Things to know if you want to rent your house (at least what i think should be considered)

Things to ask yourself before you read this.

Should You Use a Property Manager?
Generally, property manager charges approximately 10% of the monthly rent plus 50% of the first month’s rent when new tenants are moved in. the property manager usually does the following: advertise, sign lease, collect rent, keep track of finance, schedule and monitor maintenance repairs, issue legal notices, and file evictions but you will pay for the lawyer fees.
You can save a good deal of money if you manage your own property but all the duties mentioned above will be your duties. I personally advise to be your own property manager so you get to know the ins and outs so in the future when you hire a property manager you know if someone is not doing their job.
How much should I rent my house?
The price would depend mostly in the area where the house is. I advise to use tools like Zillow, craigslist or even call property management companies to ask for prices. I usually use Zillow and just look what house are worth for rent around my property. You can also ask local landlords posing as tenant and just ask questions.
Security deposit
Keep in mind that security despite is exactly what it says, a deposit. I advise to have a separate account for security deposit as you must return it to tenant unless there are damages to house. I usually charge 1 month of rent unless tenant worries you when you check their background. You can pick the amount for the security deposit but keep in mind some states have limitation on how much you can charge and can’t exceed.
How to find the best tenant?
This is probably one of the most important question because you are literally giving keys to your property for a stranger. I always try to do my best because bad tenant could cause you stress and potentially loss of money and could cause success to become a failure.
Advertising for tenants would be the first step. You can use Zillow, newspaper, yard signs or even craigslist (side note: some states don’t allow to use craigslist if you are a property manager so check that before you post on craigslist).
Once you have a potential tenant I advise to do a quick pre-screening which could be done over the phone. I usually ask for monthly gross income, employment, credit (good credit shows stability for their payments), and references to previous landlords. You can call and ask the simplest question: would you have this person as a tenant in the future? I do want to make sure that you are aware that you do not discriminate based on race, skin color, religion, sex, national origin, family status or disability. I don’t even ask questions about that because just asking makes look like discriminatory.
When and how to schedule showing of property?
I usually give them the address so they can drive by it first and if they are interested in seeing it to call me back. I do this because half of the time if you schedule a viewing they don’t even show up so don’t waste your time if they are not even interested in driving by it. After they show interest I try to schedule a few showing around the same time because it creates a sense of competition when they see they are nto the only one interested
Application
You can pick up a generic application at any of the office supply store. When you look for one make sure the potential tenant can put name of all potential renters (Adult), date of birth, SSN, best phone contact, alternative phone #, previous addresses up to 5 years (so you can contact about questions you might have about the tenant’s history), current employer and past employer info (to verify work history), any emergency contact #, release of information statement and last but not least all tenant signature and date. You can actually create this document if you have the time to set there and design your style.
I would advise to you always charge application fee because the time you will put to do all the research will have to be compensated even if they failed your application or your requirements. I know a friend of mine just paid $40.00 per applicant for application fee, you can pick your $ amount but my advise would be to find what everyone else charges around you and match that (don’t take advantage of people by overcharging them).
If the gross income doesn’t come close to 3x the rent or they are unemployed, or don’t have good reffernce or have more than 2 per bed room (law) then I don’t even continue with the application but if they don’t have any issue in that are then I continue with background check and credit check and so on.
There a lot of systems you can use to run back ground check depends on how many applicant you have. I always look at felonies, evictions filed, evictions carried out, bankruptcy and judgment and other things that might alert you.
Once you verified income and employment then if they pass your requirements. Make you if you deny an applicant make you make it clear why they were denied in writing so no reason for discrimination claims. If you find some that meats your requirements ask for the deposit and set up lease agreement. Once they are signing the agreement you should be getting you first month rent. I almost forgot make sure you take pictures of the condition of the house so they cant trash and claim it was already like that. This is when you set up a move in date which you will provide keys to them.

Sorry about my grammar lol. Please follow me and let me know if this helped you.