Why 9 Out of 10 DIY Landlords Crash: They Skip These Three Basics

Without these three main concepts, you're long term rental property is likely to fail

Why 9 Out of 10 DIY Landlords Crash: They Skip These Three Basics by Miles Chandler w/ Zenith Degree

We could write a whole book on all aspects that go into property management. But in respect to time, there are three main aspects that should be taken into serious consideration. Marketing is key to make your property stand out from others. Screening tenants help both the tenant and the owner ensure that the person residing in the space will be able to maintain living at the location. And Inspections make sure that expectations are met by both tenant and owner whether its functionality, cleanliness, and more.

MARKETING

Where to start? What price point will you list your property for rent? A Rent Market Analysis is key in figuring this out and to make your listing not only approachable by prospective tenants, but taken seriously. Nothing is worse than over asking for rent and a property sitting stagnant for several months when it could be generating revenue. Here at Zenith Degree our rent market analysis pulls data from recently rented properties, as well as the live current market.

Professional photography Is a must. Pictures speak a thousand words. Fact. Put yourself in the shoes of a prospective tenants who do not live in the area and cant schedule an in person tour. Those dark photos that are unclear and don't accurately depict the space would be a pass. Pictures, a lot of the times, is what applicants rely on on prior to applying.

Moving along to verbiage... Is it captivating? Although statistically people just look at pictures, you want to have a description that accurately explains not only the space, but the features of the property and the community. Knowing how far of a car ride it is to major areas, whether the communtiy offers a pool or fitness center, and what the property will make the process way more smooth than not covering it.

A bonus pro tip is to list EVERYWHERE. You never know where a lead may come from. Whether its on a dated website like Craigslist, Nextdoor, or a communities Facebook page. The larger net you cast, the more fish you catch.

SCREENING TENANTS

This is simple. We look to verify roughly three times the annualized rent. This isn't just to protect owners assets, but its also to make sure that tenants will be able to afford living through the length of the lease regarding rent, utilities and the cost of living. Checking pay stubs as well as confirming employment with supervisors is key to check all boxes when screening income.

We also go a couple steps further here at Zenith Degree with checking previous years income by checking tax returns.

We further are able to verify qualified tenants by checking credit. Have applicants been paying bills on time and are they accountable? In certain situations it may make sense to hold a higher security deposit than normal if credit comes back low or unsatisfactory.

INSPECTIONS

Believe it or not, inspections are practically a majority of the work that we do. Once signing a property we conduct a tenant make ready inspection. This helps us understand what needs to be done to the property to get it tenant move in ready. We look for items such as lightbulbs, doorstoppers, and any other larger maintenance items that need to be adressed to avoid issues later in tenancy.

Once we have a signed lease and we prepare for the tenant to move in we than conduct a move in inspection. In short, this is almost identical to the tenant make ready less any items we may have addressed. We are wanting to capture exactly how the property looks prior to anyone moving into the space. This is to make sure that when we do our move out inspection, we can address any maintenance items prior to releasing tenant's security deposit.

We even conduct quarterly inspections during tenancy. The process of this is giving tenants a 24-48 hour notice of when we will be at the property. Tenants can be home if they want, otherwise we can enter in the case they are not. We change the HVAC filter and while in the space take some brief pictures. This to check to make sure that space is being kept after and to note any new or additional maintenance items we need to inform our owners about.

There is a lot more that goes into a well ran long term residential rental property. Accounting, work order and maintenance management, vendor relations, add infinity and beyond. But should you master these three, the others should fall in line smoothly.