There has been a lot of information on the news lately about tenants who are having a hard time paying the rent, but as a selling DFW real estate investor or landlord, there could be times when it’s hard for your to pay the mortgage on your end as well. Here are a few things that you can do to help avoid facing difficulty in paying your mortgage each month.
Keep your properties at a no vacancy level. While it may sound overly simplified, this is the most obvious way to ensure that you have rent money coming in each month to cover your property mortgage payments, taxes and insurance. Don’t allow yourself to slack off on advertising for new tenants and don’t put off screening new applicants or filling up your DFW houses because you get busy, tired or overworked. Recognize filling your vacancies as a major aspect of your real estate investment business success and deal with it quickly and efficiently every time.
Do your best to find good quality tenants. Even though you want to keep all of your houses full, finding good quality tenants is paramount to your success. By “good” it means they pay their rent on time, keep the house maintained and don’t violate any lease clauses. By using background, criminal and credit checks, you can locate the best tenants available in your area and do everything possible to keep your rent money coming in regularly, which of course, will help you pay the mortgage when it comes due.
Look for good long term tenants. Don’t assume that quality tenants will necessarily be long term ones. Many good renter folks may know they can’t stay over a few months at the very most. They may be students or working a temporary job in the area. They may just be living in an area waiting to move to a different area or retire somewhere else. Whatever the situation is always go for the long term tenants when the choice is available. Doing so will make filling a vacancy at least a more infrequent possibility.
Keep your houses well maintained at all times. If you want the good tenants, long term tenants and tenants who pay their rent on time, do your part to keep them happy. Handel maintenance issues quickly and make repairs as necessary. Upgrade the appliances or at least ensure the ones you provide are in good working order. Respond to your tenants calls as quickly as possible, or if you can’t be sure they know you’ll be unavailable for awhile.
Being a good DFW landlord will go a long in way in developing lasting relationships with your renters which will help you keep them in your houses much longer. Often a tenant and landlord relationship can turn an average tenant into a great one just because they want to keep that relationship intact and on going.
In a challenging economy, it’s important to do everything you can to avoid facing the difficulty of paying your mortgage. This applies to both renter and landlord. These simple, straightforward tips can help as you work to develop long term, on time rent paying tenants to keep your DFW real estate bringing in the income you need every month.
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