Incredible Tips for Turning Your Home Into a Rental Unit

Real estate is one of the most lucrative industries in the U.S. and beyond, as per CNBC News. To give you an idea, a whopping 90% of the world’s millionaires were created through real estate investment. This means that by turning your home into a rental unit, you stand a chance of making good money. While selling your home is still an option, renting it out will give you not just high but also long-term returns, especially because the property value appreciates with time. To turn yourself from a homeowner to a landlord, check out these amazing tips.

Features of Profitable Property

Rental property is a business like any other, meaning, potential customers will look at the value they get from your rental unit before signing up. However, returns in rental investment highly depend on the occupancy rate. Since we’re talking about one home, unless you intend to split it into different rental units, always strive to have it occupied at any point in time. Features that will attract tenants include security, good property management, prime location, curb appeal, good neighborhood, and affordable rent.   

Property Management Issues

Once you rent out your home, you need to make sure that your tenant lives comfortably. This will not only help you retain the tenant longer but also prevent problems with the authorities. Therefore, ensure you keep your tenant satisfied through top-notch property management. Since it’s just one home, it shouldn’t be so difficult for you to manage the property single-handedly. However, because property management may sometimes require special skills, hiring a property management company is still a good alternative. Just weigh the pros and cons and make the right decision when it comes to outsourcing property management.

Risk Management Tips

 Some of the risks you’ll probably face as a landlord include property damage from natural disasters, malicious property damage, loss of rental income due to inoccupancy, and eviction-related court battles. When such things happen, you are likely to lose a lot of money. Even so, you can prevent or minimize this by identifying all possible risks and mitigating them. For instance, if your rental unit is based in a flood-prone area, be sure to purchase flood insurance on top of your regular landlord insurance coverage.

How to Find Trustworthy Tenants

The types of tenants you get can either make or break your real estate investment. For example, some rogue tenants can damage your property maliciously. This means that you should take your time to vet potential tenants before letting anyone into your rental unit. One of the ways to find tenants is by listing your property on the internet. If you want to find tenants from a specific city, say Atlanta, you can list your property on websites such as Rent.com. 

Through such listings, tenants can find their dream homes, including rental apartments and units. Tenants typically filter their property searches based on factors such as location, price, pet-friendliness, available amenities, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. For example, the average price of a 1-bedroom apartment in Atlanta is $1,807. Keeping this in mind, be sure to include all the available features in your listing to ensure you reach the right audience. Also, ensure you conduct thorough background checks on those who show interest in your property, as said earlier. This will save you from incidences such as housing a wanted criminal or accepting a tenant with a history of refusing to pay rent.

How to Minimize Complaints from Tenants

One of the draining things for a landlord is constant complaints from tenants. This can be resolved or rather prevented by good property management. You should also be ready to talk to your tenants and find solutions whenever misunderstandings arise.

Final Words

These are just a few of the tips to help homeowners transition to landlords smoothly. Finally, depending on the state of your home, you may also need to renovate it first before renting it out. To find the perfect property, contact Mary Ellen Vanaken! Call: (678) 665-2887

Article via Natalie Jones with Homeowner Bliss, Image via Pinterest.