How to be a Successful Landlord Even at a Distance

If you can't live close to your rental property, you naturally worry about the ongoing integrity of it. With these tips from experienced Dallas property managers, you can mitigate your concerns and stay on the path to be a successful long-distance landlord.

Screen Renters Thoroughly

A good rental experience starts with a good renter. Don't let the urge to get a property rented quickly distract you from screening your tenants thoroughly.

Never skimp on this step because even one wrong renter can be a costly disaster. You should always have potential renters completely fill out applications, review credit ratings, confirm recent employment, and contact references.

Investing time and money to identify the best candidate yields better profits than rushing to get your property occupied.

Write a Clear Lease Agreement

Your lease forms the foundation of your legal rights. For the best results, work with an attorney local to the area where your rental property is located. In this way, you can develop a lease compliant with local regulations.

On top of thinking about local laws, your lease should not leave anything open to speculation. Specify your obligations and the tenant's obligations. Clearly spell out what can and can't happen on the property.

Major issues to address include:

• Smoking or not smoking
• Pets or no pets
• Number of overnight guests
• Parking
• Rules around parties or larger gatherings

Establish and Maintain Communication

Give your phone number to your renter. Providing an email address is a good idea too.

Explain that you want to make contact regularly. Depending on your preference, this could be a check-in once a month or every three months.

Encourage them to come to you with any problems or concerns, even minor ones. You want to know what's going on so that you can remedy the situation.

Visit the Property

At least once a year, take a trip to see your property. The travel expense may be easily outweighed by the opportunity to detect an issue before it balloons into a disaster.

Your annual visit presents an excellent time to schedule inspections with a roofer or HVAC technician. It's best to view potentially expensive maintenance issues in person so that you can see what the problem is and get multiple quotes.

Set Automatic Rent Payments

As a long-distance landlord, you surely dread the "check is in the mail" excuse when the deadline comes and goes. Limit the chances of late rent by setting up electronic rent payments.

Ideally, you can establish an automatic monthly debit from the renter’s account. Alternatively, give them an easy way to set up direct payments to you with a bank's online bill pay service.

Acquire Local Contacts for Repair Services

The last thing you need is scrambling to find an emergency plumber from a thousand miles away. Find some local handymen, plumbers, or electricians who you can trust and have a service agreement in place with them ahead of time.

An existing relationship protects you from price gouging and poor service. You can find out the cost of services before needing them. You can call for quick service when something breaks and threatens your property. Your tenant will appreciate prompt response.

Choose a Professional Property Manager

A reliable property management company close to your rental unit can manage almost all issues that confront you as a long-distance landlord. Instead of calling around to multiple parties, you can work with a trusted company, like Classic Property Management.

Our management team specializes in:

• Lease development
• Marketing and tenant screening
• Inspections and repairs
• Budgeting and revenue/expense reporting
• Tenant relations
• Rent collection

Maintain Properties Long-Distance with Classic Property Management

Success as a long-distance landlord can be difficult but is possible with a solid local team. With the experience of a reliable Dallas property management team, you get peace of mind, and your tenants have a good experience. 

Classic Property Management is a team of rental property managers that help make your rentals the best place for quality renters to live. Contact us today to learn more about our services and what you need to manage your rental.