Derek,
I think the piece you are looking for is how you go about advertising your property, how you screen potential tenants, drafting a lease specific to your state, and what is a good way of collecting the rent. Am I right?
Well, it goes without saying everyone who has replied before me has the landlord experience in the rental world, and they know what they are talking about, so listening to them is super important for your success.
Having said that, BP has partnerships with PM software companies to help you advertise and manage your properties. This link already has the BP companies sorted out to only show you online companies
https://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-companies/property-management?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search%5Bcompany_category%5D=property-management&search%5Blocation%5D=&filter%5Bspecializations%5D=Property+Management+Software&sort=
Now, I personally use Avail.co (it is not a typo, it is literally avail.co). I have used them for 2 years so far and I like them. You get a 1-month free trial or unlimited free basic management. If you want more, (which I recommend) it is $9.99 a month for 1 property, $16 for two, etc. Once you create your personal profile, you create a profile for your property(s) and they push your advertisement to all major sites such as Zillo, Zumper, Trulia, etc.. the list is long. If you price it right, have good pictures and good property descriptions, inquiries will start coming in. Then, it is when you MUST have all of the other pieces of your plan in place. That's why you follow what everyone has mentioned here to include reading Brandon's book and watching the Webinars so you can ask the right questions during screening, etc.
I normally point my prospective tenants to submit their application and background check through Avail. Depending on your level of comfort, Avail offers few options regarding background check and eviction records. I normally go for the full 360 checks so I can review employment history, income verification, criminal records, etc. But again, that is me, I like that piece of mind. In the end, those are the applicant's records and Avil holds a copy of them so the potential tenant can use this same documents to apply on another listing within Avail in the event I chose a different applicant.
At the beginning, all communication happens through Avail but as you talk to the prospective candidates you choose to move outside Avail and communicate directly on your phone, email, etc., but again, the choice is yours. Once I get the initial screening and ask them to submit their application and background check, I get to review the potential tenant applications, then I follow up on those I have selected whether in person, over the phone, or whatever works for us. During this second stage, I lay down expectations.
After my selection, I draft the lease using Avail's software, you just click on the applicant and Avail does the rest. The cool thing about Avail is that it will ask you which state is this lease for, and it will create the lease according to the laws of that state.But you can always tailor/customize it to meet your needs. As an additional percussion, I have my state lawyer to look over it. I only have to do this once because the next lease will have the same approved lawyer lingo.
Because I had already communicated expectations, my future tenant knows they have to set up their bank account and payments through Avail. Avail will then deposit the payment in the bank I set up. The cool thing about it is that the site will send automatic reminders about upcoming due dates, and will track late payments and fees, etc. It takes away my headache.
Talking about headaches, because your tenant has an online portal within Avail, in the event they need maintenance they can submit their request through the site and you will receive an email or text with their issue. If you have a maintenance person you work with, you can set their phone number and email address so they get a notification as well. All you have to do is follow up with your maintenance guy.
Probably I went overboard with it all.
Either way, Avail is a cool and cheap way of managing your properties if you are small. As you grow, probably your systems will have to change. This is my process, although not perfect, it works for me. Good luck, I hope you will find what works for you as you. Keep us updated.
