How to Position Your Rental for Long-Term Success

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If you’ve decided that now is not the time to sell your home, you can still make money off of your property. No matter how bad the real estate market tanks, there’s always a market for rentals. The George Woods Home Selling Team tips can help you create a home where people want to live, lease, and love until it’s time for you to sell.

Fixed The Façade

Curb appeal is everything in real estate, whether you’re renting or selling. When your home is empty, spend some time fixing issues like broken windows and poor landscaping. Pressure wash the exterior, and make sure the roof, HVAC, and other features are in good working order. You can also purchase metal letters for wall applications (these come in a range of materials, including bronze, copper, stainless steel, aluminum, and brass) so that you can ensure your address is readable from the street. You should have no trouble finding letters that stand out against everything from metal siding to stone, brick, and stucco.

Become A Master Of Marketing

When you become a landlord, you also become a marketer. Learn how to market your property via social media, print, and other means. It can also help to have a business card design that makes it easy for your renters to find your contact information. Look for predesigned templates that easily let you swap your colors, fonts, and text. 

Set Your Structure

As a landlord, you become a business owner. This means it’s time to set up your LLC so that you can keep the money in your bank account if something happens with your home and you get sued. Because it’s expensive to hire an attorney, consider using a formation service to do this step yourself. Each state has different rules around the process, so do your research before you try and file.

Decide Who Will Manage The Property

If you have any experience in real estate, consider hiring a property management firm. Cool Realty, LLC, a property management firm located in Jacksonville, explains that there are many benefits to this, including reducing the chances of any legal issues, having fewer vacancies, and, most importantly, finding high-quality tenants.

Check Out The Competition

There’s a good chance that you’ll have lots of competition when putting your home on the market, even if it’s just as a rental. Spend some time looking at what else is available so that you can better emphasize what makes your property a better choice. According to Apartment Guide, most people really want something that’s in their budget, allows pets, is in the right location, and can work for those with disabilities. Knowing what the competition has to offer can also help you better price your home competitively.

Consider Tapping Into Home Equity

Since you’re going to continue to own the home, you also have equity. You can use this to purchase other investment properties (Our partners at Movement Mortgage, Inc. can help you get pre-approved) so that you can have another income stream. Remember, unused equity is missed opportunities.

Understand The Law

Finally, even if you plan to use a property management firm, make sure that you understand federal and local laws with regard to housing. You can find resources online through the American Apartment Owners Association. Ultimately, everything that happens on your property will affect you, so it pays to know how to protect yourself and your tenants.

Around 36% of homes in the United States are rentals. That is a lot of homes and a lot of competition. But, you can position your rental for long-term success by sprucing up the outside, which includes cleaning and having numbers that are easy to read from the street. You’ll also solidify your chances for success by having the right business structure in place, knowing who’s going to manage the property for you, and being knowledgeable and compliant with the law. And you never know; you may enjoy renting your home so much that you take your home equity, buy a second property, and become a real estate investor that’s positioned for long-term growth.

Are you on the lookout for a new investment property? The George Woods Home Selling Team can help you in your search! Request a free consultation through our website today.

Article provided by: Suzie Wilson