You might think that only tenants have a hard time making a mortgage payment, but even for real estate investors or landlords, problems are sure to come up that make paying the mortgage hard. There are things for you to do to help avoid having a financial hardship come up that can hinder your ability to pay the mortgage every month. Here are a few tips on how to keep your house rented in New Jersey:
Keeping your properties full.
This may seem like a no brainer. but this is the biggest thing you can do to ensure that you have rents coming in each month so that you can cover the mortgage payments. Do not allow yourself to slack on marketing for qualified tenants. You also need to make sure that you are adequately screening the applicants, you don’t want to get yourself in a position when something comes back to bite you later on down the road. Keeping away from having any vacancies will contribute in a major way to your business being a success.
Finding quality tenants.
While its important to keep your units full, finding quality tenants is the key. A “good” tenants is someone who pays their rent on time, keeps the house properly maintained and won’t abuse the leasehold. Doing thorough background & credit checks will enable you to find the best tenants possible and will help contribute to keeping your rental fees coming in consistently, which is important so that you will not be late paying the mortgage.
When possible, seek out longterm tenants.
Don’t assume that quality tenants are the same thing as longterm tenants. Some good renters already know that they only plan to stay a few months, at most. This is common with students or professionals working a temp job. They may only be living in that area while they wait to move or retire somewhere else. Whenever you have the choice between two well qualified tenants, always opt for the one who will commit to a longterm lease. Doing so makes filling a vacancy something you need to think about that much less.
Keep the property well maintained.
If you want quality, longterm tenants that pay their rent on time, you need to do your part to deserve them. Make sure you address maintenance issues quickly and make repairs when necessary. Upgrade the appliances or at the very least, make sure the ones you provide are in good working order. Respond to tenant calls in a timely fashion, or if you know that you won’t be available for a certain time period, make sure they know you’ll be unavailable for the time.
Being the best landlord goes a long in way in developing relationships that will last with your tenants. Take care of them and they will take care of you and help to take good care of your property.
In a tough economy, it’s important that we do all we can to avoid running into trouble paying the mortgage. That applies just as much to a real estate investing professionals as it does to the average renter. These easy tips can help guide you to work towards developing great and lasting relationships which will then in turn continue to bring forth the income you are expecting every month, on time.
