Thread: I'm going to be a landlord, tips are welcome :)

I have been doing it for 5 years now. Sounds like good cashflow. There are things to learn.

1) Treat your business as a business, not a hobby.

2) Make sure you are up to date on federal, state, and local renting laws.

3) Make sure your renting documents are compliant with the laws.

4) Save about 50% of the rental income for future damages, repairs, and improvements.

5) Respond to tenant complaints quickly. If they report a problem fix it quickly. If you notice a problem fix it quickly.

6) Keep up with your local employment data and rental competition trends.

7) Never get emotional. Always handle and respond to any situation in a business tone(airplane pilot voice). Be the voice of reason.

8) Learn how to be the peace maker and problem solver.

Good luck.

Is this your own apt that you're renting out, or subleasing it?

Great advice from Runum. A few things to reinterate it's a business the moment they stop paying pull the trigger and get them out because you know what's worse then a vacant unit, a unit being occupied by a non paying tenant.

If possible try to have at least 2 months padding for your mortgage.

One other thing be prepared because tenants will use and abuse your place. If your renting to college kids avoid carpeting and vct your place this will help avoid replacing your carpet every 2 years. Good luck man. Roc

QUOTE=Runum;192924]I have been doing it for 5 years now. Sounds like good cashflow. There are things to learn.

1) Treat your business as a business, not a hobby.

2) Make sure you are up to date on federal, state, and local renting laws.

3) Make sure your renting documents are compliant with the laws.

4) Save about 50% of the rental income for future damages, repairs, and improvements.

5) Respond to tenant complaints quickly. If they report a problem fix it quickly. If you notice a problem fix it quickly.

6) Keep up with your local employment data and rental competition trends.

7) Never get emotional. Always handle and respond to any situation in a business tone(airplane pilot voice). Be the voice of reason.

8) Learn how to be the peace maker and problem solver.

Good luck.[/QUOTE]

Hi Cants,

I'm a landlord living with roommates. Or a new hybrid RoomLord! I own a 6bdrm, 4btrm properties in which I managed to rent out 4 of my bedrooms for rental income. Being a landlord, I discover it wasn't easy in the beginning. I read tons of book, but the best is actually practicing and applying what I've learned throughout the past 8 years.

I'm currently developing a technology for start out property owners and landlords to facilitate in their rental business. My start-up is call Roomplug.com

I'm hoping the technology will help you find a quality renter and fulfill all your start-up needs like posting an ad, rental application, lease agreements, and accepting rent payment online without the headaches of dealing with checks.

In the meantime, I'm coming up with a solution so amateur landlords could accept rent payments for a small transaction fee, hopefully less than the postage stamps, trip to bank, and making an earnest deposit; helping owners saving time and money to earn passive income.

Plus, here's my back story of my start-up venture.

My advice is get a thorough inspection before buying into the apartment. You don't want to deal with the headache of maintenance of the properties as starting out. Do your homework and ask the current owner his financials. What's the rent income coming in minus the maintenance, vacancy, and overhead of your running your units. Simply do your math! Checks and balances. Being a landlord is being a people problem solver, nothing runs quite as smoothly as most think. Like late payments, evictions, bad pipes or plumbing issues, but in the end, it's all well worth it if you are determine to make it a success.

Have your agreements clearly spelled out and not in fine print lol. Have a plan ahead of time what you will do in certain situations. Do you know how to evict someone, because you will need to at some point. Stay the hell away from section 8, especially if your just starting out, but that is my opinion.

Offer a desirable bonus for paying rent on time or in advance or keeping the place clean or doing maintenance. They are happy, you are happy, everyone's happy.

X2 Roc and Runum also - Never, ever let the deposit slip. They can't pay it now, they can't pay it later, they can't pay at all...Never let the tenant "fix"something for you. You don't have the time - pay someone to do it but get it fixed. Also, On V8Bills note, I like to send a little gift card($25-$50) during the holidays if they've been a good tenant.

One tip is instead of stating penalties for late payment, I think this is illegal in some states or at least unenforceable; experienced landlords I know will add in the late fee to the initial rent price say 800 if paid by the 10th then discount it to what your actual rent price is, 725 if paid by the 1st.