favinger • March 7, 2022
It's Now a Rental & Tenants Live There.
When Renting Out a Home Where You Lived in the past...? Be careful to not get emotionally involved.
I thought I’d jot down a couple of thoughts regarding renting a home that you formerly lived in because now that it’s a rental you have a different responsibility. It's a Rental and You Are a "Landlord".
Maintaining the Property:
Don’t Expect Renters/Tenants to maintain the property better than you did or even as good as you did. They don’t have an “equity interest” in the property to do anything more than pay the rent on time and not violate any rules.
So for example, if you have a kitchen floor that has holes in the Linoleum don’t expect a tenant to fix/replace it. I know you’ve lived there for a few years with it like that and maybe it didn’t bother you, but trust me a prospective tenant will make a note of that. Further by not fixing something like this when you have a “turnover”...? It will be a turnoff to good prospective tenants. It must be done "Prior To Showing" too.
That's because when good tenants see something like this they will assume you the owner will not fix anything in the future such as a heater or air conditioner.
I thought I’d jot down a couple of thoughts regarding renting a home that you formerly lived in because now that it’s a rental you have a different responsibility. It's a Rental and You Are a "Landlord".
Maintaining the Property:
Don’t Expect Renters/Tenants to maintain the property better than you did or even as good as you did. They don’t have an “equity interest” in the property to do anything more than pay the rent on time and not violate any rules.
So for example, if you have a kitchen floor that has holes in the Linoleum don’t expect a tenant to fix/replace it. I know you’ve lived there for a few years with it like that and maybe it didn’t bother you, but trust me a prospective tenant will make a note of that. Further by not fixing something like this when you have a “turnover”...? It will be a turnoff to good prospective tenants. It must be done "Prior To Showing" too.
That's because when good tenants see something like this they will assume you the owner will not fix anything in the future such as a heater or air conditioner.
If You Self Manage Your Rental Property Then You Should Read This Article
Yes - Curb Appeal is Important - See Why Below
I've seen too many "self managed landlords" that are unaware of the California Landlord/Tenant laws now on the books. If you try and take too many shortcuts to save a few bucks you just might be causing yourself a lot of grief if things go wrong and could cost you thousands of dollars needlessly had you followed "Prudent Investor/Landlord" standards that are discussed here.
If you are going to rent with Friends - A Roommate kind of deal...? Get it all in writing because if you are friends that have never been roommates before.. if you want to "stay friends".. read this article
We've Suddenly Noticed Have More Inventory - But Slow to Re-Rent.
Phasing out of Freon... check out this article...!
