Rental properties: Your first steps?

[Nancy L.]

I have a good friend closing on his first property today, a 4-plex in a lower income area outside of philly, he will be self-managing. I am trying to put together some first steps, but being only part-time myself, wanted to get some input. I didn't realize he had moved ahead with this property until I got a text this AM that he was closing, or would've gone over stuff more gradually! He really needs a win on this, and it will be helpful for me to have this input for next time too! If there are other threads or resources to check out, please let me know...

My most immediate question is about running credit on applicants as he has two vacancies and has asked me about this. I have my tenants pull their own reports from a free site. I haven't been able to figure out how to run credit. The companies I looked at for running credit seem to require some verification of your business/office address, or some such thing? How does a person working out of their home run credit??

What I have so far:

- Join BP! :-p check out landlord/tenant articles and threads

- An introductory letter to tenants covering where to send rents and maintenance requests (reiterate lease terms for late payments? anything else?)

- Business/rental license

- Transfer utilities (did I read somewhere that it's a good idea to take pics of the meters?)

- Get landlord insurance

- Find out when trash fees and taxes are due

- Inspect all units, list any repair needs, appliances, mechanicals, age and condition; check smoke detector batteries and for leaks (take pics?) (I believe he did have a home inspection, and I imagine a walk-thru today, but still feel this is important to do...)

- Create a budget

- For the vacancies: Address any repair needs, create ads, screen tenants, create leases

- He lives a bit far from the apartment, I'm going to STRONGLY advise him to try to find a nearby property manager who will be on-call for repair emergencies. Any thoughts on locating someone to take just this aspect of the job?

What am I missing???