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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Conduct in person bi-annual inspections (with photos). Some tenants won’t tell you about problems either because they don’t know what to look for or are afraid of getting a rent increase for being “difficult.”  Pay particular attention to any signs of water damage or leaks and pest issues.  You also want to ensure the tenant is maintaining the place (cleanliness) and not making unapproved modifications. It shows you are serious about protecting your investment. Get a solid lease from real estate professionals in your city. A lot of leases leave important things out that you wouldn’t think of without having a bad experience. I would consider hiring a property mgr to start (I also agree most are terrible) but there is a learning curve. Maybe hire them for 2-3 years until you fee confident self managing. [/quote]

Yes, I found a property manager type (really a real estate company) helpful for getting started— holding open houses, screening tenants, showing a draft lease form, drafting an application, doing a background/credit check. It was not as helpful for management and so I started doing that on my own quickly.

Also- depends on your area but my place is in a rental-dense, popular area and it got tons of not serious, “just looking” interest. Some of those people hadn’t even moved to the area yet and were checking out the place through FaceTime via friend or agent. They wanted to move in like 3 months instead of a few weeks. It would’ve been annoying to show the place so many times for that and the company dealt with all that, fortunately.

We did charge a low application fee on their recommendation— something like $20, just to screen out the unserious people. Other small landlords charge more to cover a background check. 
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