HOUSE BUILDERS’ HARDWARE AND 5 TIPS ON HOW TO OPERATE THE “SOFTWARE”.

Build your house and maintain its value.

Many house builders who build for renting out are a stressed lot due to their involvement in the day to day headaches related to property management. Their mastery of the physical aspects of house building which I call the hardware part is not reproduced in the property management aspect which I call the software part. Many houses which are beautiful pieces of art on the urban landscape are ironically sources of psychological strain for owners who oftenly are unequipped to cope with the challenges associated with letting a house to tenants. Rent and rates defaults, broken window panes and lawsuits are part of the downside of letting your house. Property management which comes as a full time engagement is therefore aimed at minimizing these bad things so that the landlord can maximize on the great advantages of real estate investment. In computing terminology software means the how to part of using a PC which is the hardware and hardware without software is useless because one cant do without the other. Here are 5 tips on how you can minimize the problems that can arise when you rent out your house. 

5 HOW TO MANAGE PROPERTY OR “SOFTWARE” TIPS YOU SHOULD KNOW AS A HOUSE BUILDER

1. Screen prospective tenants.

  This however, only work when you have a reasonably big number of prospective tenants offering to rent your house. When screening   on a pool of people your chances of getting  a good person is higher than when you are interviewing one or two individuals. In order to get this pool  you must advertise your house on media that has a diverse and large human traffic so that your property can be exposed as far as possible. This rules out media like  whatsapp groups. 

2. Create a lease. 

A lease is useful because it contains or prescribes remedies in the event that the lessor ( landlord) or lessee (tenant)  violates the rights of the other.

3. Include the security deposit.

 A deposit is important because it buffers the landlord from liabilities incurred by a tenant during his or her stay at the property. This money must be paid upon assuming occupation by the tenant and is refundable less any liabilities incurred by the tenants if any. Some tenants are not as honest as they appear at first and usually disappear or run away from the debts they would have caused. If you have their deposit held in trust you will be safe from this possibility.

4. Negotiate a shorter lease term. 

I prefer a shorter lease term  because it helps you to make use of the security deposit before the costs of liability goes beyond the amount of deposit held in trust. Usually the deposit is only used upon termination of lease so if the tenant causes some liability to the property like municipality debts and fail to correct this problem the only thing you can legally do about it is to pay for them yourself and furnish the receipts to the lessee. This makes the tenant a debtor to you but if he is already failing to clear other debts what will make you think he will clear this one. So I prefer a shorter lease that makes you be able to use security deposit in correcting any liabilities sooner rather than later. The tenant is offered the right to renew upon termination.

5. Enlist a pay on demand property consultant if you cant afford 15% commission. 

If you cant afford a monthly agents commission of 15%  you can find a property consultant who do individual work for you like creating a lease, advertising for and screening prospective tenants, supervising renovations for a given period of time etc and only get paid for that. For this you can part with money  between $35 - $75.00 per job. This is advantageous to you because it affords you save money but at the same time getting a professional touch to your property management. Above all it relieves you the burden of the work that can be stressful, difficult to you or that you may not have enough time to do.

Do not hesitate to call on +263 772 997 229 to enquire on some issues raised here. I specifically offer services to landlords who want property services on demand . So please call or whatsapp using the given number.