You might not think it, but more students are getting savvy with their money by investing in property. They might get the funds to buy a property from an inheritance or some other windfall, or simply by working hard while they study and saving their money.
You’re likely reading this because you have recently purchased your first property (or plant to) and plan to rent it out to tenants. It’s an exciting time for you, and you look forward to growing your investment further and eventually expanding to other property purchases.
Whether you’ve invested in an apartment or a house, there are some things you need to do before you let tenants rent your property from you. Here’s what you need to know:
Cleaning
The first thing you must do is ensure that your property is clean and fit for human habitation. If you’ve bought a property cheap because it’s a “fixer-upper,” you’ll need to ensure that everything is safe and works as it should before deep-cleaning it.
There’s no denying that COVID-19 is a concern for most people looking for rental properties, so with that in mind, you must ensure all rooms, surfaces, walls, and ceilings are clean and free of germs and bacteria.
If you’ve bought the property cheap because its previous occupants have a checkered past, it also makes sense to use a company like Stewarts Drug Testing to ensure there are no hidden toxins in the property.
Renovation
Aside from cleaning, is there any restorative work that you need to carry out before your property is fit for human habitation? If so, now is the time to get on with that work. You could save money by doing some work yourself, such as painting the walls.
You may need to hire a professional for other renovation tasks like installing new carpet or upgrading electrical wiring, sockets, switches, and lighting. Always make sure that all work undertaken gets done safely and to a high standard.
Remember that a well-presented property is most likely to attract the higher end of rental prices in your area, so that’s what you should aim for to boost your rental income profit as much as possible.
Tenant Checks
Let’s face it: the last thing you want to do is rent out your property to people without checking they are legitimate. That’s why you should conduct thorough checks on prospective tenants before accepting them for a lease by using screening services like Equifax.
Firstly, you must carry out identification checks; all legitimate prospects are happy to have such checks done. Secondly, you must make sure that they can afford the rent as you don’t want to end up in a situation where your tenants become squatters.
You can ask to see proof of their income, and depending on where you are in the world, you can even conduct affordability checks by examining their most recent bank account statements, for example.
Final Thoughts
There isn’t much you need to do to prepare your property (and yourself) before leasing your property to prospective tenants. The above are the most common things you should do.
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