How to Prepare Your Property for Renting
Monday, October 19th, 2009The next thing we’re going to talk about is how to prepare your property for renting. There are a lot of little things you could do. I see a lot of investors do too much. They spend way too much money making it way too fancy, granite countertops, high-end carpets, fancy trim and all this stuff in a moderate to low income neighborhood. We’ve got to think about preparing your property for rent that matches the neighborhood, that matches the economic reality. Find a company like Simarc and they will help you prepare for property management
At the same time, you don’t want to do too little. I see this a lot. Investors try to cut corners. “I’m not going to paint that. I know it looks like 1970s paneling but its okay.” What happens is, people come in they look at it and they walk around. Its okay, it’s clean. It’s all right. Then they go down the street to a fixed up property and rent it and never call you back. He took the old paneling off, put some nice drywall up there, painted it fresh, clean, and it looks modern.
Who do you think they’re going to rent from? The guy down the street’s property is going to rent a month or two early. Yours is going to sit. Again, if your property sits an extra month, that’s $900, more costs. If it sits two months, that’s $1,800. That would more than offset the cost of paying for the additional drywall and paint.
At that point, your property’s now ready to be a long-term rental. We’re going to talk about how to get your properties ready for rental.