Manage Your Rentals Regardless of Location
Technology made the world a whole lot smaller, and that is a very good thing when it comes to real estate investors. Communication across the world is simple, and it led to making deals more convenient for both parties involved. There even comes a point when buyers make offers sight-unseen, or relying only on photos and 360 videos instead of ocular inspections.
The situation is even more positive for real estate investors. You can live in one country while having rentals in another. And instead of spending a lot of money on hiring a local property manager, you can manage your rentals remotely.
Manage Your Rentals After Vacancy
The most visible and easy part of managing a rental is the showing off part: tasks such as posting photos and publishing listings online are easy enough that you can do it on your free time. But what about physically showing off the property to prospects?
You can do these in a number of steps:
- Write a FAQ about the property – cover every question that a prospect may think of, from parking to utility costs, even pet policies and the expected traffic situation.
- Try to set up an automated reply system – questions will naturally come pouring in (you’re not doing a good job if you don’t get any mails about the listings), so try to make your job easier by crafting auto responses or at least a template reply.
- Hire someone to be physically present at the proprty – you can ask a friend or family member if you need to save on costs, or you can even hire an actual property manager on a one-time leasing agreement. You can pay them a month’s worth of free rent as their placement fee.
Screening Tenants
Another thing that technology and the Internet made easier is screening of prospects. You don’t want any troublesome tenants to occupy your place, as not only will that affect the reputation of your rental, you may even find yourself legally liable for problems caused by the tenant.
Use the Internet and any third party agencies to run credit, eviction, and criminal reports on potential tenants. Some of these services will cost money, but they are worth every penny when compared to the amount of savings you’ll incur in the long run. You also save yourself a lot of headache and potential fines.
You should also call the employers of your shortlisted applicants just to verify their financial status, as well as their likelihood of continuing employment. Depending on who you talk to, you may even get a glimpse as to how responsible they are.
The Actual Moving In
Make sure you collect the rent for the first month and the last month, as well as the security deposit. Tehre are many options for remote payment now, including PayPal and VenMo. Read the terms and agreements for any payment option you use, you don’t want chargebacks or disputes caused by contraventions of the payment processor’s TOS.
Double check if the lease agreement is viable in the applicable state, especially when it comes to e-signatures. And there should be someone physically present during the move-in, so once again you might want to turn to a relative or friend, or hire a temporary representative.
Manage Your Rentals Remotely Through Ongoing Communication
Just because you are a physically absent landlord does not mean you have to be an absentee landlord. Use phones or the Internet to maintain a regular line of communication with your tenants. A good starting point is checking on them every three months, adjusting it to be more frequent depending on situation and the tenant’s comfort zone. When you manage your rentals remotely, simply opening a consistent line of remote communication does wonders.
Maintenance and Repairs
The issue of maintenance and repairs becomes difficult if you try to manage your rentals remotely. But you don’t really need to make huge adjustments – you just need a physical representative, and the rest will be the same as if you were present. Namely, you need to have a small army of local contractors that are ready to provide their service when needed. So make sure you have contacts that can do minor repairs and maintenance, as well as specialists that can take care of roofing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc.
You might even want a local maid service in case there is a need for emergency cleaning.
Evictions
This is a process that is difficult even if you are physically present. Evictions are always a nightmare for every one involved, and it gets harder if you are trying to manage your rentals from overseas. One thing you have to make sure is to hire a local service when handling evictions. There are third party firms that can do everything from serving eviction notices, to making court appearances on your behalf. Don’t hire eviction companies from a different state, because it may break your lease agreement. Find a local company, and make sure you have them lined up even before you need them.
Turnovers
Finally, the denouemant: turnovers are easier compared to the previous step, but it still requires your utmost care and attention. Since you won’t be able to make a physical appearance, try to do the second best thing – send out your trusted handyman in case there is a need for updates or repairs. You want your property to look appealing to the next prospective tenant.