Newbie from Dallas, TX

[Beatrice Trotman]

Hi,

Found your website as I was researching information on Leasing my home. I hope to try to lease it out within the next two months and would greatly appreciate any information regarding the whole process of leasing a home in Texas.

A little about me, I recently retired from the USPS last month. 35 years! 21 of those years I worked in the Leasing dept. of the real estate division. My title was Facilities Contract Technician. I basically handled processing all of the leases, i.e., New Lease Agreements, Renewals, Amendments, set up the rents, paying taxes, changing ownership's and many, many other various lease administration duties. At this time I still feel like I'm on vacation, but enjoying the stress free life!! :) After the first of the year, I hope to MAYBE get back in to commercial RE leasing, but I'm sure it's a whole different animal than what I was used to in a Govt. agency. At any rate, I look forward to getting my home leased and making some additional income from it! Thanks for any information you can toss my way in order to make this process as smooth as it can be.. ha, ha!

[Kyle Goodman]

If you have a good email address, i can email you a copy of the lease. The best clientele/prospective tenant you can get buy having an agent list on the MLS. Whatever you do, don't let a company convince you to do "property managment" and take care of everything for you. It's very lucrative...for the property management company and not you. ON this site, there are some services to pull background checks, credit checks, for a minimal fee. Charge a app fee of $35 per adult, and you can get that covered. To get the going rate, look on craigslist at house being rented in your area. After selecting the tenant you MUST have them sign lease, provide a full deposit (1 months rent), Pet Fee Agreement (never use the word deposit...as you are keeping this). Provide a Move in Date....take a video of the place with them when they move in. Have them point out things they see wrong. Let them know you are not agreeing to all their request, but any request that aren't fullfilled will be documented. You can increase rent, deny renewal, or raise rent on the next term. Lastly, when they move out, you MUST send their remaining deposit back with a detail of what was taken out and reason. Try not to be too detailed, as bickering takes place. Deposit return must be postmarked no later than 30 days after vacating the property...these are the basics.