How to Maintain Multiple Rental Properties

Owning several properties in Edmonton is a great asset. But this becomes a successful asset mostly when you rent out at least 50% of the properties and earn rent from them. If you haven’t rented out more than one of your properties because you think that is too much of a task, you are missing out on huge profits. Convert more of your houses into rental properties at the earliest. And if you are wondering how to manage all of them together, here are some really helpful tips for you.

Create Multiple Files

The first thing you must do is separate all the serious information about each house from the other. Each of your rental properties has several legal documents and tax papers. You surely don’t want to mix up all of them, and then end up getting confused every time you need a document. Misplacing documents can lead to huge financial consequences and set you up for disaster down the road. Therefore, create separate files and create one file each for all your properties. Organize all the documents in those files. From rental applications and invoices to leases and inspection checklists, separate everything and organize in different files. Don’t forget to label each of these files with the proper name and address of the house. And whenever you find a new tenant or the old one leaves, maintain their records on the respective files only. Don’t let any document get misplaced.

Screen Tenants

Finding tenants is usually quite simple, but finding the right tenants needs work. Nobody wants to end up with an undesired tenant, especially when you have to rent out multiple properties. Therefore, spend enough time to screen, interview, and meet every potential tenant. A thorough tenant screening process is the best tool to eliminate undesirable candidates and identify those who fully meet your criteria.

Some questions that you must ask every potential tenant are

• Does the tenant have a criminal background?
• Is the credit of the tenant good, and do they have a stable income?
• Will they be living with multiple people? If yes, then how many and who?
• Do they have pets?
• Why did they leave their previous property?
• What do they like about your property?

If possible, conduct employment and tenant background checks of these people to verify the information they provide. Get in touch with their employers to understand their job stability and their character as a worker. Likewise, ask their past landlords about the kind of tenants they were before. This way you’ll get an idea about the person and then decide whether you’d want to rent out your house to them or not.

Use Technology

Since one of the main problems you may face is the inability to be at all your rental properties at the same time, or even regularly. If you run a business in different cities or are a frequent traveller, it will be impossible for you to maintain your lifestyle and still manage multiple rental properties. You will require tools that offer 24/7 instant access. With recent developments in technology, you can work from one location while maintaining your presence felt in all other properties. Voice-over internet protocol, instant messaging, and streaming services are some of the ways that can help you in streamlining a process or at least communicate with your tenants and take a virtual tour of your homes.

Visit Your Houses Regularly

Even with amazing technology advancements, you still need to visit the properties being managed. There are plenty of tasks to be done, such as collecting rents, keeping up with maintenance, conducting inspections, etc. To stay on track and on top of things, you must visit all of your rental properties from time to time. You never want to intrude on the privacy of your tenants, but one of the best things you can do is schedule regular visits where you check and see the property. This gives you a chance to build a relationship with your tenants and see for yourself if there are any issues in your house.

How regularly should you visit each of your rental properties? That is something you need to decide. Decide how often do you want to see your home’s and your tenants. Decide how often you want to understand all the pain points of your tenants and then work on them. And of course, keep your schedule in mind while deciding how often you can spare time.

Be Prepared for Surprises

Managing multiple rental properties can bring along unexpected problems that you will need to deal with. You wouldn’t have imagined that a visit to your rental properties can show some problems with your home’s that your tenants avoided talking to you about. Or someday you may just get a call from one of your tenants asking to repair a broken HVAC system. You never know when one of your investment properties will encounter maintenance problems, so be sure to have the contact of a contractor or a general handyman who will be able to come and fix the issue as soon as possible. Also, keep some emergency funds that can cover these unexpected expenses. You can set aside a few dollars every month for repair and maintenance of your rental properties to avoid burning a hole in your pocket when an expense actually comes. Moreover, be sure to have insurance to cover any unexpected problems and damages.

Managing multiple rental properties on your own can be challenging, and the troubles you face along the way can be discouraging. Make sure you always follow these tips and keep good relations with your real estate agent throughout. The professional will share more insights based on your city’s rental market.

If you haven’t hired a full-service property management company, stop making that mistake and hire one of the best real estate agents in Edmonton today.