1st Time Land Lord
I am about to purchase rental property, 3 units, with 2 units occupied. where is the best place to go to prepare myself?
I am about to purchase rental property, 3 units, with 2 units occupied. where is the best place to go to prepare myself?
Your local property management company. Hire them to operate your rental property.
Unless you know your local landlord tenant law and your county eviction procedures, have an enforceable lease agreement, have a means to run credit checks, criminal background checks, and landlord reference checks, you are not ready to do it yourself.
By all means, get your feet wet, but have a professional property management company making sure you never get over your head.
Jump in but dont make a move without making sure you have reviewed your local Tenant landlord law......Unless you want to have someone else picking your tenants and then taking a big cut out of your check I wouldnt hire anyone to do it for ya...(personal opinion) its not brain surgery and if it gets tough consult an attorney..... The first eviction get an attorney and then see if you think you can handle it yourself....Nolo dot com has some good books about both tenant/landlord law and trhe eviction process for California...I have them both ...would bet they have something that would help you out too........Be strong and stick to your contract you will be fine treat it as a business when they are late give them a 3 day notice and follow through if it doesnt work.........
Where do I get as hold of landlord/tennent laws? I'm from massachusetts.
get the book : Landlording: A Handy Manual for Scrupulous Landlords and Landladies Who Do It Themselves.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0932956254/qid=1082586089/sr=8-2/ref=pd_ka_2/002-2713954-6396862?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
its only $20 on amazon. has really really good advice.
for pulling credit/eviction reports, visit.
http://udregistry.com/landlord.htm
extremely competitive pricing too.
Interesting topic. TCI is a good place to start. I just became a landlord for the first time as well. I'm a quiet person and felt intimidated, so I hired a property manager. Makes life easier but takes 8% of my rent, and that is a significant expense. I see myself as an investor and not a true landlord. I would say if you have a forceful enough personality do it yourself, if not suck it up and get a manager.[ Edited by wstrouse on Date 04/21/2004 ]
Here are a few thoughts. You might get a copy of a book on tenants rights. This will give you a very magnified view of Landlord/Tenant law from the other side. I have one and find it very helpful. It lists local laws by community include rent control and eviction control ordinances. It will also give you perspective on what adversarial confrontations are out there so you can avoid them.
You might be able to find a property management company to locate tenants for you, but you get to manage the property. My feeling is that you should gain experience so that when you grow and need to turn over to a P.M. company, you will have much greater understanding and be able to manage the P.M. company with more skill.
Just my thoughts...
Check to see if you have an Apartment Association in your area. I belong to one the provides me with free forms, landlording advice, legal advice etc.. They also provide for a fee credit checks, eviction checks and bouncing checks within a few hours.
Be sure to allign yourself with a good real estate attorney also. I've used the same attorney for years now. He's great, a real bulldog, loyal, trustworthy, and more importantly he returns my calls.
He's licensed in Mass., so if you're interested i can give you his number or email and you two can talk.
Hopefully, you'll never need an attorney for evictions, etc., but odds are you'll need their expertise eventually.
Sure, having the landlord/tenants rights handbook is essential, but I find the real trick is wording a notice to quit or even a use and occupancy letters accurately within the legal arena to protect myself.
Having my lawyer as a resource to check over my letters and help me establish a paper trail for trouble tenants is invaluable.
Take care and good luck.
[addsig]
Thanks for the good advice everyone. Monkfish, I'll take that lawyer referral, I appreciate it.
I agree with DaveT, find a good property mangement company. I recently started, 7 months ago, in REI and have 10 units now - I know I can make good sound decisions, but I also know when I don't know enough about a topic. I'm learning everyday, but handed over the mangement to professionals.