There are two main reasons people entering retirement find themselves as landlords:
Scenario 1: You have your heart set on the perfect active adult community, but can’t sell your current home quick enough or for the price you think it deserves.
Scenario 2: You have bought the perfect second home on the beach or in the mountains, but don’t plan to be there year-round. To make a little extra money, you decide to rent your vacation home for others to enjoy while you aren’t there.
Either scenario can be frustrating for newly minted landlords. Luckily, the
Equifax Personal Finance Blog has some tips to help you become an excellent landlord and protect your assets.
Real estate expert Ilyce Glink’s article, “Real Estate Investing: How to Be a Good Landlord,” offers the benefit of her own experiences renting out properties. She also gives a summary of suggestions offered by Robert Shemin, author of Secrets of a Millionaire Real Estate Investor.
- Don’t expect to become friends with your tenants. Keep it a business relationship because friends may expect more leeway or special treatment – perhaps being late on the rent payment or requesting extras for the home.
- Be very clear about expectations and policies.
- Use your current good tenants to help find your next good tenants by enlisting their help.
- Always run a credit check on potential renters.
And what does your perspective tenant’s car have to do with anything? You’ll have to follow the link to the
http://www.equifax.com/blog/ to find out!
