If you have recently bought a new investment property – congratulations are in order! Being a landlord is not an easy job, but it can be worthwhile if you learn how to master it. Buy to let property investment never goes out of fashion, and if you buy in the right area at the right time – you’ll be smiling all the way to the bank
Property investment can be a cold and cut-throat world, so you need to be prepared to toughen up. As much as you want to help everyone – you must first protect your investment.
Below are five professional property management tips for new landlords:
Maintenance Checks
When you buy a property, especially one you intend on leasing out, you need to do the proper maintenance checks on it. Being a landlord means that you need to ensure that your property is safe and comfortable to live in.
That doesn’t mean that you have to install fancy gadgets or allow the tenants to choose their favorite paint color – it means that the property needs to be adequately maintained and safe to lease out.
Updated Paintwork
If you’re worried about not getting tenants letting your auctioned property quickly enough, there are several things that you can do to hurry that up. Properties that stand empty are useless to investors because an empty house gathers no moss. Well, you know what that means.
Get your property occupied faster by giving the outside a new coat of paint. That will make the property look newer and more appealing to potential tenants.
Property Managers
Perhaps one of the best tips anyone will ever give you as a new landlord is this one – get a property management team. Property managers are helpful when it comes to taking care of the admin and maintenance aspects of owning a rental property.
Managers become all the more necessary with each new investment that you make. Look for residential property management in Scarborough; they will make your life as a landlord so much simpler.
Don’t Get Too Involved
Being a landlord is not the best job for a soft-hearted person. No one is saying that all landlords are cruel and heartless, just that you need to look after your property first and foremost.
Tenants often take advantage of gentle landlords, and you need to avoid that at all costs. Be understanding where you can, but at the end of the day you are running a business and you need to act accordingly.
Be Fair
Step four may give the impression that you need to be cruel to be kind, but that is not true. Your tenants have a legal obligation to you, and you have a legal obligation to them. Make sure that those obligations are fair and in line with the law for your state.
As a landlord, the number one skill for you to learn is to be fair. Don’t give too much but also never take advantage of your tenants – landlords can get a bad reputation, just like tenants.