Renting a house?
February 24, 2010 by
Filed under realestate rentals
my nephew wants to rent his house.Is it better to rent it on his own or to go through a Management company or a RealEstate Agency that has a person who deals with rentals?What are the benefits of doing it alone or having a Management or Realestate company do it for me?
If you are talking about a 1 family house your nephew will propably be much better off managing it himself. There is not a lot of work involved in renting a house to justify paying a mgmt company. I think your nephew should get in touch with someone who knows about landlord laws for an hour or two to make sure he dosn’t do anything illegal to start. After that it should be very easy.
In the beginning its ALWAYS better to have a professional do the advertizing, showing, research and management.
Too many times I saw it happen: a person decides to rent his/her own property “to save the commission”. Those folks get burned – royally!
Why? Because they listen to every hard luch story and sob story from every person who responds to the ad or the sign.
Those not-so-good tenants move in. They pay the rent for the first month or two and THEN its downhill from there.
Novice landlords are given every excuse why the tenant doesn’t have the rent.
THE WORST situations are when folks rent to family and friends. The family member(s)/friend(s) just don’t have any respect for the folks helping them or allowing them to live in that property.
Although expenses and taxes occur on a continuous basis, the family or friends simply won’t pay the rent. The property gets into disrepair and it becomes A REAL PROBLEM getting rid of those people.
After creating “bad blood”, insult is added to injury. The property needs to be repaired and repainted, creating more out-of-pocket expenses. Its a vicious, horrible situation. I don’t encourage any one to do it.
ANOTHER thought: The landlord gets called at all hours of the day and night for repairs and for “favors” like pets, letting late charges be excused.
Have I convinced you yet? Do yourself THE HUGEST favor and give yourself peace of mind: Let a professional do it.
Not just any professional. You want someone who knows how to properly qualify prospective tenants and knows how to properly draw the lease.
Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it!
VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!
If you are not going to be in the are – I would use a Property Manager. They are often worth their money in saved hassles and time. If you are living in the area, have extra time to spend dealing with tenants, and are interested in saving that 10% property management fee – then manage the property yourself.
if you live near by then do it yourself since it will cost you 10% of rent to have it managed each month. i would definatly use one to get a renter in there because they do all the back ground checking for you.it will cost you around 200.00 but well worth it.