To be successful in real estate investing, you need to be savvy. You need to be smart. You need to know the market. And you need to have the right partners.
No matter where your rental property is located, what type of property it is, or whether you offer short-term or long-term rentals, there are a few things that will give you a better chance of running a profitable business.
Aside from working with an experienced Austin property management company, there are some basic rules of property management that everyone should follow. We outline what those rules are below.
1. Be Polite
It’s very important to establish solid relationships with everyone you work with. This starts, first and foremost, with your tenants. Never lose sight of the fact that you’re able to make a profit on your rental property because you have these tenants.
If you want to create a sustainable and long-lasting real estate investing business, you’ll want to attract high-quality tenants who not only pay on time but renew their leases year after year.
These types of tenants don’t want to be treated rudely by their landlord. In fact, many of these tenants will simply refuse to rent from a landlord who isn’t polite to them — regardless of the quality of the rental property itself. A main reason for this is that there’s often a lot of choice tenants have on the market, so they look for differentiating factors.
The politeness that you exhibit shouldn’t just be targeted to your tenants, though. It’s also important to be polite to your Austin property management partner, local business association and township heads, and maintenance vendors/workers who you may need to hire.
2. Be Professional
You always want to build a personal relationship with those you interact with consistently. Whether it’s your tenants, partners or maintenance workers, you can get more done when you provide a personalized experience for them.
At the same time, though, it’s important to establish the proper professional hierarchy. The goal of real estate investing is to make money, of course, and to do that, you need to position yourself as a professional and not an amateur.
To this end, you want to hire well-respected partners to perform maintenance on your rental property and to run the overall operation if you can’t be there on site. You want to present well-crafted leases and rental agreements, and respond to tenant inquiries in a timely manner when you receive them.
It’s great to sympathize and empathize with people you deal with, but it’s also important to keep everything professional.
3. Follow the Law
Every state where you operate a real estate investing business has rules and regulations that you might follow. These laws relate to what you can do with your property, how you can rent it, how you must maintain it and how leases are drawn — among other issues.
It can be challenging to keep up with all of these laws to ensure you stay compliant, which is why it’s a great idea to partner with an experienced Austin property management team that knows the ins and outs of all the laws.
Another major challenge is that these landlord tenant laws tend to change quite often. So, once you’re up to speed on what these laws are in your region, make sure to stay tuned in for whenever changes to those laws are made and go into effect. If you don’t follow the law, it could quickly become an expensive proposition for you.
4. Follow the Contract (Lease)
Every rental property needs to have a proper and legal contract between the landlord and tenant. Known as the lease, this document will line out all of the rules, responsibilities and expectations of the two major parties involved — you as the landlord and the people you are renting to as the tenants.
The lease serves as a protection document for both sides, ensuring that there is never any question as to what is expected of everyone. It helps to solve disputes before they can even happen.
As a rental property owner, it’s important to follow the contract that you drew up and signed to a T. Never divert from the lease, as doing so could get you in trouble. If you are unsure of what your rights are in a situation, refer back to the lease.
Any tenant worth renting to is going to expect you to live up to your end of the bargain — just as you would expect them to do the same for you.
Work with 1836 Property Management
There are a lot of intricate aspects to being successful in real estate investing. Above are just the four basic rules of property management, but there are many more that you can layer on top of these to ensure you consistently make a profit with your rental property.
If you want to give yourself the best chance at being successful and building a sustainable real estate investing business, it’s important to partner with an experienced Austin property management firm.
At 1836 Property Management, our team of talented professionals has been helping rental property owners just like yourself be profitable in real estate investing for years. Contact us today to find out how we can help you take your business to the next level.
By: Kayla Gonzales, 1836PM Marketing Manager
