New Rental property

[Jean Joseph]

Hi guys! I've just purchased my first rental single family home. Question: would you use the sellers agent, who is also was the owner to list my property for rent? Ps. Reason i dont want to use my agent is because she lives an hour away from the property so i dont think it'd work out. Thanks!!

[Joe P.]

My advice would be, if you have the time and you are managing it yourself (sounds like you are), is to come up with your plan to list, show, prepare, and rent the property yourself.

Besides being incredibly informative to both processes and what you'll encounter, you'll also know the ins-and-outs should you ever turn it over to someone in the future.

Some thoughts below on listing; I have many more if you're interested but this is all sourced from my experience and using BP posts/articles to assist:

• List on Craigslist, and use Zillow (which propagates to Trulia and its partners).
• Get lots of good pictures of the unit, pick the 10-15 best.
• Be as professional as possible in how you describe the unit. This always amazes me how posts have very little info, spelling mistakes, no selling points, and a couple of crappy pictures.
• You will be INUNDATED with e-mails. In my estimation for every 100 e-mails you receive, 10 people will come out to visit, and only 2-3 put in an application.
• Have your basic requirements ready with a CANNED response. E.g.: "Thanks for your interest in 2000 Main Street, Unit A. We would like to get you in for a showing. The rent is $1000 per month, and our income requirement is 3x rent, and all applicants are required to have a 600 credit score. We will perform a background, credit, and eviction check for all applicants. (Also put in if you have an application fee). If you meet the minimum requirements for this property, lets schedule you for 6-7 PM on Wednesday." or something to that effect. And have it ready for everyone -- don't take the time to respond personally to every e-mail because most people are just sending 100 pings out, and many aren't even ready.
• Do not show the property any time someone asks -- set aside an hour a week and tell people you have a showing between 6 and 7 PM on Wednesday, for example. It's up to them to make it work.
• Track visits/applicants in excel. Doesn't need to be fancy, but once they've said they meet the requirements, basically you now have a potential fish on the hook. It's up to you to get them in, meet them, and see if they are rental-worthy. You want that list to be as large as possible, so it'll flip to you following up with them. If someone is rental-worthy, and ready to go, chances are they're looking at several properties and you'll want them gobbled up quick.

This is just a short list to help you get going, but organize your plan and prepare yourself for this path.