The Art of Real Estate » tenant

Learning to be a Good Tenant: 2

Heather — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:56:00 +0000

There are more benefits than you might imagine to being a great tenant. For one thing — and this is especially important if you like where you live — it will make your landlord more likely to want to renew your lease, often without a surprise increase in the rent you currently pay. Your landlord will be far more likely to fulfill your requests in a timely manner. Believe it or not, when you are a good tenant, it is possible that it will result in an improvement on your credit score, because your landlord will provide a great reference.

So, these are — of course — a number of the reasons why you should be the best tenant you can possibly be. Sometimes that is easier said than done, however, so keep checking back for surprisingly easy tips on how you can pull off this endeavor.

Learning to be a Good Tenant: 1

Heather — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:21:28 +0000

When you move into a rental, whether it is a house or an apartment, it can be a new and sometimes difficult situation. You have to get used to your landlords. And, of course, your landlords have to get used to you.

If you have ever rented before, then you know a simple fact: there are good landlords and bad landlords. Sometimes you do not discover that your landlord leaves a lot to be desired until after you have moved into your new place. Depending on how much you like your space, this is something you either have to deal with for the long term or until your lease is up, it all depends.

Regardless of how your landlord behaves, however, sometimes the best thing you can do is be a good tenant yourself. In this series of posts, we will talk about how to accomplish that.

Strengthening the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants: 4

Heather — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:15:25 +0000

As a landlord, you cannot let your tenants walk all over you; please do not take that message from these posts. You can be nice and kind without being a total pushover.

Professionalism is key. It allows you to be kind and fair but firm as well. After all, this is your property, your home, your apartment complex, whatever the vase may be. You should not be too friendly, because that could prompt your tenants to take advantage of your kindness.

If the rent is late, stick to your late fees, or else you might find that the rent starts to come late every month — and if tenants will break one rule, they may break others, simply because they do not think you will do anything about it.

To this end, it is important to make sure that your expectations and standards are clearly stated in the lease.

Becoming A Landlord: 4

Heather — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:09 +0000

Now that you have your screening process in place, the next step is making sure that you come up with a binding contract. This is something that you will want to get your lawyer involved with, as you want to make sure that everything is on the up and up between you and the tenant. Most of the time – it is going to be simple, but you want to still have one.

If you do not come up with a contract, that is when problems could come in. For example, if the tenant trashes your place and leaves it … you can’t exactly bring them to court to get some money because you did not have a binding agreement between the two of you. That is why it is so important to get your lawyer involved.

Being a landlord is not easy, but it is something that you can do – in the next blog, we are going to talk about repairs and how you can keep track of them.