It is kind of a cliché these days that landlords are not that nice and are not very trustworthy. You may have wondered if it is possible to be a good landlord and still be able to make money. Since many landlords can be neglectful at best it seems that you have to be this way. The reality is that you can be a good landlord and make money.
In fact, you are likely to make more money over the long term when you are a good landlord as opposed to being like the stereotype. Bad landlords are going to have diminishing returns the longer they behave in that fashion. In this article, we will go over how you can invest in real estate and make money as a good landlord.
1 – Keep the property maintained
Keeping your property in good shape doesn’t just make you a good landlord, it also makes you somebody who understands things. This is because if you neglect to fix little problems today they become bigger and more expensive problems tomorrow. Unfortunately, many landlords are known to neglect their property to make sure that the costs don’t cut into their monthly profits.
You need to make sure that you are responding quickly to the needs of your tenants as well. If they are frustrated because things never get fixed around their place then they will leave at the end of their lease. This ends up costing even more money since an empty unit is costly as is finding new tenants often.
If you are unable to take care of your property because you have another job then look into hiring a management company to do it for you.
The top ten condo property management companies in Etobicoke should be a good starting point when looking for a good one.
2 – Make it easy for tenants to pay
The more restrictive your payment options are for the tenants, the more frustrating the process is for them. This makes it likely that they will pay late and cause you to have some cash flow problems.
If you give them options for payment then they will pay on time.
There are so many easy ways to make payments these days that everybody has their preferred method. Make sure to ask your tenants which platform is going to work best to make sure it is easy for them to pay.
3 – Keep communication open
Being available to your tenants will go a long way to being a good landlord. It is also a way to keep yourself covered in case of problems. Make sure to have communication kept to a few platforms. Everything should be covered in an email, SMS message, or written form so there is always a paper trail.
For one thing, it is helpful for you and tenants to have a reference for conversations that have happened so everybody stays on the same page. It is also helpful in case there is a problem so you have a paper trail of proof of any conversation that you’ve all had.
