Renting a house Questions

[mmoses]

So im renting out my house.

I posted it on Zillow and got tons of people interested.

How do you pick your renters? What criteria do they have to have to be eligible?

What laws should I be worried about? Obvious I know you can discriminate.

[Mtltx]

In for this

[jsctx84]

Do you live close to the home? If not I would recommend a rental agency. Also depends on your preferences, smoker or non. Pets or no pets? How big a deposit? I would also recommend a home owners warranty. You'll be glad you have it if two or three appliances go out at the same time. Owning rental property can be tough. Can also be rewarding. But keep in mind if you allow foul people to live in your place they can do some serious damage to your property. Had a neighbor who had renters once that did about 20k worth of damage just from being disgusting people

[Bill]

Credit check
Names of their past 2 landlords
Drivers license numbers and have a friend who's a police officer run them for criminal record
Deposit check clears before they get the keys to the house
Have their rent payment on the 15th if your mortgage payment is due on the 1st, etc.

[Electrican]

Hire a property management company!! Well worth the money. If your having to ask these questions you need one. Just from experience. Besides they can market your rental way better than you can.

[Hntnsumpin]

Charge a 30. application fee. This will weed out the tire kickers and people with poor history and references. Post criteria for acceptance. Half the people will take the application and not return. Check criminal history,rental and employment history,personal references and social media. Google free landlord rental application.

[Electrican]

Charge a 30. application fee. This will weed out the tire kickers and people with poor history and references. Post criteria for acceptance. Half the people will take the application and not return. Check criminal history,rental and employment history,personal references and social media. Google free landlord rental application.

That's pretty cheap for application fee. We get $50. Hire someone thank me later!

[mmoses]

Hire a property management company!! Well worth the money. If your having to ask these questions you need one. Just from experience. Besides they can market your rental way better than you can.

What will they do for me?

[Atfulldraw]

Let's start with this......Are you getting 1.5% of the value of the house in monthly rent?
if not, just sell the dang thing and use your money somewhere else.



I pay $88 for a management company on a $1275 a month rental in Dallas.

I 'inherited' the management company (and the tenant) from the previous owner - it's Century 21.

The house is 4 hours away from me.
They handle the application, the lease, all phone calls, setting up repairs, and collecting the rent. The tenant is responsible for mowing the grass, utilities, etc.

I said I'd never do single family rentals again, but this one was a no-brainer.


if you insist on doing it yourself, I'll send you a copy of my rental agreement that I use.

[ttubudd]

My aunt has rented several houses in Denver, all pretty high end neighborhoods. She said they have never been burned or ended up with a huge mess on their hands by renting only to those with excellent credit scores. It may narrow your pool a little bit, but she said that has been the biggest indicator of a good potential tenant.

[stickerpatch59]

What will they do for me?

they will pay you and collect the rental fees from the renters and also take care of legal problems if any arise; such as kicking them out if necessary.

[ttubudd]

Let's start with this......Are you getting 1.5% of the value of the house in monthly rent?
if not, just sell the dang thing and use your money somewhere else.

What's the significance of 1.5%? I just ran the numbers on our current home and i don't think we could rent it for 1.5% of its value. We have thought that it would make a good rental in 5-7 years when we're ready to move into a bigger home. The way I look at it, if someone will pay the mortgage with enough extra revenue to cover any repairs that are necessary, without trashing the place, that's probably a good venture. Getting someone else to pay my mortgage has always been a dream of mine...

[sharkhunter]

Credit check
Names of their past 2 landlords
Drivers license numbers and have a friend who's a police officer run them for criminal record
Deposit check clears before they get the keys to the house
Have their rent payment on the 15th if your mortgage payment is due on the 1st, etc.

X2

[Atfulldraw]

What's the significance of 1.5%? I just ran the numbers on our current home and i don't think we could rent it for 1.5% of its value. We have thought that it would make a good rental in 5-7 years when we're ready to move into a bigger home. The way I look at it, if someone will pay the mortgage with enough extra revenue to cover any repairs that are necessary, without trashing the place, that's probably a good venture. Getting someone else to pay my mortgage has always been a dream of mine...

That's why not every house is a good rental prospect. There is a lot of risk in the single family market, especially when you consider the value of the investment.

Do you have 10K sitting around to pay for a new a/c unit (generally the rule is that you will have 7 days to repair it when it breaks and you have a tenant screaming for a/c)?

Can you go three or four months without a tenant and still pay your mortgage?
A bad tenant can easily cost you an entire year of rent in repairs.

I don't borrow money for rentals, so the 1.5% is just my personal guideline....
but I've only been in the rental business for 24 years, so what do I know?

[ttubudd]

That's why not every house is a good rental prospect. There is a lot of risk in the single family market, especially when you consider the value of the investment.

Do you have 10K sitting around to pay for a new a/c unit (generally the rule is that you will have 7 days to repair it when it breaks and you have a tenant screaming for a/c)?

Can you go three or four months without a tenant and still pay your mortgage?
A bad tenant can easily cost you an entire year of rent in repairs.

I don't borrow money for rentals, so the 1.5% is just my personal guideline....
but I've only been in the rental business for 24 years, so what do I know?

Makes perfect sense. Didn't know if there was any significance of 1.5%. Thanks!