Common Mistakes Landlords can Make

Common landlord mistakes
There are ways to avoid common mistakes landlords can make.

Whether you are a new or seasoned landlord, landlords are humans. And humans make mistakes. There are some common mistakes landlords can make. Avoiding these mistakes can make achieving success easier.

Poor Tenant Screening

Finding the right tenant is essential to making landlording successful. The ideal tenant is one who will pay rent on time and live in the rental property with care. Tenants who do not pay rent (on time) or destroy the rental property take up a lot of a landlord’s time. In these unfortunate cases, landlords have to track down rent or consider eviction which is a time consuming process. Taking the time to review a tenant’s rental and employment history can provide long term benefits. And conducting criminal background checks and credit checks will give landlords additional insight. Tenant screening services like TransUnion’s Smartmove make it easy for landlords to screen tenants. Having a good tenant screening process in place saves landlords time and contributes positively to the business’ bottom line.

Old School Methods

Among the common mistakes landlords can make include doing things the old school way. Today, the internet and smartphones are a significant part of our lives. Applying technology makes landlording easier, and it can create happy tenants. For example, instead of collecting rent the old school way by cash, check, or money order, landlords should use online rent payment. By collecting rent using a service like ClearNow, landlords save time and eliminate trips to the bank. At the same time, tenants just need to have funds in their bank account. Tenants don’t have to write and mail a check or meet the landlord to hand over cash.

Lack of Organization

Whether you are a full time or part time landlord, landlording is a business. And with any business, you want to be profitable. How do landlords know if they are profitable? They need to stay organized and keep good records. In addition to knowing profitability, landlords have to file tax information to the IRS at tax time. So maintaining good records make this information filing to the IRS easier. Lack of organization is one of the common mistakes landlords can make. Accounting software makes organization really easy. There is a lot of choice for landlords for tools for managing income and expenses. Landlords should take the time and see which software works best for their needs.