How to Successfully Manage Rental Housing
Historically I've been a stock market investor but with the wild swings to the market over the last few years due in large part to the meltdown of the financial sector and the current recession that we are still in right now during the first quarter 2010, I've moved much of my investment activity into real estate.
The thing that hurts most people and keeps most people out of real estate investment is management.
Nobody really wants to manage a bunch of rental properties.
Let's face it, you don't want to get a call at two o'clock in the morning by a tenant who is screaming into the phone because the plumbing in their bathroom just burst and there's sewage spilling out into the living room! Yes, that can turn many people away from real estate investing but I've put together a few tips on how to successfully manage rental housing and I thought that I would share them with you in this article today to hopefully alleviate some of your fears when it comes to this sort of thing.
First off, you always have the option of hiring somebody else to manage your properties for you.
This may not be feasible early on when you only own a few properties and the numbers don't quite add up to allow you the ability to afford a manager...
but keep in mind it is a possibility eventually.
There are several key things you'll need to learn in order to be a good manager of real estate.
The first thing to learn is marketing.
In order to rent an apartment it has to be appealing to the demographics in your area which means you'll need to do your research to find out what other apartments are renting for under similar circumstances in the surrounding area.
Market surveys will do this for you.
The next thing you need to learn about is advertising.
It's not enough to simply fill a building with tenants, often you wish to fill them with the same *kind* of tenants.
You may focus on elderly adults or you may focus on working professionals or you may focus on students or whatever...
you can't do that without proper advertising to draw those types of people to your building.
Focus your advertising on the people not you.
Speak to them, let them know what they want to hear not what you want to hear.
You will generally advertise in classified newspapers, though referrals which are generally word-of-mouth, and also through signs in front of the property.
Finally you'll need to learn about leasing.
Good marketing surveys and good advertising will draw potential tenants to you but unless you offer them a competitive lease they won't sign up! Not only that but you'll also need to develop a good screening program so that you can weed out potential bad tenants before they get their claws hooked into your units.
When offering a lease be sure to look at several things in your potential tenant including their income level, their employment record, their credit references, and their personal references including their last landlord.
Managing rental properties doesn't have to be as difficult as many people might have you believe.
With these few steps you will be well on your way to becoming a successful real estate rental manager.
Good luck!
The thing that hurts most people and keeps most people out of real estate investment is management.
Nobody really wants to manage a bunch of rental properties.
Let's face it, you don't want to get a call at two o'clock in the morning by a tenant who is screaming into the phone because the plumbing in their bathroom just burst and there's sewage spilling out into the living room! Yes, that can turn many people away from real estate investing but I've put together a few tips on how to successfully manage rental housing and I thought that I would share them with you in this article today to hopefully alleviate some of your fears when it comes to this sort of thing.
First off, you always have the option of hiring somebody else to manage your properties for you.
This may not be feasible early on when you only own a few properties and the numbers don't quite add up to allow you the ability to afford a manager...
but keep in mind it is a possibility eventually.
There are several key things you'll need to learn in order to be a good manager of real estate.
The first thing to learn is marketing.
In order to rent an apartment it has to be appealing to the demographics in your area which means you'll need to do your research to find out what other apartments are renting for under similar circumstances in the surrounding area.
Market surveys will do this for you.
The next thing you need to learn about is advertising.
It's not enough to simply fill a building with tenants, often you wish to fill them with the same *kind* of tenants.
You may focus on elderly adults or you may focus on working professionals or you may focus on students or whatever...
you can't do that without proper advertising to draw those types of people to your building.
Focus your advertising on the people not you.
Speak to them, let them know what they want to hear not what you want to hear.
You will generally advertise in classified newspapers, though referrals which are generally word-of-mouth, and also through signs in front of the property.
Finally you'll need to learn about leasing.
Good marketing surveys and good advertising will draw potential tenants to you but unless you offer them a competitive lease they won't sign up! Not only that but you'll also need to develop a good screening program so that you can weed out potential bad tenants before they get their claws hooked into your units.
When offering a lease be sure to look at several things in your potential tenant including their income level, their employment record, their credit references, and their personal references including their last landlord.
Managing rental properties doesn't have to be as difficult as many people might have you believe.
With these few steps you will be well on your way to becoming a successful real estate rental manager.
Good luck!
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