You’ve heard the horror stories of bad tenants who trash homes and don’t pay rent on time. But what if you’re a first-time landlord with little experience? If so, you may be wondering what you need to do to get started. There are many challenges that landlords might face, and you can go to Progressive Lets to find out more. Additionally, in this blog post, we’ll give you six tips for successfully renting out your property. Keep in mind that every situation is different, so make sure to consult with an experienced real estate professional before making any decisions. Read on to learn more!
Vigorously Screen Your Tenants
The first tip for first-time landlords is that you have to vigorously screen your tenants before allowing them to move in. You might not realize this, but your tenants are going to either make the property better than it is or completely ruins it.
Great tenants will take a lot of care of your property and potentially want to improve the property since they will be living in that space. Bad tenants will cause a lot of noise. They might potentially damage your property and not adhere to the rules you have set out.
Consider Using a Letting Agency
Another tip for first-time landlords is that you should consider using a letting agency when renting out one of your properties. This tip is even more useful if you have quite a few properties that you are renting out. The more properties that you are renting out mean more work for yourself as well as increased stress and potential anxiety.
By taking advantage of a letting agency, you won’t have to worry about micromanaging each of your properties, and you also won’t need to be in many different places at once. Once a letting agency has taken control of the management of your properties, you can rest at ease.
Set a Realistic Rent Amount
One of the most important tips for first-time landlords is that you should set a realistic rent amount. Obviously, as a landlord, your goal is to try and make as much money as possible from the properties that you are renting out. However, this can backfire if you set the rent amount too high.
One of the first consequences of having an unrealistically high rent amount is that you won’t have any interested tenants. Another problem with setting an unrealistic rent amount is that if you do find a tenant and they move out for whatever reason, way before the set date in the contract, you might have trouble finding another tenant to move in.
Pets or No Pets
Another consideration that you’ll have to make as a landlord is whether or not you will allow pets on the property. A tip for first-time landlords is to consider that more and more families are now having pets, whether they be cats, dogs, birds, snakes, and more. The reason that this is important is that you’ll probably have an easier time finding tenants if you allow pets.
However, this does mean that you can increase the rent on the condition that pets are allowed, and you can request an additional deposit for any potential damage caused by pets. In addition to this, you can specify what types of pets are allowed. For example, it’s not uncommon for a landlord to specify that only small to medium dogs are allowed on the property.
Rental Insurance
Another tip for first-time landlords is to subscribe a rent guarantee insurance. This is not mandatory, but if you make it a requirement you are covering yourself if any damages or emergencies take place on your property.
The good news is that this also gives peace of mind to your tenants, And the average rental insurance fee per month is not that expensive. This can be added to the rent if it makes lives easier for your tenants.
Don’t Spend Too Much of Rental Income
Finally, the last tip on this list for first-time landlords is that you should consider not spending too much of the rental income that you are earning. Once you have earned a month or Two’s worth of rental income, you might be very tempted to spend it on things that you haven’t been able to buy before.
However, you should consider holding back on these urges, since that money can be spent to further improve your properties, or acquire new property. For example, if the rental agreement for the property is one year, after that year, you can upgrade or renovate the property and increase the rental amount.