Creating a Lease Agreement

[Scott Greenberg]

Hello Bigger Pockets community! 

I recently purchased a new primary residence and I am turning my former house into an investment property. I hope this is my jumping off point into a long real estate investment career.

Question: Is there a good resource to create a good/strong lease agreement? I live in the Montgomery County, Maryland area.

I have already called around to different landlord/tenant lawyers in my area and they all said that they do not help draft lease agreements as a service. I was also referred to a property management company, whom I contacted and offered to pay for the one time assistance, but they would only assist me if I used them as a property manager (I plan on managing on my own). I have also found free tools online, but this being my first property, I cannot tell if the generated lease agreements are all encompassing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Scott Greenberg:

Question: Is there a good resource to create a good/strong lease agreement? I live in the Montgomery County, Maryland area.

Don't reinvent the wheel. BiggerPockets sells their Lease Agreement Package for $100. It was built by investors and is attorney approved for each state. You could find something for free on the internet, but you don't know if it's attorney approved or if it includes the most important clauses. A lot of them are filled with $5 attorney jargon that Landlords and Tenants won't understand.

I've read hundreds of lease agreements over the years. The BP version is better than the vast majority of them.