Successful rental and property management
Successful property rental and management is not something that just happens, it is something that needs to be professionally planned and worked on. When a landlord or agent has a rental problem, it almost certainly has to do with the suitability of the selected tenant. If you are not experienced enough to rent a property, buy one or buy something. Talk to your lawyer; buy some relevant books, both of which are much cheaper than the costs involved in dealing with bad tenants.
Many professional leasing agents are called in by distressed homeowners mid-term because the tenant may not have paid the rent, refused to leave the property, or may be damaging the building or abusing the neighbors. The first thing the agent asks is, where is the lease?
Too often, the deal has been hastily drawn up, even scrawled on the back of a pack of cigarettes. I’ve seen that. Sometimes there is no discernible deal, sometimes the property has been rented to the owner’s best friend whom you just recently met at a local bar, and sometimes it is rented to a distant and hardly known relative. Surely that would be safe enough, right? No, it is not. Renting a property involves a professional contract between two parties and should be treated as such. There is no place here to make exceptions for “friends” or “relatives”. All tenants should be treated in the same professional manner, regardless of who they are.
The vast majority of problems occur because the tenant has not been screened carefully enough and the referrals have not been followed thoroughly. Perhaps the references have not been taken up at all. Worse than that, occasionally desperate landlords still go ahead and insert a tenant into a property even when they have a ton of bad references, because the tenant has promised not to be a bad boy or girl in the future. How stupid is that? Bad references mean one of two things. Forget about it, the preferred option, or insist that a first-class guarantor sign the lease, as well as the tenant.
Homeowners can also experience problems because the property is not well maintained enough. This policy is also difficult to understand. It may be a fact that properties are generally much better maintained than was claimed twenty years ago, but there is still a swath of homeowners who will never spend money maintaining their property. Talk about pulling teeth out of chickens, and this is such a ridiculous attitude!
Imagine if you had a manufacturing company that depended on the smooth running of machinery and equipment for the well-being of the business. You would have it checked regularly, right? So what is the difference from maintaining your own property? It belongs to you, it is your asset, and it is probably the greatest asset you will ever have in your life. So why prevaricate when it comes to spending a little money to make sure it’s in perfect working order? That doesn’t make any sense, and as everyone knows, a small maintenance problem ignored today will turn into a bigger and more expensive problem tomorrow. Fix maintenance issues quickly, and you’ll always end up paying less for it in the long run.
If you intend to pursue a career in real estate, make a pact with yourself that you will always conduct your business with the same professionalism as any agency in a big city. If you’re thinking of doing it cheaply, taking shortcuts, and taking chances, don’t get involved at all. You will surely regret it. Taking risks and taking shortcuts is a sure way to face disaster head-on. Sooner or later your company will sink into the mire of self-destruction and that will be fatal to your business. Remember the rule, total professionalism always. Anything less and you will fail. Guaranteed.