If you are ready to lease out your home to a tenant, then there’s a lot of things that you need to get done before you actually have a tenant move in. There are plenty of factors that you have to consider as an investor if you want to boost the street value and appeal of your property, but if you are ready to go, then it’s all about attracting the right tenants.
Rental properties that present will have a much higher chance of securing the right person. With the right person in your home, you can guarantee that they will take much better care of it. Before you start opening your doors with the help of a real estate agent, there are some things that you need to get covered first. For example, you are in charge of HVAC replacement if the current one is not up to scratch. You are also in charge of the repair of those HVACs. You should never lease out your property unless it’s 100% ready for what the person is going to be paying for.So with this in mind, let’s take a look at how you can get your property ready for your tenants.
- Start with the basics. Does your property have a phone line? Does it have an Internet connection? Is there security available? Does it have privacy in the form of curtains or blinds? Is there good water pressure? Are there smoke detectors? These are all questions you have to answer as a landlord. Would you want to rent out a property that didn’t have these basic things? Probably not. One of the easiest ways to determine whether or not your home is going to be comfortable enough for a tenant is to imagine yourself living there.
- Get it cleaned. Your investment property may already look clean, but the day before tenants are due to move in, have a team of cleaners come in and give it a full, thorough, deep clean. Steam cleaned and dry cleaned carpets should be on the top of the list, as should be repolishing the tiles or floorboards. Cleaning off the windows and getting the fly screens cleaned and cleaning all of the curtains and blind have to be at a high standard. If you expect your tenants to live comfortably in the property and put it back to the way it was when they first moved in, then you have to give them somewhere beautiful to move into in the first place.
- Fix the broken things. If there is moldy bathroom grouting or leaking taps or washers, smoke detectors that are overdue for a service or broken anything in the home, you need to get them sorted out. The property should be in the best condition it can possibly be in, so inspect every single fixture, whether it’s the letterbox or the back fence. Check everything to ensure that it needs replacing or repairing.
- Call the gardener. If you have a back or a front yard for your house. Getting it tidied up and cutting down the lawns, the bushes and the trees is a smart idea. If there are cobwebs hanging from the eaves or along the fencing then you need to make sure these are brushed down. Of course they may come up again overnight, but at least you would have tried. It should be all about creating a great first impression for your visitors.
- Try to add some value. If you have the spare cash and you want to add a little something more to the home, updating it can help. Swapping out the fixtures and fittings, or adding new carpets to some of the rooms can mean that tenants are moving into a fresh house and they will be more inclined to look after it. Nobody wants to look after a property with cracks in the walls or yellowed ceilings from previous smokers. It’s important that you look at what your home is offering now and try to improve it before somebody moves in and starts paying for it.
- Get all of your utilities and services organized. Check the final readings for gas, electricity, telephone and water accounts. If there is an alarm that’s connected to security services, make sure that somebody comes in to check it over and make sure it’s ready to transfer to the tenants details. If you have an inground or an outside pool. A garden or grounds maintenance. Then you need to make sure that your contractors are up to date and have come in to do the usual checks. Don’t cancel any accounts in previous tenants names, just get them all transferred to the new tenant.
- Get some insurance. As a landlord, you need to make sure that you have insurance in place before you lease. It doesn’t matter whether you are managing the property yourself or whether an agent is doing it for you. An insurance policy is going to help to cover you for unpaid rent.
- Make it stylish. Just because tenants aren’t buying your property doesn’t mean they won’t want to be attracted to it. If you leave the furniture in the home, make sure it’s professionally left there and styled and new. If you want to leave it empty, ready for tenants to move in, making sure that the carpets look good and the walls are clean is important. You want to make a great first impression on the right tenants and it’s important that you are looking to prepare your property for rent in the right way. You don’t have to bring out a property stylist if you don’t want to. So just do your best where you can to prepare the property for a great photo shoot with the marketing team.
Getting the property ready for tenants is important if you want to make a good impression and have tenants that stand the test of time.This is your investment, so make sure that you look after it.