.    

The article recommends speaking to other landlords, and this is sage advice.  Find out the problems they are currently facing.  Is it a renter’s market?  What are the local ordinances and regulations?  Have they had problem tenants and how did they resolve the issue?   Dealing with tenants can eat up alot of your time so it’s important to establish proper communication channels and prepare your maintenance and repair plan.  Do you need to hire a onsite maintenance person?  Do you want to have a plummer and electrican that you keep on retainer?

When it comes to collecting rent that is due, it’s important to stay on top of your business.  There are software programs that can help with property managements.  One of the best ways to insure that you will get paid is to conduct background checks on all your prospective tenants.  The most important search to run is a tenant credit report, which will provide you with a snapshot of your prospective tenant’s financial responsibility.  If they haven’t been responsible with previous accounts, there’s a good chance they won’t respect or won’t be able to honor the financial contract with you.  It’s much more expensive to evict, so do yourself a favor and establish a tenant creport report screening program. 

  landlord tips
tenant credit reports