Just to close off my seven Landlord Tips I am throwing in two additional tips for landlords or those thinking about becoming a landlord. I’ve been getting some pretty consistent feedback from readers via email so if you are looking for more information like this, I would love to hear about it. I am also considering putting all of this together in a handy PDF file you can download as well. Then you can have all the tips together.
Bonus Landlord Tip #1
One of the secrets, that isn’t much of a secret, about Real Estate is to take advantage of leverage. Where else can you use someone else’s money (the banks in this case) to pay up to 80% of the value of a purchase and then allow you to reap the full return of the property going up in value?
I did have my former financial advisor mention to me you can do it with stocks, but during the last year, I know there are many folks out there who suffered the dreaded margin call due to this and are now paying dearly. If you have a rental property that cash flows, even if it drops $50,000 in value you don’t have to come up with extra money to pay back the bank. Then as long as you have a long term vision and hold onto the property for several years you should have a very merry outcome!
Bonus Landlord Tip #2
It is unbelievable how many times I have heard investors say, it’s just a rental when they are talking about their property and the work they are having done to it. It may be just a rental, but it is going to be someone’s home.
If you treat it as just a rental, that message gets delivered to your new tenants and they too will treat it as just a rental. If however, you treat it as someone’s home there is a much better chance they will take that message and treat it as their home. Wouldn’t you rather have it treated as a home?
Just to clarify, this doesn’t mean you need to install granite countertops because you would want them in your home, just don’t choose the cheapest products because you don’t care what happens to it. A real life example from us is a property we own that we renovated and updated to a much more modern look. The same property was also just down the street with the original shag carpet, dark brown kitchen cabinets and original fixtures. In the five years we have owned the property we have had a total of three sets of tenants, the other property has had the for rent sign out on at least six different occasions that we know of and who know how many times we didn’t see.
Because our property is a home we not only get tenants staying longer, treating it better and feeling like they are in a home, we also get to charge a $200 per month premium because it’s a home, not a rental. Don’t fall into the trap of owning rental properties, own homes that you rent out!
If you missed Tip #1, it is available here, Landlord Tips #1, Don’t buy where you live, buy where tenants live
If you missed Tip #2, it is available here, Landlord Tips #2, Spend Extra Time Screening Tenants, So You Don’t Spend Time Evicting Them Later
If you missed Tip #3, it is available here, Landlord Tips #3 – Being a Landlord is a Business, Treat it Like a Business
If you missed Tip #4, it is available here, Landlord Tips #4 – Don’t React, Pre-Act
If you missed Tip #5, it is available here, Landlord Tips #5 – Take The Emotions Out
If you missed Tip #6, it is available here, Landlord Tips #6 – Be Slow to Choose Tenants and Fast to Take Action on Problem Tenants
and finally if you missed Tip #7 (which is an incredibly important tip these days!), it is available here, Landlord Tips #7 – Cash Flow is King
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help and advice needed!
Went to Landlords & Tenants dispute hearing process which was great. Terminated the lease on Aug. 25 with tenants to be gone middle of Sept.. Owed 1 1/2 months rent. Approx. $8000 in damages and they have only been in the house 7 weeks.
Went to call a bailif to collect rent money owed and Bailiff needs an order to break and enter to get into the premises to seize assets. Anyone know a quick way to do this?
Thanks
Ouch, sorry to hear about that Mad as Heck. The Bailiff should know the process to seize assets. I haven’t had to do this myself, but one of the bailiff companies that should know is Serv-It. They can be reached at 403-244-4782 in Calgary or 780-424-9020 in Edmonton. Please let us know if they were able to help.