You may think it’s only the homeowner who has a hard time paying the mortgage, but as a real estate investor or landlord, there may be times when it’s hard to pay the mortgage on your end as well. Here are some things you can do to avoid facing difficulty in paying your mortgage each month.
Keep your properties full. While it may sound overly simplified, this is the most obvious method for ensuring you’ve got rent money coming in each month to cover your property mortgage payments. Don’t allow yourself to get slack on advertising for new tenants. And don’t put off screening applicants or filling your properties because you get busy or overworked. Recognize filling your vacancies as a major aspect of your REI business success and deal with it quickly and efficiently every time.
Do your best to find quality tenants. While you want to keep your properties full, finding good quality tenants is key to avoiding payment problmes. By “good” it means the tenants pay their rent on time, keep the property well maintained and don’t abuse the lease. By using background and credit checks, you can find the best tenants available and thereby do what’s possible to keep your rental fees coming in regularly, which will help you pay the mortgage when it comes due each month.
When renting the property, look for long-term tenants. Don’t assume that quality tenants will necessarily the ones who are interested in a long-term lease. Some good renters will not always be in a position to commit to a long lease period. For example, they may be students or individuals that are working a temporary job. They may also plan to live in the area while waiting to move or retire somewhere else. Whatever the situation, you should look for the long-term renters when the choice is available to avoid vacancies usually associate with tenant turnover.
Doing so will make filling a vacancy at least a more infrequent possibility.
Keep the property well maintained. If you want good tenants, long-term tenants and tenants who pay their rent on time, do your part to keep them. Deal with maintenance issues quickly. Make repairs as necessary. Upgrade appliances or at least ensure the ones you provide are in good working order. Respond to your tenants’ calls quickly, or if you can’t be sure they know you’ll be will return the call as soon as possible.
Being a good landlord will go a long in way in developing lasting relationships with your tenants, which will in turn, help you keep them in your property longer. Often a tenant and landlord relationship can turn an average tenant into a great one simply because they want to keep that relationship intact.
In a tough economy, it’s important to do all you can to avoid facing the difficulty of paying the mortgage. That applies just as much to an REI professional as it does to the average renter. These simple tips can help as you work to develop lasting, long-term, rent paying tenants to keep your properties bringing in the income you need every month.
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