The Steps to Renting Out your Property - Part 2

In Part 1 of: The Steps to Renting Out Your Property, we covered 

• Finding the right property manager
• Landlord Insurance
• Taxes

In this half of the article, we get you out the door and into the landlord game.

4 - Decide on the rent

You need to work with your property manager to decide on the best rent. Yes you want to make a profit, but is it wise to charge more than a comparable property? You might find that if you invested just a little bit more to spruce up your place, that you could enjoy much better returns. Your property manager will be able to advise you on this.

The Steps to Renting Out your Property - Part 1

You have a property that you want to rent out. Great! How do you go about doing that? It may seem a little overwhelming at first, but it's not too hard when you have a plan.

So here's a plan for you:

1 -- Find the Right Property Manager:
Property Managers do more than just collect the rent and hand over the keys, they may do some or all of these, so make sure you know what services they provide:

Property Investing for Beginners.

We all have to start somewhere, and starting is the hard part as you know. So where do you start?

The very first step to property investing is researching. You need to know your market so that you can effectively compare properties and know when you have a deal or not. So take the time to do reading, researching and talking with people in the know. If you are able to, physically looking around the area you're interested in, can help put all your research into perspective. When you are beginning, it's probably better to limit your scope and look at 1 or 2 suburbs this will stop you getting overwhelmed, which is easy to do.

When to Invest? Follow the Developers!

Obviously the best time to invest was a couple of decades ago. If you did, your properties would be worth a lot more than what you paid for them. But if you didn't buy in the 90's, whens the next best time? Well once you have enough money for a deposit, here is a way to figure out the best time to jump in the market.

A nifty little indicator on when to buy property is to look at what property developers and experienced investors are doing. Most people when buying property, look at what the crowd is doing and fall into the 'crowd mentality' - if a bunch of people are buying, then I better do it too, so I don't miss out. But rather than watch the majority, keep an eye on the property developers, because they are experienced, committed and have more to lose than you, so they try very hard to not make mistakes.

Property Investing - Know These!

You don't want to have to make lots of mistakes on your journey of investing in property, but here some of the lessons to look out for.

Planning:

You need a plan. You can't just wake up one morning and think 'Right lets go buy some property'. Look at the most successful investors and see how they have done it, and try and recreate it. The bottom line is that you buy under what it is worth, in an area that is about to take off, and then make some changes to the property to add value. This has been a proven system for a long, long time. You still have to decide what cities and also what type of properties to invest in, but that will all be part of your plan.

The Right Presentation of your Rental Property will = Top Rents

As you know first impressions are vital when a prospective tenant views your property. You only get one shot at it. You don't want to be making excuses or explaining that 'the carpet will be replaced, and the crack in the window will be repaired before you move in.'

You need to first decide on what sort of tenant you are targeting. There are tenants who want to save money and are happy to live in a property that is not in first class condition. There are others, such as professional people, who are happy to pay top rent, but expect the property to present at its absolute best.

How to find the BEST Property Manager.

So you have an investment property - or maybe multiple properties. Hopefully you've read about how using a property manager can increase your profits by about 15%, so how do find the right one for your property?

Well, if you are reading this, then you know we are happy to help. But if are looking for the best property manager in another market, keep these ideas in mind:

Free Tool for Victoria Property Buyers

Recently the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) launched a fantastic new tool – The First Home Buyer Guide. Which may in fact be one of the handiest tools around.

If you are a first home buyer then use this to see how much your mortgage payments will be. The tool allows you to see the average weekly repayment for a home in the areas across Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo. You can target suburbs and types of dwellings according to your budget.