The hubby and I recently became investment property owners in West Hartford. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Kind of like watching your teenager learn to drive, but with your car.
It took us about a month to get the place rented after our closing. Here are a few tips you might find useful if you’re thinking about investing:
1. Craigslist is a free and easy way to find potential renters. We used it in combination with Postlets and that seemed to do the trick as far as finding people interested in our unit.
2. Try to do a phone pre-screen before meeting the people at the apartment. Do they smoke? Do they have pets? How many people will be living there and signing the lease? Make sure if you own a condo that they will follow the condo association rules and regulations.
3. ALWAYS run a credit check. We had a few people fill out the application and then bug out once they learned we were actually going to run their credit history. It will save you a lot of trouble and potentially money down the line.
4. Don’t be lazy and make sure the place shows well. The unit we bought was in fairly good shape, but had bright yellow and baby blue walls. It was clean, so we didn’t think much of it, and decided not to bother painting. After 3 weeks of no takers we decided to paint all of the walls a neutral color. It made a huge difference and the place was rented the next day.
ARM mortgages are just beginning to adjust and I believe that a lot of investors that bought at the top of the market are going to be squeezed soon, flooding the market with investment properties. Additionally, due to the tightened mortgage lending practices, there are going to be fewer buyers out there, so more people will need to rent. This will keep rental rates healthy. So, if you have some extra cash and think that being an investment property owner might be the thing for you, it might just be the time to start looking.