Landlord Preparing Your Home for Rental Success – 2023
Go Back To Previous PageIt can be daunting if you’re looking to become a real estate landlord and rent out your home. It would be best if you did so much to get your property ready to rent out and make an income. But with these helpful tips for preparing your home for rental success, you will be well on your way to success!
Assessing your Property
The first step on this journey is to assess your property. Will you market it as a house, flat, apartment, and so on How many bedrooms does it have? Check if any repairs need sorting out and if there are any structural issues to examine.
At this stage of your rental journey, it is worth looking at similar rental properties in your area to see how much they rent for. Speak to any other landlords you know to seek advice, especially if their property is nearby or similar to yours.
Researching Local Rental Regulations
Before you go any further, look into all rental regulations in your local area and the country. Ensure you can comply with these so you don’t have to pay a hefty fine or get in legal trouble. These
regulations include health and safety inspections, energy performance, fire safety, property licensing, electrical safety, and habitation checks.
With multiple legislations, rules, and certifications in place, it helps to know exactly what you need to prepare your rental home for rental success. Seek advice from professionals and other landlords if you are confused about what to do!
Safety and Security Measures
Following on from the legal regulations in place, it is vitally important as a landlord to ensure your house is safe and secure for your potential tenants and yourself.
Personal or financial value items should be removed from the property or completely secured. Burglary, fire, and carbon monoxide detectors must also be in place.
Anything you can do to secure the property further, such as improving gates and locks, will help. Ensure you have tested any home electrical appliances under landlord-tenant law.
These security measures also extend to protecting yourself and your tenants financially. Deposits should be made using an approved scheme. It would be best to take out the relevant insurance to ensure you are fully protected should anything go wrong with your rental arrangements.
Upgrading your Kitchen
When you’re looking to rent out your property, it’s essential to ensure the house or flat is up to scratch practically and aesthetically. The kitchen must be spacious with enough cupboards, surface space, and safe working appliances.
Think about design, too. Don’t decorate the property to suit your tastes, but leave it with minimal and neutral decor so tenants can put their stamp on the place (as much as you’re happy to allow, of course).
Upgrading your bedroom for Rental Success
Regarding decor, the same applies in the bedroom: leave it neutral and minimal. Colors like beige, taupe, cream, rust, and mauve work well in a bedroom – it should be a calming and relaxing space, and these colors allow for that. If you rent your house out as a furnished property, you can do plenty to get rental-ready.
This might involve adding a mattress topper to the bed to make it more comfortable without spending much money and ensuring plenty of storage in the room. You can also play around with natural light!
Curb Appeal and Outdoor Spaces
When landlords talk about curb appeal, they mean how your house looks from the outside. If you make it look nice for people passing by, you will be more noticeable when looking for prospective tenants. Improving your curb appeal starts with clearing gutters, repainting the roof, cleaning the windows, etc.
Improving your outdoor spaces at the front and back of the property is another way to prepare for rental success. Ensure gardens are presentable and safe, mow the lawn, clear up any rubbish, and clear the boundaries. This ensures safety and ease for all.
Developing a Marketing Strategy for Rental Success
Once all of this is put into place, repairs made, decor finalized, insurance sorted, and so on, it’s time to look at renting out your property! This is a life-changing decision, and you want to ensure it goes well. There are a few different ways you can market your property, whether that be a more personalized approach or through an agency.
If you’re looking at doing it all yourself, you can advertise on social media, local paper, or community notice boards. You can also list your property on home search sites; you usually need a real estate agent. This means a broader range of people see you, but there is a fee. It depends on what you’re happy to pay for in the process!
From Homeowner to Landlord
With these tips to prepare for rental success, you’ll hopefully feel more confident about what you need to do to start your journey—repair and upgrade your property, ensure you comply with all necessary rules and regulations, and start marketing your available home to those searching for one.
Georges has been working in Wall Street for the last 16 years trading derivatives with hedge funds. He has been an active real estate investor for over a decade. Georges graduated from HEC Business School in Paris and holds a master in Finance from ESADE Barcelona.
