Any landlords?

I have on rent house. Typically, I get $100 deposit in one check. If the place is clean when they move out, I give them the check back.

Rent is prepaid on the 1st of the month. I've had tenants that needed to pay on the 15th and paid a half month extra to allow that.

I generally know all of my renters. They are not my friends of family, but people I know. Talk to your local PD and see if they have any programs for pay (like $25) that if you give them the drivers license and date of birth, they will run a background on them. This is what I do. More often than not, I end up also calling my buddy in the probation department to see if they are on probation.

If the record is clear and not on probation and have a job, they generally make the short list.

Be sure and enumerate in the lease agreement what they are supposed to do. Mine is clear about the yard being mowed and kept clean. I had our corporate attorney draw a simple one page lease up for me. It's important to have this if you have to evict them.

Renting is like playing the stock market. Don't wait around waiting for your stocks to go up if they take a dive. Sell out and cut your losses. In other words, if they miss the rent by more than 5 days, begin the eviction process cause odds are, you're going to have problems more and more with that individual.

Also, show the income (rent) and expense the snot out of everything else regarding house hold items. It's now a business, run it like one.

If you're not a hard a$$, don't do this.

Yes to security deposit. No animals, they will ruin a house in no time. Same with smoking. Make sure your contract is very specific on this. Show no mercy! Sorry to say that but I have seen too many times with my father-in-laws rent properties where he has let someone off the hook for an infraction or late payments. Once the renters smell blood they will walk all over you. He learned his lesson the hard way and now he has no problem putting an eviction notice on the door. I don't think there is a way to pick good renters, eventually you just get them.

Cy

I have friends who rent a couple houses. For one of the houses, they use a rental agency. All business is conducted through them. The agency pre-screens, collects rent, takes care of repairs, evictions, etc. Of course they take a cut (5%?, I could be totally not remembering the percent), but they take the load off....

Can only give from SOZ perspective.

We have a residential tenancy body controlled by the state.

Landlord and tenant matters and rights clearly identified and regulated. eg eviction.

Here get 4 to 6 weeks bond and pay rent two weeks in advance.
The bond must be paid into tenancy tribunal to protect. The tenancy tribunal also moderate disputes.

Here can have a fixed term tenancy of say 6 months or year or casual monthly that is constantly renewed.

Here we are responsible for rates taxes, maintenance, but tenant responsible for repairing inflicted damage. Tenant pays electricity, gas, telephone.

So check if your state has such a body as believe you here tenants know their rights.

Suggest No tenants who have never rented .

Selecting tenants requires you to be able to speak with previous landlords so do not just get phone number get ADDRESS ALSO AS THEY MAY PROVIDE A MATES PHONE NUMBER WHO WILL GIVE A (false) GLOWING REFERENCE.

Get employers details so can ring for character reference.

Set rent that is reasonable. Too low and you will get house trashed too high and they will pay 2 weeks and then the fun begins.

Arrange to personally collect CASH at a regular place @ mutually convenient time. DO NOT have auto bank payments as you will be constantly checking account and ringing them to say where is money. Also enabled you to check on how they are keeping property. Here tenant must maintain exterior as well. If large property you may say you will maintain lawns and garden. That also MEANS YOU KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR PROPERTY and ensure the garden does not die and therefore devalue your asset.

Do not let them be late with rent. it is your property Let thenm know at start the first time late with rent you say you they better start looking for another place.

Ensure you tell your property insurer that you are renting out the family home, so policy endorsed and you know claims will be paid.

Check with them about extra cost tenancy insurance being added as a result of trashing the property or loss of rent due to a fire or trashing.

If providing full or part furnished need contents insurance . If empty tell tenant to insure their contents and possessions as it is their responsibility here.

No sub letting of the property with out your consent.

Put every arrangement pertaining to lease in duplicate writing with tenant signing and landlord signing.

I assume you know about rent books.

You will find two types of tenants. Genuine who treat your property as their home or scum of the earth who resent you having a rental property. Have found first impressions direct opposite !

As for pets up to you when assessing people. We generally say no pets, but there are some tenants who treat their pets like family.....

Just a few tips

Are there any military bases close to your area? We are near a navy base, and alot of people rent exclusively to military personell only.

I agree with the background checks, and security deposits up front.

Good luck.

Thanks everyone! I'll print this out for future reference. Like I said, I am forced into this and would much rather sell the property.

People lie. They all have worse luck than you or most anyone else you know. Promises are stall tactics, not to be taken seriously. Bend over backwards to help someone out and you will get shafted.

I can give you some tips on what "not" to do as a landlord.

Google "Kip Schoning"

Let me know if you find anything positive.

Charging top dollar will eliminate many deadbeats.

Problem is that there aren't any top dollar renters out there.

Get this book!!!!

Get the book:"The unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing". It is easy to read and VERY INFORMATIVE. There is just too much advice that I could give you to fit in this forum.

All of the advice above in the responses is pretty good. There are only a few things I do differently. I allow pets, but I take a pet security deposit. Taking pets in a market that discriminates against pet owners increases your potential rental market considerably.

Set your rent at a reasonable level so that your tenants will stay a long time. Setting the rents at a too high level insures that people will be moving out every term or are are just leaving in the night. Most often, every time someone breaks the lease, you end up with an empty unit for a month or two and lose a considerable amount of income.

Leases are like survey contracts-they are basically unenforcible, but they do serve to set some rules that a lot of tenants think are enforcible.

If you want a sample lease let me know.

> ...should we get a security deposit OR first and last month's rent up front or both? Any certain clauses helpful in the contract? ANY tips?

Check out Blumberg Law Products for standard leases: http://www.blumberg.com/forms/ You can buy the PDF on-line and personalize it. Blumberg form 55 works well.

If you ask prospective tenants for social security number, permission to conduct credit check, driver's license, work address and contact and current landlord many of them will self-screen by not giving the information.

You should get at least one month's rent as security; two month's rent is better. Remember security is not the last month's rent.

Peter Lazio

$100?

$100! Are you serious? I ask $1,000 security deposit plus an extra months rent. If they don't have it I'm not interested in them being on my property. I go the Vegas to gamble...

Be sure...

to watch the movie "Pacific Heights"!

Jim, and yes I'm serious

Charge what you want, and I'll charge what I want. FWIW, the house is a two bedroom, one bath with concrete floors throughout except the two bedrooms which have commercial carpet. It's not a show room house. The counter tops are formica, and $100 will do nicely if I have to clean it. It would take all of about 15 minutes if it was REALLY dirty.

The man asked for opinions on what he should do. The only one I offered was get a good attorney to help with the paperwork. If you don't like what I do, I don't care. It works for me. Did I mention that I live in one of the poorest counties in East Texas and this is a metal house 2 miles from town?

Remember security is not the last month's rent.

I find that easy to remember; it is the tenants who don't seem to understand the concept.:-)

You might try to target some UGA staff members - not students.
Aren't you somewhat nearby Athens?
I'm thinking of "temporary" staff like someone going for a postgraduate degree like a Masters or doctorate.
My landlord here not only does a credit check but also a criminal background check. He won't take anyone with drug or felony histories. He's not 100% solid on that. If something happened say 30 years ago and you are a good boy now he'd probably not worry about it.
Good luck.
E

I have a couple of rental units. I don't really enjoy being a landlord so I gave the job to a management company. They do a real good job for me and only charge 10 percent of the rent (and only when it's rented). I'm a soft touch so my rents were always low. When I let the management company have the properties they immediately raised the rents $100 per month.

If you're gonna do it yourself, get the book "Care & Feeding Of Tenants" and base your philosophy somewhere between that book and the online advise you get.;-)

I own two small duplex rentals. My best tenants have been college students. Mommy and Daddy around to bail them out. Handle everything through the mail. Don't get in fights or pick up the rent at the rental unit. Asking for trouble there. Remember with some tenants you're going to lose. Can't help it. If you don't like the heat of being a landlord get a management agency, yes 5% sounds about right.