First Lease Agreement

[Mark Smith]

I am looking at my first set of houses this weekend with my realtor, but before I jump into my first property I want to start getting my ducks in a row!  How to I go about drawing up my first lease agreement?  Of course I want it to be as solid as possible; any suggestions on items that should definitely be included?

I'm also curious how most investors collect rent.  I would like to do it electronically.  The thought of driving to the property once a month to collect checks, then bring them to the bank, seems like it would be a nuisance.

Thank you for any advice you can offer!

[Brian Knox]

Hey, hey Mark! I just had the exact same questions in Dec '14 when I was going through the same thing.

The BP community was so helpful. For the lease, they suggested:

Use your state's Realtor Association Rental Agreement. Here in SC, we had one. It's some sort of official-ish document that they said is recognized by most judges in court.

I then got a copy of that lease in .pdf and simply typed every single word into my own Word document. This allowed me to 1) make sure I understand every sentence in that lease and 2) edit/add whatever clauses I wanted to. I think I found an article called "10 Power Clauses every Lease should Have" or something like that.

As far as collecting rent and screening tenants and stuff, I'm having good luck with Cozy.co (not .com). Cozy.co seems simple and fresh. And FREE! The dude that runs it - Lucas - was on a podcast I listened to (The RE Loop with @Gavin Welch) I do want to give big props to the RE Loop podcast for being hyper-practical.

I hope my ramblings help you!

Knox