Skill up before buying your first rental property to ensure you get the most out of your investment and avoid common rookie mistakes. Real estate is a popular go-to strategy for investors because it carries relatively lower risk than other forms of investment like stocks. However, you can still get burned, especially as a newbie trying to navigate your legal obligations, tenant complaints, and complicated financial planning. We’ve put together the top 4 skills you need to develop before becoming a landlord, so stick around until the end of this article.
Top 4 Skills to Develop Before Becoming a Landlord
- Communication Skills
Keep your renovations on track and your tenants happy by sharpening your communication skills. As a property owner, you constantly have to talk with several parties to ensure operations in your rental run smoothly. For instance, it’s not enough to take note of a tenant’s complaint when something goes wrong. You also have to apologize for the inconvenience, send a timely written notice if necessary, and reassure them with accurate timelines on when you plan to fix the issue. Such interactions can strengthen your landlord-tenant relationship and encourage your renters to renew their lease. Likewise, you also have to communicate with your contractors to avoid misunderstandings during routine maintenance, property repairs, or even renovations.
- Financial Management
Brush up on your accounting and bookkeeping skills to ensure your rental property remains profitable. Running a rental property requires you to keep track of a lot of numbers, otherwise, tax season will become a nightmare as you struggle to balance your books. Thus, you’ll need solid budgeting skills so you can track your rental payments and allocate the appropriate funds to expenses like emergency repairs, scheduled maintenance, and employee wages.
- Property Management
Maximize your rental income by gaining valuable property management skills. If you want to get the most out of your rental property without spending a fortune on renovations, then you have to invest in your knowledge of property management. It’s not enough to put your rental online and hope for the best candidate to send an application. You need to learn how to screen tenants thoroughly to avoid those that are likely to cause property damage and reduce your portfolio’s value.
You can explore real estate investing courses to be equipped with the knowledge you can use when you start promoting your rental. Also, you need to know how to keep a property in top-notch condition, and that includes being able to spot signs of mold growth, knowing when to fix an appliance or buy a new one, and how to get your home ready for the winter season.
- Legal Knowledge
Stay out of legal trouble by getting a basic understanding of landlord-tenant laws. If you want to avoid a civil lawsuit or fine, find out the local fair housing laws in your district. These are anti-discriminatory laws set in place to protect tenants, and new landlords can unintentionally violate them by marketing their property as exclusive for college students, or child-free couples. Another common legal issue that leaves rookie property owners stumped is eviction laws. Unfortunately, you can’t remove a tenant from your property immediately for being difficult. Even when they’ve missed out on several rent payments, you still have to follow due process in a lawful eviction.
Benefits of Working with a Property Manager
- Save More Time
Hire an experienced property manager to take care of your daily operations as a rental property owner. Not only doing this can save you time, but hiring an extra set of hands to look after your property can give you time to focus on other priorities. Imagine how many hours you’d save if someone could take care of minor tasks like calling the plumber, sending rent payment reminders, and performing routine inspections. Doing this can free up your time and focus on activities that can improve your skills as a landlord. To be specific, there are also essential business skills that can help landlords navigate their rental property business, so you can invest the extra time in learning something else.
- Get Valuable Expertise
Another benefit of working with a property manager is that they often have more experience managing properties within the area. You can try to leverage local tax deductions while being compliant with latest updates on your local rental laws. Other than relying on the internet and other available resources may be able to provide general knowledge on real estate management, a property manager can give you location-specific information that could be valuable in helping your business thrive.
Becoming a Landlord
Start your real estate journey on a good note by skilling up to ensure you have what it takes to run a successful rental business. If you’re looking to stay on the same page with your tenants and contractors, brush up on your communication skills to avoid misunderstandings. Aside from keeping your tenants happy, you also need to be able to decide which expenses are necessary and track them with your property and financial management skills. You can also stay out of trouble by acquiring basic legal knowledge on fair housing and eviction laws.
If becoming a landlord sounds overwhelming, you don’t have to do it alone. You can always hire a property management company to save you more time and bring valuable local knowledge to the table.
Local News Via - MyrtleBeachSC.com
