How to Become a Landlord Investor
5 Tips to Become a landlord Investor
If you want to become a landlord investor, there are some things that you can do to help your business run more smoothly. Also, if you want to become a landlord investor, you need to minimize your risk of unhappy tenants upfront. Read below for five tips every landlord needs to know.
Make Yourself Aware of Fair Housing Laws
You may have a preferred type of tenant, but federal housing laws forbid you from renting based on race, color, religion, gender, familial status, national origin, or disability. Furthermore, every state has a different set of rules and regulations that govern fair housing beyond those basic protections, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with what the rules are in your state.
The above distinctions are things you are forbidding from asking about when a person is applying for a home, and it is illegal to put out an ad for a rental property stating any sort of preference in terms of those seven classes. Some states also prohibit discrimination based on age or marital status.
Have a Trusted Handyman or Super
In every profession, we have to pay people to do the things we aren’t good at. If you’re not good with math, you hire an accountant. If you have bad style, you visit a personal shopper. And if you want to become a landlord, you should hire a day-to-day super to deal with smaller problems in your buildings. If someone has a leaky faucet or an appliance breaks, you need a trustworthy second who can deal with that problem.
Do not try and avoid paying someone to do this. It will save you time and money in the long run, especially if you don’t live close to your rental properties. If you’re someone who has rental properties as a second income and might be in an office all day, you probably can’t leave your day job to check on your rental property, so your handyman will do it for you.
Learn What Renovations Renters Value
When renovating homes, you need to be sure that the cost of the renovations is justified by the future rent you’ll receive. If you are renting out a studio apartment, then it’s likely that your potential renter won’t care if you put in a Viking stove because they’re not cooking for a big family anyway. On the contrary, someone renting an expensive summer home might appreciate a top-of-the-line kitchen for hosting dinner parties.
As a landlord, you need to be able to picture who is going to want to live in your home. What would their expectation be. You should not cheap out on necessary expenses, but certain renovations won’t get you the return you’ hope. A lot of potential renters would rather have a slightly lower rent than a top-of-the-line microwave when they know the one they’ve had for 10 years still works just fine.
Market Effectively
If you have a gorgeous unit for rent, how are you letting the public know about it? Have you had high resolution photos taken? If your property is large, does it have a video tour? Are you advertising on various websites?
You might have the best apartment in the world, but if no one knows, it’s not going to rent. If you don’t want to market your own properties, thenalign with a broker who can do it for you.
Know Your Buildings
Many landlords never even visit their own buildings. They have no idea what’s going on inside. It’s important for your tenants to know that you’re an involved landlord who cares about the upkeep of the building. When you become a landlord, make a point to visit each of your properties every couple of weeks.
For example, if you have tenants consistently complaining about a lack of water, get the pipes checked out. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Better to do that early than have to scramble once the pipe breaks. A couple of short term investments will save you both money and headaches in the future.
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