Renting out a home questions

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
I am contemplating renting my home in Grenesboro if it doesn't sell soon. It is move in ready, and all utilities are still hooked up. I have never rented out a home before, so what should I consider before I do this? What management compnaies are good/not good? What are some of the disadvantages of renting?

Basically I am looking for any advice you can give me.

Thanks! :beer:
 
good luck...its was o big headache when we did it tryn to collect money and calls all hours to fix something and when most people move out they leave it a mess and usually have to do repairs
 
Clay, we have one on the market and I'm not about to rent it, it can be a pain in the a$$. On the other hand we have one with the same tennant for 23 years! He tells me the house needs painting and he does it , keeps the receipts and we knock it off the rent! It's a gamble.
 
My parents have a house they rent out, they use a local real estate company to handle it. The real estate company takes a 10% fee and handles all the collections, evictions, and screenings.
 
If you plan on selling it don't rent it at all. Tenants don't like to let realtors in to show the house they are living in. If you plan on keeping it by all means rent it but be prepared. If at all possible don't use a Property Mgmt. Co. One house isn't hard to keep up with if you live near by.
 
I've got a few rentals and its not a big deal if you do a good pre screen of the people you rent too. Pm me if you want about any questions you have.
 
x2 on prescreening. In these cases stereotyping is ok. I look at peoples car to see how their home might be treated. If the tires are bald and it has dents in it, they probably don't have enough money to pay rent. Might be mean, but it works for me.
 
Decomp said:
x2 on prescreening. In these cases stereotyping is ok. I look at peoples car to see how their home might be treated. If the tires are bald and it has dents in it, they probably don't have enough money to pay rent. Might be mean, but it works for me.
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See I'm exactly opposite. If someone pulls up in a nice shiny car that means either the bank or the buy here/pay here lot is going to get their money before they pay you the rent. For me prescreening has been a waste of time. A person making $1500 a week with no bills has the option whether they pay their rent or not it just depends on their morals and their responsibility to their fellow man. Best thing I do is to go with my gut feeling. The few times I haven't I got burned.
 
Also never finance the deposit. You cannot evict a person for not paying the deposit.

Study landlord/tenant law and know it to the T. You better bet that all tenants know it and use it to their advantage. If upon initial contact w/ the perspective tenant they mention tenant law don't rent to them. You will be in court before it's over.
 
I have a townhouse that I rent out, about 2200 square feet, and I have been renting it out for the last 4 years. I have had no problems, and I pick and choose who I let rent my house. Although my townhouse is close to both UNC and Duke, I mostly have grad students in my townhouse. I have a great rental agreement from my real estate agent if you need a good lease. I can send it to you, and it covers everything. And believe it or not, I get all my tenants from Craigslist. I have never had a problem with people paying rent, and they have kept the house clean. Again I just pick and choose who I allow to rent my house. Been a great experience for me. I have never used a management company, so I dont have any information on going down that road.
 
do your research.
your homeowners insuance will nto cover anything a renter does, you need a special policy for that. Not a big deal just call HOI company and tell them the deal watch your bill go up 50% and move on.

Just trust me, anything can happen. Several here remember my story of having a guy who was solid a a rock, been renting from me for years, never late kept the yard immaculate actually painted the otuside of the hosue and planted flowers just so it would look better. Well he burned the fawker down cookin meth in the bath tub. Insurance wouldnt pay because the home was used in the manufacture or distribution of narcotics. The resulting fire lead to him being arrested, lucky he wasnt killed, then I got sued by his estranged ex because I did not monitor his living conditions. The claim was negligence to prevent a meth lab in my rental lead to her income sources incarceration and subsequent left her unable to provide for their child. Nevermind he reated the damn cook tub. Yeah I won the damn case, but the attorney was the real winner another $8k off the top sir to keep from paying this crazy bitch.

Now I love my rentals. And they have been good to me. But that one example is an example of what CAN happen.
 
I rent my old house out. If you only own 2 houses, you can claim it as a second home and easily get away with it as long as you don't choose to use a collection service. The rent is then essentually - tax free. I've rented mine for 4 years now. Great tennants! Cash payments. They love the place and I rent it just enough to pay what the mortgage would be along with 20% for repairs. If no repairs are needed, I invest the 20% for something needed. Replacement windows/ privacy fencing/ septic upgrades / a deck ect. It keeps the renters happy and adds to the value of the house. Always charge a deposit equal to the payment to hang onto. The deposit essentually pays up front for interest on any late payments and especially damages if any. And go ahead and download an NC "This Lease Agreement" form and modify to your needs. Mine's been modified so much to match my house it wouldn't do you any good. Background checks help but I wouldn't depend on it. I used my judgement of character when I chose my renters. My motto is to keep the rent reasonable and the tennants will stay put. It costs extra to come in and paint every 6 months and go through 60 day evictions and such... But pick your rent amount and stick to it before getting someone in. You can't raise rent right off the bat if you feel it's too low. But you can always go down on rent if you can't get someone in. Definately use Craigslist and post a sign in the yard for word-of-mouth. If you are able and handy, I suggest you pocket the 10% for collections and do all the work yourself. DO NOT establish a personnal relationship with the renters. This helps in rental collections. The "This Lease Agreement" states all the NC laws, fee amounts and such.
I have established a business working directly for property managers that is taking off like a rocket with word-of-mouth and good work. I am handy with dump truck / trailers / landscaping bisiness / bobcat and 6 helpers that I keep busy now. We go in and clean and redo a 2,000 sf house for re-rental in 3 days including crawl space moisture barrier for a flat fee (per sf). Anything else is extras and we can do anything from ground to roof.
 
Get a deposit!!! A big one at that ppl trash places if ya interview you tennants then ya can decide if they would destroy your house i suppose!!!?
 
Tip from a renter, dont cheap out on appliances (fridge, dishwasher, etc). Just going to lead to more replacement appliances. Also, for the love of god, dont request that I meet you at McDonalds with your nasty ass grandchildren to pay the rent.
 
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