Are you currently preparing for deployment? Perhaps you haven’t been able to decide if keeping your current home as a rental property is a good idea or not. Well, if you have opted to rent it out, this is the wisest choice you could have made.
If you feel at all overwhelmed by your choice, don’t worry, Keyrenter Alexandria is here to help. Below are the best tips on how to go about renting your home when you get deployed. Read on to find out more.
Determine the Cost of Rent
Consider how much you usually pay off per month. You should factor in some costs such as utility costs, taxes, and insurance. Charge enough to cover this fee and then later on, add some, since you will be taxed on the income you make from renting your home.
You should also determine whether to include utilities in the cost of rent or let the tenants pay for them separately. Some landlords would rather have utilities such as trash and water bills included in the total monthly cost while other charges such as electricity bills would have to be paid by the tenants on their own. Feel free to choose the one that works best for you.
If the tenants have pets, charging a pet fee would be necessary to cover any damages that may be caused to your property.
Find a Reliable Tenant
Once you have decided to rent out your home, it is necessary to find a good, reliable tenant to take care of your property when you are deployed or have a permanent change of station. Having the house sit by idly would be a very uneconomical decision and choosing to sell could be a lengthy, difficult process.
To avoid this, you could ask your friends, family, or people you trust if they know someone that is in need of a home or if they themselves are searching for a home to rent.
While you’re away, you want to know that your home is in safe hands, and when you return, you expect the house in the state in which you left it. The tenant that will occupy your home should be a responsible one who will handle your home with the utmost care.
Tenant screening is also a critical move to make. You should have a thorough background check to look into your prospective tenants’ past rental history. With the permission of your tenant, you should also do a credit check.
Since you will be staying away for some time or may be permanently transferred, you need to find a tenant that will not cause problems in terms of rent payment. They don’t need to be followed up all the time to clear the dues. Instead, you need tenants who are mature enough to clear the balance on time.
Communicate with Your Tenants
It is essential to have stable and working communication between you and your tenant. By doing this, you will reduce a lot of issues and miscommunications. It will make it easy for your tenants to inform you of their concerns without any interference.
Through this, the information will be passed clearly and easier to solve. Also, it will make it easy for you to give new instructions to your tenants if necessary. If you change your phone number or email address, you should inform your tenants and give them new contact details to maintain a smooth flow of communication between you.
Providing an emergency contact for your tenants is also important. When you are not reachable, you should have an alternative that the tenants can contact. If there is an issue that you are not able to address, there should be someone in the area who can help your tenants on your behalf.
Keep Your House in Order
Set out clear instructions for your tenants. The guidelines you leave should be clear to avoid any form of misunderstanding between you and your tenant. If there is a certain temperature that needs to be maintained and not altered in the thermostat, you should inform the tenant. If there is a risk of pipes freezing in the winter, let the tenant know before you leave.
An extra set of keys should also be provided for your tenant since they will be the new owners of your home temporarily. You can always choose to change the locks if you don’t convert your property permanently into a rental home.
Be Strategic
You could post on rental listing websites that you are renting your home in order to reach a wider scope of interested tenants. This is sure to reach a larger number of people since most people are active on such platforms.
This will give you many prospective tenants which will make it easy for you to evaluate when doing a background check on the most suitable tenant to temporarily occupy your home.
In Conclusion
Renting out your home when you deploy is the best idea. In terms of finances, it is better to have a short-term rental income as one of your streams of income. It is also advantageous since you will continue holding a real estate asset that will eventually grow in value.
Considering the fact that you will be moving due to deployment or a permanent change of station, you won’t be around to make sure your property is functioning as it should. This is why it’s such a good idea for active military personnel to partner with a property management company.
Keyrenter Alexandria is the right one for the task. The owner of Keyrenter Alexandria is a veteran who not only understands what it is like to be a military service member, but who also understands the real estate market. Feel free to contact us today to learn about our services.