Starting Out - Landlord Business Process

[Paul Smith]

Hello all,

  My wife and I are closing on our first rental property this week and we are looking for any and all advise that others that have gone before us could provide. At this time we are looking to setup our system and process docs that Brandon mentions in the 'Managing Rental Properties' book (been through the book twice so far). Was wondering if anyone else here would like to share their business process with us so that we could use it as a template and make the changes that would apply to us in our buy and hold business. 

Thanks in advance for any advice you could offer to those that are just starting out in our landlording career.

Paul Smith - Nashville, TN

[Paul Ronto]

I second @G. Brian Davis in saying congrats! Landlording is an exciting adventure that has a ton of upsides if done correctly. Make sure you find good forums to use, and I'd advise having a lawyer look everything over so you're sure you have everything covered. 

Be sure to look up any state, county and city-specific laws that you will need to follow or add to your form collection. A lot of places have occupancy limits for example, with steep fines should you not comply. You local city site should have info or even a whole department that can usually answer you questions. 

The biggest advice a seasoned landlord will give you is to make sure you set up your renter criteria and stick to it, and be sure not to take shortcuts on tenant screening. Bad tenants will cost you in more ways than you'd imagine. Good tenants make being a landlord fun and easy though, so be sure to ask all the appropriate questions during screening, call references like past landlords, current employees and always pull credit, criminal and eviction reports. 

Feel free to reach out directly if more questions pop up as you start looking for tenants and good luck, you're making a great financial decision in owning rental property!