Читать книгу Property Management Kit For Dummies - Robert S. Griswold - Страница 19

Understanding what you can charge your tenants is far from arbitrary. Setting the rent in particular can be tricky — especially if you’ve just spent hours investing your time and sweat in renovating and scouring your rental unit to make it sparkle.

In such cases, you may overestimate the market value of your unit because you have so much personally invested. But your prospects aren’t likely to be impressed that you laid the tile; instead, they’ll quickly point out that the flooring color doesn’t match their furniture. But if you lower the rent $300 per month, they’ll consider taking the unit off your hands, almost as though they’re doing you a favor. You may be able to structure some mutually beneficial rental concessions, but don’t be a pushover.

Many rental property owners are simply too nice. Maybe you’re someone who has trouble bargaining and holding out for the top fair-value dollar. You may be kind of like my mother-in-law, who was a sweet but overly generous woman — especially when it came to yard sales. My wife and I are glad that no one ever offered Rita 50 cents for our car!

In addition to setting the rent, you need to make the following decisions before a tenant moves in:

 The amount of the security deposit: Setting security deposits is a function not only of market conditions, but also limitations on the amount you can charge and whether that amount is fully refundable. These restrictions are set by state laws. Determining whether you want to pay your tenants interest on the deposits you hold is also subject to law, but certain advantages can warrant doing so even where not required (especially for long-term tenants). The best way to decide on all the details of the security deposit is to conduct market surveys to see what others are doing. If everyone else has security deposits set at approximately half of a month’s rent, requiring your new tenants to come up with a security deposit of two full months’ rent on move-in is difficult.

 The type of rental contract: Another important decision that has lasting consequences is deciding whether a lease or month-to-month rental agreement is best for your property. Although the residential rental housing industry is trending away from leases because they tend to favor only the tenants, you should reach your conclusion after conducting a market survey and understanding the pros and cons of each type of contract.

Check out Chapter 6 for more info on determining how much to charge, setting deposits, and figuring out what type of rental contract to use.