Hello and question about renting our house

[Derrik Buschatz]

Hello everybody.  New to the website and already learning alot.  Thank you.

My wife and I are considering putting our house up for rent instead of selling when we move next year.  I have a few requests for advice.

We installed brand new hardwood when we moved in last year.  We planned on living here for much longer than will be the case.  The hardwood is everywhere except bathrooms and laundry room.  The questions I have involve how much more rent can we charge over a comparable house without nice hardwoods (comparable would bring $1000 - $1200).  It appears after some research we may be better off allowing pets even though the thought makes me cringe.  I imagine walking into the house after a year with swelled wood where there water bowl was, scratches and urine stains.  If the floors are really pretty how much can I get from a renter extra if they have a pet?  I don't expect them to stay pretty for long, so once it is time to refinish, will a few coats of polyurethane be the best bet?  

Our house payment is $725 a month.  So at $1200 a month we make almost $500 extra.  Is this good enough to cover expenses to where we shouldn't even need to dip into any other source?  The house has a brand new roof and HVAC system.

I have more questions but this is it for now.  I will try to search and find the answers for them on my own.  Just thought some current landlords can chime in and give some insight into our uniques situation.  Thanks.

[Edgar Claudio]

Hi Derrik,

I'll try to fill in as much as I can from my own personal experiences. 

I had hardwood flooring installed in one of my homes and had the same concerns as you. 

Not sure how the rental market is in Columbia, but here in Orlando, it's pretty crazy as you can list a home to rent and have multiple applications by the end of the day. So if the rental market is hot in your area, this means you can be much more pickier. 

My tenants have two labador size dogs. I charged a non-refundable fee of $250 per dog and they quickly paid because most other places either weren't as nice and/or didn't allow pets. You could charge more or less. I used the $500 dollars to pay for a home warranty plan for the year. Now your AC/Hvac, plumbing, things like that are now covered. 

Cash flow of $500 is pretty darn good. There should be some additional funds to put aside for contingencies. For my homes,  I put 20% of my cashflow into a continent account. 

You can always hire a property manager and just use their services to locate you a good tenant. You can omit the monthly management services and do it yourself. Easier to manage a good tenant than to locate one in my opinion.

Hope this helps