You may think it’s only regular homeowners and not investors or rental property owners who have trouble paying the mortgage, but as a real estate investor or landlord, there may be times when it’s hard to come up with that monthly mortgage payment on your end as well. Here are some things you can do to avoid facing difficulty in getting that payment made each month. Keep your properties occupied While this may sound overly simple, this is the most obvious and important method for ensuring you’ve got rental income coming in each month to cover your property's mortgage payments. When your property goes vacant, don’t slack off and waste time before advertising for new tenants - if you can you should even begin looking before your current tenants move out. And don’t delay on screening applicants or filling your properties because you get busy or overworked. Recognize filling your vacancies as a major aspect of your business success as a real estate investor and deal with it quickly and efficiently every time. Work hard to find quality tenants While you want to keep your properties full, finding good quality tenants is key. By “good” it means they pay their rent on time, keep the property maintained and don’t abuse the lease. By using background and credit checks, you can find the best tenants available and thereby do what’s possible to keep your rental fees coming in regularly, which will help you pay the mortgage when it comes due. There are resources available online such the screening service from credit bureau Experian which allows the tenant to pay the charges of the credit check so there is no charge to you. Invest in finding long term tenants Don’t assume that quality tenants will necessarily be long term ones. Some good renters may know they can’t stay over a few months at most. They may be students or working a temporary job. They may just be living in an area waiting to move or retire somewhere else. Whatever the situation, opt for long term renters when the choice is available. Doing so will make filling a vacancy at least a more infrequent possibility. Also recognize that your biggest costs will be due to tenant turnover - so the less often you have to find new tenants, the better your investment will perform. Keep the property well maintained If you want quality, long term tenants who pay their rent on time, do your part to keep them. Deal with maintenance issues quickly. Make repairs as and schedule regular maintenance as necessary. Upgrade appliances or at least ensure the ones you provide are in good working order. Respond to your tenants’ calls quickly, or if you can’t have another system in place to deal with repair requests and other issues - such as using email or property management software that has some of these communication features built in. Doing your part to be a good landlord will go a long in way in developing lasting relationships with your tenants, which will in turn, help you keep them in your property longer. Often a tenant and landlord relationship can turn an average tenant into a great one simply because they want to keep that relationship intact. In a tough economy, it’s important to do all you can to avoid facing the difficulty of paying the mortgage. That applies just as much to an REI professional as it does to the average homeowner. These simple tips can help as you work to develop lasting, longterm, rent paying tenants to keep your properties bringing in the income you need every month.
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Bright Idea House BuyersWe specialize in solving real estate problems - we are a local family owned business that purchases houses throughout the southern California area. Archives
July 2021
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