Things To Consider Before Becoming A Landlord

Although it might seem like becoming a landlord is an easy feet, because you feel all that is required is that you look for a property, find tenants to rent it out to and watch the rent checks begin to come in. Being a landlord is much more than this.

There are other factors to consider such as being prepared to deal with renters’ requirements in addition to spending the time and money required to maintain homes.

I have taken the time out to create a list of things that will guide you as you embark on this journey of becoming a landlord. Here is a list of things to think about before becoming a landlord includes things like deciding on the location of your rental property, setting your financial goals for rentals, being suitably aware about landlord-tenant law, and more.

Carryout a research on the best investment area

Knowing where and what type of property you want to buy is a crucial part of being a landlord. One of the most important considerations when renting a home is the location. Look for elements that influence living quality, such as school district, walkability, and a quick commute to work, while looking for a rental property.

People are more likely to buy houses that come with easy access to the basic daily amenities they need. Ensure you are investing in quality rentals. Quality homes will attract quality tenants.  

Tricks I Use To Find Real Estate Leads In My Area

It is not news that it can be difficult to grow as a real estate agent. I myself went through the same experience as a beginner. To help prospects grow in the industry, I will be sharing some tricks that I use to discover real estate leads.

Before I dive into these tricks, let us discuss some qualities every successful real estate agent possesses.

• Start with Family and Close Friends:

All my family members and friends know what I do. Anytime someone in their workplaces or communities need my services I render; they always recommend me.

Therefore, make sure the closest people to you know that you’re into real estate. You can also ask them to help you advertise your services to the people around them.

• Strong and Loyal Relationships:

It is important to nurture the relationships you build with clients. I check up on my clients regularly. A “Hi! How have you been?” can go a long way in maintaining client-real estate agent relationship.

• Having satisfied customers:

Always give your best when attending to your customers. If you keep your customers satisfied, you can somewhat rely on them to refer you to others. 

Now, here are the tricks I use to generate real estate leads:

• Building network:

A successful realtor must be able to properly interact with other people. Apart from family and friends, all agents need to have relationships with other members of the community.

The wider and more diverse your network, the easier it will be to find prospects and potential customers.

Should You Add More Properties to Your Portfolio?

As an investor, you may constantly be on the lookout for new investment opportunities to enhance your portfolio’s profitability. Perhaps you may have heard of a fellow investor’s portfolio and felt like your own does not do the job.

Remember, no two portfolios will look alike. Even if they hold similar assets and investment vehicles, they won’t be equally profitable. 

But in case you’re wondering if you should add more properties to your portfolio, let me tell you that there’s no fixed answer. 

Your portfolio may include different types of real estate assets as well as your current and past real estate deals. Ultimately, however, it all comes down to what’s in your portfolio in the first place.

So before I get to whether or not you need to add more properties to it, let’s have a look at the factors of a good portfolio in the first place:

Numbers

Numbers are a major aspect of any real estate portfolio. They are the foundation as well as important elements of truth. This makes adding each of your investment assets along with their numbers all the more important.

Financing

Another important aspect of real estate investment portfolios is the financing. Your portfolio should be answering these questions: How did you finance your deals? Or, how did you structure your finance dealing? How did you find a buyer?

Improvement Costs

I can’t stress enough the importance of adding all your improvement costs along with the monthly costs in your portfolio. These will show lenders how you earn profits by leveraging money and the costs associated with each project.

However, make sure your improvements and repairs of your property are neatly summarized according to the property. 

Properties

All the numbers, financing and improvement costs fall under the umbrella of the properties you have invested in. But I’ve found that many investors find it difficult to determine how many properties to include in their portfolio.

While the number of properties you add does matter, it is not the end all be all. What makes the most difference is how you diversify the properties in your real estate portfolio.

Personally, I think the 60/20/20 rule is great to determine how much of your portfolio to allocate to a certain type of investment. This rule works best for investors who like taking the role of property managers to maintain a balance between active and passive income.

So, if you are a seasonal investor who would like to benefit, you could make a great real estate investment portfolio.

How To Deal With A Troublesome Tenant

Owning a property will forever be a worthy thing. The joy of having a building of your own or one that you manage is enviable. With that, you can help to assuage the burden of accommodation in society by giving out your property for rent. When you do this, you get to also have some monetary benefits from the rent paid. 

Putting the whole or a part of your property for rent is great, but there might be some people who can make it regrettable. Sometimes, the tenant you had thought would be right might just turn out to be the wrong person. The water gets murky because despite being the landlord, you can’t just kick out this tenant easily.

Nevertheless, this is not the end of the road. There are ways to deal with a troublesome tenant and protect your interest. It is these ways that I will be letting you know. So, read on and enjoy how to protect your interest in the midst of the troubles of your tenant. 

A troublesome tenant may exhibit different behaviours from damaging your properties to not paying rents. It could even be that they are contravening the leases’ rules you have drawn up. Whatever may be the case, be assured that you can deal with it. Here are the ways.

Set Ground Rules and Enforce: Before you can talk about dealing with troublesome tenants, you must be sure you are definite with many things. The problem with most property owners is that they leave so many things unclear that it is easy for anyone to exploit the loopholes. 

How To Estimate How Much A Fix-And-Flip Will Cost

Fix-and-flip deals are an excellent way to drive real estate profits. For starters, you can buy the property at discounted rates from the existing seller. You can then “fix” the house to suit the latest market trends to make the sale process easier. However, there are specific points you must keep in mind regarding fix-and-flip deals. 

The cost of the deal and the resultant ROI are possibly the most important factors to consider in these deals. In my experience, one of the most sensible things to do before starting a new house renovation project is to break down and analyze the costs involved.

Consider the Initial Purchase Price

The first cost to consider is the initial purchase price. You may be able to buy the house at lower-than-market rates if the previous owner is in a hurry to sell or if the seller does not want to go through the hassle of renovations and repairs before the home sale. 

Check if the price charged by the seller is reasonable by comparing it with the current market prices. You may also go through listing websites and other similar pages to get a solid idea of market prices in the location.

Find Out the Estimated Repair Costs

The estimated cost of repairs and renovations is the next item to consider. I recommend conducting a comprehensive assessment of the house’s condition to know what alternations and repairs you will need to make to it.

Sellers often sell houses that sustained fire damages or other similar damages. It goes without saying that the repair and renovation costs of damaged houses are likely to be considerably higher. 

Red Flags Every Landlord Should Look Out For

Tenant screening is critical to any successful property management. Failing to do so could translate into substantial financial losses due to property damages, unpaid rent, or even an exhausting lawsuit. If you are in search of potential tenants for subletting your space, you should know a few things. 

A landlord’s main focus should be on two things: a tenant’s ability to pay rent on time and their capacity to take care of the property. Keeping these two things in mind, I have listed the most common red flags that you should look out for.

Insufficient Income 

Inquiring about your tenant’s income proof may seem a bit nosy, but believe me, you will be glad that you did. This is a no-brainer. Why would you want to get involved with someone strapped for cash, and who will give you a hard time later on?

The ideal tenant is someone who has approximately three times more income than the rent cost. This gives them a good monetary margin to still pay the rent in case of unexpected expenses. 

Bad Credit 

Running a credit check is extremely fundamental to tenant screening. Someone who is hesitant to consent to a credit check is bad news.

This is because it indicates that the potential tenant has failed to complete past payments and is, therefore, a risky option. In my opinion, you should only consider tenants who have a credit score of 650 and above. The most financially responsible tenants will have a score between 700 and 800. 

Make sure you are thoroughly reading the report and identifying the relevant information. Remember to check public records under their credit report. If this section is empty, it is good news since it shows that your tenant hasn’t faced any bankruptcies.  

Too Demanding or Rude 

If a tenant seems too high-maintenance, this is a red flag. Someone who is very demanding will most likely find new faults and issues time and again, pestering you frequently.

The same goes for rude tenants. If they seem difficult from the outset, you can only imagine how they will be later on. It is best to avoid such candidates in order to avoid a hassle in the future. 

Criminal Record 

Let’s be real; no one wants to lease their home to a felon. Besides carrying out a credit check, screening for a criminal record is essential too.

Someone who is not afraid to live outside the law is capable of many unethical or even dangerous things. Regardless of the crime they committed, it is always recommended to stay away.

Warning Signs To Look For When Looking At “Fixer-Uppers”

When you’re looking for a house to buy, it’s important to pay attention to the warning signs that it could be too much of a fixer-upper. The three most common signs are water damage, mold, and rot.

However there are many others as well. Learn all about what these look like in the article below!

As October rolls around each year, we start hearing things like “Sale – Fall Fixer-Upper” or “2-4 bedroom fixer upper for sale”. These phrases are opportunities for investors since fixer-uppers usually go for lesser prices. 

Some of you may be wondering “What is a fixer upper?”, so here we go. Fixer-uppers are houses that need a lot of work to be considered habitable.

These homes can typically be purchased for much cheaper than on their market value, but before you buy any property, you need to inspect it first. Let’s get started on the warnings you should look out for at fixer-uppers.

Smell of Moisture

The first warning sign you should look out for are water damage and mold. Different kinds of houses can show different signs of these problems, such as barns or basements.

Barns may have one or multiple holes that leak water inside it; basements on the other hand, may show signs of water leaks by having oil stains on the basement walls.

Water damage in a house is hard to spot because it’s usually hidden away from plain sight, such as behind furniture or inside a closet somewhere. Smelling it on the other hand is very easy. Watch out for the smell.

Five Free Courses You can take to Learn about Rental Property Investing

It doesn’t matter if you are interested in family home, wholesaling, or the academic parts of real estate investment; adequate resources have been made by many authors and researchers, to give you the best possible lessons in the real estate niche. 

In this blog post, you will be enlightened on five courses you can take to learn about rental property investment for free. Let’s get right into them.

1.    Real Estate Investing 101

If you have been thinking of how best to start your very first investment in real estate, then this course is for you. I’m in love with this course in particular because you will be taught how to use real estate to reach your financial goals, determine what part of real estate to invest in and be equipped with the necessary strategies to overcome barriers.

This course gives you a guide on how to earn your first deal and excel at it. There are a lot of insights in the course that match those I talked about in a previous blog post where I discussed about how I overcame challenges as a real estate investor.

The Best Financing Option For Your First Investment Property

There’s so much anxiety that comes with doing something for the first time. The interesting thing is that the anxiety grows bigger with the size of what we intend to do. For something as big as buying a first property, one can only imagine the anxiety.

But then, this anxiety is normal and only becomes negative if one does not have the right information at hand. Speaking about the right information, among all things, you need to know the best available financing options for your first property. This will help you to make an informed choice about what’s best for financing your first investment property. 

I understand the importance of finding the perfect medium to finance your first investment property, in fact, it is one of the challenges I had to face when I was just starting to build my investment portfolio. This is is why I have come to tell you about some of the best financing options available to you.

The following paragraphs are the outcome of my research, and I am sure you will find one of them useful. 

How You Can Hack Your Mindset And Feel Confident As A New Investor

Investing does not come naturally to everyone. Experts who have made millions of dollars did not get to where they are now without proper work.

It’s something you’ll have to work on in order to get confidence in. Investor trust is crucial when it comes to any kind of investment. As an investor, having confidence allows you to make better choices over time.

When you first begin investing, you’ll be compelled to monitor your funds on a daily basis, and you’ll panic if the market suddenly drops, which will almost certainly occur shortly after you purchase the firm.

In this article, I will be giving you tips on how to change your mindset for good and feel confident as a new investor.

• Learn everything you can about the investment you’re about to make. In order to remain successful in the market, you must educate yourself on the businesses and channels in which you choose to invest.
  
  Remember that knowing what you’re purchasing and being sensible are the keys to success. I recommend that you do not allow your emotions to control your mind. It is not a good idea. Putting money into what you do not understand will be detrimental to your portfolio.
  
  I always stick to what I know and focused within the real estate investing scene in Chicago. It’s proven to give you luck if you’re able to see clearly where you’re good at.