Management or DIY?

Whilst both options have their pros and cons, onboarding a management company who have their own trusted list of contractors may save some time. DIY is more cost-effective but a mistake or misunderstanding may make the situation a lot more costly in the long term.

Carry Out Pre-Tenancy Checks

To avoid disputes regarding the state of the home at the end of the tenancy, it’s best to carry out pre-tenancy checks and take inventory with pictures. This is especially important for longer tenancies. Take the time out to carry both of these procedures.

Educate New & Existing Tenants

Before your new tenants moves in, its important to provide them with an information pack that clearly outlines the basic things they should do in order to prevent damage to the property.

As an example, ensuring they know how to properly care for appliances and clean a fabric sofa if your rental is furnished. Many tenants may not be aware of how to care for things such as large soft furnishings or appliances, especially if its their first time renting.

Intervene Early On

As a landlord it’s important to be prompt when a tenant reports a problem. Delaying intervention could make matters worse and expensive. If a tenant reports a fault, or if you notice one during an inspection, make sure that you fix it immediately. Make sure that you pay particular attention to the property during the winter months, as this is the time during which many of the most damaging problems can arise.

Build Relationships with Contractors

You probably won’t be able to conduct all the maintenance yourself, especially when it comes to electrical systems and plumbing. This means that you need to find the right contractors. Be sure to shop around if you don’t get any personal recommendations. Building solid working relationships can be very beneficial in the long-run. If you have multiple properties, its a great way of streamlining your maintenance processes.

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Read our previous blog post here: How to Take Amazing Real Estate Photos

The post Rental Property Maintenance Tips for Landlords appeared first on PropHub.

Landlord Hacks #1: Go Digital

One of the first landlord hacks is having an efficient and fast digital solution. Going digital and using software like ours, can help you keep organized and automate a lot of the important processes that usually take time and attention to detail. These processes can include collecting rent, rent reporting, maintenance request tracking and lease executions. 

As a landlord, you’re responsible for a lot of important documentation that has to be kept securely. Make sure you invest in the proper software and/or digital infrastructure as it is a huge benefit!

Landlord Hacks #2: Plan Maintenance In Advance

Reactive maintenance can usually be quite expensive. Despite the high expense, this is a necessary action that needs to be tended to for the tenant. However, it also helps to think about maintenance in advance – things like checking and treating for mould and checking locks and doors are in good condition are early preventative measures that would be beneficial to check on regularly and fix before there’s a costly accident.

You can also use Prophub software to track and log maintenance requests so that everything is kept in one place!

Landlord Hack #3: Stay Educated on Landlord & Renter Rights

Saying educated on your state laws may seem intimidating but it’s absolutely necessary, especially if you’re a new landlord. In a worst-case scenario, you may encroach on a potential renter’s rights and face legal repercussions. You also never want to forget your own rights as a landlord. 

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Read our previous blog post here: When Should You Be Selling Your Rental Property?

The post Landlord Hacks You Should Know appeared first on PropHub.

How to Find Good Tenants

Be professional.

When prospective tenants get in contact with you about a listing, be professional! Respond to emails and calls in a professional and timely manner. Be sure to go through the process with care and attention to detail. Doing so will increase your chances of impressing good tenants and therefore help you to find them, too.

Create high-quality listings.

When advertising your property, ensure that you create high-quality listings that garner a lot of interest. Spend adequate time writing your descriptions, including taking the time to answer all the potential questions applicants may ask about. And, don’t overlook the importance of sharing high-quality photos of a clean and tidy home. Put yourself in the applicant’s shoes. If you were to come across this listing, would it catch your eye or would you scroll right past it? To find good tenants, you need a listing record that will prompt as many people as possible to stop and think about viewing it in person.

Carry out thorough screenings.

Ensure that you have carried out all of the required background checks and screenings to put your mind at ease. Finding and securing good tenants in your property means also confirming they have adequate financial means or subsidized assistance to pay rent on time.

How to Retain Good Tenants

Consider the current market and external factors.

If there is something going on locally or nationally that is impacting your market, try and identify the ways that you can best support your tenants. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen millions of people lose their jobs, which creates uncertainty about housing. As a landlord, it is in your best interest to be as communicative as you can and offer support when needed. Can you afford to waive rent for a month or reduce the amount? Maybe you can help them look for alternative living arrangements? Can you help them with temporary employment?

In times like these, your good tenants will remember how they were treated! If you believe in karma, you will be rewarded in the end. And, if not this time, then next time. Do good, be good.

Resolve issues quickly.

As a landlord, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed with requests and occupied with many things to do. However, it is in your best interest to be as communicative as possible. If you can’t quite get to something ASAP, try and let your good tenants know that their request was heard and you’ll work on it soon.

Try and avoid letting maintenance requests pile up, as it can become very costly to try and fix in the future. Additionally, if the tenant is in any danger in your property while awaiting maintenance or repair, it can reflect very badly on you as the landlord. This can potentially have legal consequences, too.

Be professional.

This point is so important that we mention it again! Having the applicant sign the lease and move in isn’t the end of the relationship. Keeping the good tenants that you found feeling happy and valued during their tenancy is vital to maintaining a long-term agreement. Act and communicate professionally, and try to be personable. Everyone loves to deal with kind, caring, and respectful people! If you’re lucky enough to have a landlord like this, wouldn’t you consider staying put for another year if there’s otherwise no good reason for leaving?

To learn more about how PropHub can help you find and retain good tenants with the help of property management software, register for free today!

You can read our previous post about organization tips for landlords here!

The post How to Find Good Tenants (and keep them!) appeared first on PropHub.

Prepare a filing system for each property.

Our first organization tip for landlords is to have a dedicated folder for each property. Avoid mixing records from numerous properties in one folder, as it gets extremely confusing to find things later on. Keep them separated from the start to save time later!

We recommend keeping electronic copies of all rental-related documents and records for several years for tax and legal reasons.

Have a dedicated finance folder.

So now that you have your separate property folders, next you need to organize all of your activity relating to finance and tax separately from maintenance. Try to log all expense receipts and other financial activities as soon as you can so nothing is missed or forgotten.

This makes records easier to find and refer to in the future.

Always make digital copies.

Having immediate access to important records can make you more organized as a landlord. If you have hard copies document, scan them and store on your computer or cloud storage drive, too. This way, you have an extra copy if the hard copy is lost or damaged.

This also allows you to pull up a digital copy of the record from anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice using your smartphone.

Sync your calendars on all of your devices.

In order to stay on top of your commitments as a landlord, be sure to sync all of your calendars on all of your devices. This can come in handy when you have a busy day of viewings or meetings.

Also, don’t be afraid to set routine reminders on your phone for when you need to get certain tasks done, as it’s very easy to forget!

Create a list of utility and maintenance providers.

One of our important organization tips for landlords is to have a list of service providers. Ensure that you write down your utility providers for each of your properties. This will make it a lot easier for you to contact them in an emergency.

The list should include the provider’s name, direct contact, phone number, and the area they cover.

Go digital.

If you migrate to property management software such as PropHub, you can trust that all of your records are secure in one central place, ready for you to refer to at all times.

If you go digital, you can save a lot of time, money and resources.

Our property management software is built with landlords in mind. Register free to access a range of features to help organize and manage your rental properties, all in one place.

See here to read our previous article about the benefits of property management software.

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