With a cooling housing market, property owners are looking for ways to maintain, elevate, and make use if the equity in the homes they own. You may be surprised (or not) to find homes leaving the for sale market and re-entering as rentals in the near future. Renting out property to qualified tenants is a solid option in continuing to grow equity while the market stablizes. We've put together 5 key steps to take in order to prepare your property for the rental market.
1. Neutral Walls
Much like preparing a house For Sale, removing personal items and personal style in favor of neutral walls and decor. Like Buyers, future Tenants want to see themselves in the home. Additionally, White and Beige walls are easier to color match and recover after Tenant's move out. Matching that perfect Peacock Blue you once chose for dining room a few years later? It's never going to be a great match.
When choosing the best paint for a rental, avoid builder grade flat paint. The cost is low, but you'll pay to paint again and again. Flat paint collects finger prints, scuff marks, and dirt in an unforgiving way. High quality Semi-Gloss and Satin finish paint will keep your rental looking fresher, longer.
2. Minor Repairs
Of course youre fixing major malfunctions, but pay attention to details. Items many owners gloss over include leaky faucets, loud appliances, or doors that don't open/shut properly. These seem like tiny maintenance items that "wouldn't bother me if I were a renter," but often these tiny nuisances can lead to or are a symptom of larger problems.
3. Professional Photography
Take photos! Once you're home is in top condition, take photos. Staging for photos or virtual staging is a great way to appeal to a wider audience. Crisp, professional photos will go a long way in making sure your rental stands out from the others on Zillow. Many owners often avoid the Professional photos route because of the cost. We regularly use Showcase Photographers in Nashville to snap our Rental and For Sale listings. Often they can schedule photos within a day, and are consistently turning around very well edited pictures in 24 to 48 hours.
4. Determine Management Method
Yes, this is the part where we shamelessly self promote Boxwood Properties as your Property Manager. Managing tenants, background checks, chasing rent, coordinating maintenance, it's a full time job - and it's our full time job. It doesn't have to be yours. For clients with one or two, well maintained rental properties, just using our Listing Only services takes the worry of Tenant Screening and Negotiating leases out of their hands. For most of our clients though, we handle everything from the painting to the tax reporting. Shop around, there are so many well established PM agencies in Nashville. You'll want an agency who is knowledgeable about the rental market, has access to painters and maintenance, understanding of tenant screening and lease negotiation. The cost of Property Management should match your expectations of the results you expect from your Property Manager. In addition to the management of your property, any professional agent can always recommend maintenance that should be done on the house and who should do the work. By engaging professional help, you'll be engaging a broad network of services!
5. Listing Exposure
Finding the best listing platform for your rental in your market will make all the difference in exposure. Real Estate Professionals usually have access to Business-grade platforms for maximum exposure. If you're hiring a Professional, ask them what platforms they plan to use to expose your listings. Regular Property Management companies often have a waiting list of individuals looking for housing, and can push your listings in front of these individuals and other Professionals.
If you're planning to list on your own, some great platforms for rentals are Zillow and Apartments.com. I've also seen great success for clients using Hemlane.com Hemlane is a property management platform that's used by individual owners and professionals. Hemlane makes all the connections for you, from listing agents to maintenance people. Hemlane does require a fee, and you should verify that the fees are in line with your budget. Other platforms like Zillow and Apartments.com will request small listing fees, that are one time payments. Both platforms will feed your listing to their sister platforms like Trulia and Hotpads.
Depending on your type of rental, you may find other platforms useful for Furnished rentals (FurnishedFinder.com) and Airbnb for 30+ day rentals. Prior to listing, research which platforms are best suited to your market and rental type.
Boxwood Properties manages Rentals of all kinds for Property Owners of all kinds. You can always call or message for a consultation to see if Self-Managing or hiring on a company like Boxwood is the best fit for you. We also offer guidance in estimating your current equity, and planning the best use for you of your property.
TESTIMONIALS
We worked with Boxwood maintenance services for some home repair needs, and we were very impressed with the entire experience. The scheduling and quoting process was quick and easy, and the pricing model provides valuable services at an affordable rate. We needed some carpentry, painting, and water-proofing done on exterior doors and windows, and we got a fair, on-site quote and were able to get the job started same-day. The maintenance professional we worked with was prompt, communicative, and highly skilled - all around a pleasure to work with. We also felt confident knowing that maintenance services are backed by a well-known company like Boxwood, so we had 100% confidence that our project would go well. The results were great, and we will use Boxwood for all of our future handyman, repair, and maintenance needs!
-Lindsey O'Connell, past Buyer, Maintenance-service User, Nashville, TN
Boxwood goes above and beyond to find the perfect house for you. If you are scared of interest rates or price, they know how to confront it! I highly recommend Boxwood for anything in the housing/renting/commercial market. Sara Muller, Past Client, Current Supporter, Ashland City, TN
I was introduced to Boxwood mid purchasing our vacation rental from out of state. As a Realtor myself I understand the importance to have a team you can trust....To say I was lucky to find them is beyond an understatement! Kristin bent over backwards to help us furnish the property and find a tenant with no time wasted and even ahead of schedule. Her lease agreement was customized to our needs (within legal rules of course) and she has maintained professional communication between us and our tenants again keeping everything prompt and on time. I actually hope to purchase another rental just so that Boxwood Properties could manage it for me! If you go with Boxwood you're in fantastic hands and would not need to worry about a thing! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!😍🏠
-Lindsay Hovdal, fellow Realtor, Property Owner, Lake Havasu, AZ