Anyone who has ever rented out property in Stockbridge has heard a story or two about terrible tenants and nightmare situations. If you want to avoid your own horror stories, we suggest you screen tenants thoroughly, inspect your property regularly, and pay close attention to the ways you enforce your lease. Working with a professional Stockbridge property management company can also put your mind at ease and ensure you don’t run into any catastrophes.
Terrible Tenants: Late Rent and Property Damage
One wrong tenant is all it takes to destroy your ROI and your rental property. Good tenants pay rent on time, take care of your home, and follow the terms of your lease. Landlords fear bad tenants, and for good reason. They pay rent late or not at all. They damage your property and they tend to disappear before the end of the lease or they don’t pay attention to the lease at all and bring in unauthorized pets, additional people, and sometimes criminal activities.
If you want to avoid bad tenants, you need to screen them thoroughly. Make sure you’re looking for past evictions and checking landlord references. The way a tenant has performed in the past will be a good indicator of how he or she will perform once installed in your property. Don’t skip the tenant screening process. Verify everything on the application and set some fair, consistent, and rigorous standards before you approve an application.
Unreported Maintenance and Expensive Repairs
When things break at your property, you want to know immediately so you can respond to the issue and avoid additional damage and more expensive repairs. When tenants don’t report a leaking faucet or a stain on the ceiling, you can find yourself with a plumbing disaster. Avoid costly emergency maintenance issues with regular inspections. You’ll want to inspect the property before a tenant moves in to document its condition and take care of any problems. You’ll do the same inspection at the end so you can see whether any damage was left behind. And, you should always do an inspection during the tenancy. This will give you an opportunity to look for unreported maintenance issues and make sure your tenants are following the terms of your lease.
You might think it’s great that the lease is almost up and your tenants never called to request a repair even one time. But, if you walk into your property after those tenants move out and you find it’s a disaster zone due to neglect, abuse, and misuse – there will be a high price to pay.
Properties that Won’t Rent
Another valid fear that landlords have is that their properties won’t rent and they’ll sit vacant on the market, costing money and accruing expenses. This would be terrible, so make sure you understand how to market and advertise your home. Take some great photos, price it competitively for the market, and be aggressive with your listings on all the popular rental sites that prospective tenants are using. Follow up immediately when you get an inquiry, and be available for showings when it’s convenient for those potential tenants.
Consider working with a professional property management company when you want to avoid horror stories and bad tenants. Property managers will protect your investment and its condition. If you’d like to hear more about what we can do, please contact us at Fickling & Company Property Management.