Just bought our first rental property! Now what?

[Will Graves]

Hi BP community, 

My fiance and I just purchased our first rental property in Charleston, SC. We paid all cash for a 2BR, 1.5BA townhouse about 10min from downtown. It's in great shape / turn key. We setup an LLC and will transfer the title there. I purchased Brandon Turner's Property Management book and plan to read that ASAP.

However, any additional advice as to how we can best set ourselves up for scalable success? Specifically, where can we find a comprehensive draft of a leasing agreement? Anything else we should be doing proactively? We close next month and will immediately start accepting applications and screening tenants. 

Thank you!

Best,

Will

[Mike McCarthy]

@Will Graves

Look into Cozy/Apartments.com for screening and rent collection

Read and understand your state/city landlord tenant laws.

Read and understand screening and questions you can/can’t ask. I tend to get at least one applicant ‘fishing’ for discrimination complaints (do you accept section 8, etc). Make sure you answer correctly!

Make sure you get a home inspection from an inspector of your choosing, even if it is a turnkey property.

And btw, I love Brendan Turner’s books, you’ll find a wealth of knowledge there.

And most importantly, good luck and have fun with it!