Self-managing a SFH in the Clovis, CA Area

[Abhishek Joshi]

Hello,

I am looking at renting out my SFH in Clovis. I have been self-managing my other property for the past decade, with the caveat of it being 30 miles from where I live.

Now, I plan to do so with this property, albeit from a distance of 200 odd miles. I had the following questions:

1. Any suggestions on pros/cons to doing so ?

2. I understand a good handyman is needed. Anything else I need to be aware of ?

3. How about marketing the property ? With me being far away, I was thinking of hiring a management company to rent the property out. Any thoughts on tenant screening, and what I could be doing to make sure I get good longterm tenants ?

Thanks for your time!

[Jeff Zimmerman]

Hey @Abhishek Joshi, good questions. 

I think managing at a distance is fine, as long as you can get to the property once a month to check on it.  Sometimes issues can go unnoticed and get much more expensive if you can’t see the property physically for long periods of time.  If you have all your vendors ready to go ahead of time and ways for them to get into the home if the tenant isn’t there you should be ok. 

It may be hard to find a management company that will rent out the property without doing the management, so I’d try and find one before you make the decision to self manage at a distance. That seems like an ideal situation if you are going to manage at a distance but it could be hard to find since managers like to do full management not all-a-cart. 

It’s good to screen tenants with all the standard checks, however I put the most stock in rental history.  For instance if someone has a really low credit score but their previous landlord said they were an ideal tenant and they passed income requirements I may take them.  But someone with a high credit score without previous landlord rec’s or bad rental history may not make the cut for me. 
good luck!  Feel free to DM me if there is anything else I can help with.