Many people think it’s only homeowners who have 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 rental house. 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 to simple, this is the most obvious method for ensuring you’ve got rent money coming in each month to cover your property mortgage payments. A good tip is to always keep a pipeline of rental applicants. You don’t want to stop advertising because you never know when a tenant may move out. You also may want to consider keeping a record off all your applicants on previous properties and contact them if you have a sudden vacancy. Remember, filling your vacancies is a major aspect of your business success and need to 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. By “good” it means they pay their rent on time, keep the property 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.
Look for longterm tenants
Don’t assume that quality tenants will necessarily be longterm ones. Some good renters may know they can’t stay over a few months at most. They may be students or working a temporary job. They may just be living in an area waiting to move or retire somewhere else. Whatever the situation, opt for longterm renters when the choice is available. Doing so will make filling a vacancy at least a more infrequent possibility.
Keep the property well maintained
If you want good tenants, longterm 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 unavailable for awhile.
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 a landlord professional as it does to the average homeowner. These simple tips can help as you work to develop lasting, longterm, rent paying tenants to keep your properties bringing in the income you need every month.
If you have done the analysis and decided that it was time to sell your rental property, fill out our contact form and we will reach out to you with a fair offer to purchase your rental property!