Rental Properties are very intimidating as everyone has heard stories of disaster renters, damage, problems, and all the energy involved in owning a rental property. I quite like rental properties where the numbers work out as they are usually reliable income sources.
Advantages
- Continual income stream
- Someone else paying down a mortgage for you
- Helping people have a comfortable home
Disadvantages
- Problem renters
- Emergencies
- Repairs
- Finding renters
In terms of “Helping people have a comfortable home”, I take a lot of pride in my rental property – it’s modern, it’s in a great location, I price it well so I get renters quickly, and everyone that has ever viewed my property says it’s a great place. My renters have always appreciated the unit and have been very respectful. There’s been a couple accidental problems requiring a insurance claims, but everyone made it through.
The best thing I did was make a video walkthrough of the unit. This solves so many problems:
- Potential tenants can watch a short video to get a good sense of what it looks like
- I worked hard on the script for this so I was sure I covered all the key information
- People moving from another city could do a walkthrough without me needing to get in my current tenants way
The reality of my unit is that it’s typically rented by couples, and it’s really been a stepping stone for whatever their next step is together. I’m really proud to give my renters somewhere that’s safe, clean, functional, and comfortable while they get going in their relationship.
As a landlord, I strongly recommend the following:
- Get and check references. I recently used https://www.naborly.com/ which seemed to be a lot of work for the tenants.
- Use standard forms – in BC, I use these: http://www.tenantsbc.ca/forms.htm
- Get rental insurance
- Make your renter very clear that they really should have insurance for their property and liability. People are not aware that they are personally liable if they cause a major problem.
- Know who to contact for repairs and have a list available. You don’t want to be researching plumbers when you need one for a problem. That said, it’s great to learn about repairing things in your own property – you can save more money!
- Rent for the right price. ou may turn off some people trying to get a bit more money but you risk an empty property until the following month.
- Be clear about rules, criteria to contact the landlord, and suggestions to save money (e.g. heat settings) or keep clean.
