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For Sale By Owner - How To Sell Your Home Yourself
'For sale by owner.' Four words that are becoming more and more common in the real estate market. But it selling your home yourself the right approach for you? And if so, how do you go about it?
Let's start with the first question. The "for sale...
Improving Rough In Construction With W.R.A.P.S.
A low voltage contractor named Ken Kurtin realized that the actual time to install and finish a project was taking longer than budgeted, the contractor asked himself… why was it taking more time than estimated?
After much study, the reason that...
Inspecting a Home
Inspecting a House Before you buy any house, take the time to thoroughly inspect the structure and mechanical systems. Costly repairs can often be avoided or at least anticipated by a preliminary inspection before a purchase offer is signed. If...
Kitchen and Bath Solutions
(ARA) - Home improvement has become one of our country’s greatest pastimes. Americans spent an estimated $214 billion on home improvements, maintenance and repairs in 2001, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies research report...
Staging A Home For Sale
So your house is up for sale. It's a good house, well-priced for the neighborhood, and in decent repair. But nobody's buying. What's wrong?
The fact is, you might be looking right past the problem. You've lived in your house day in and day out,...
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Renting A House
Renting a house or a room in your home is a great business that millions of people take advantage of to make some extra cash. While many people rent houses each year, not all of them are successful. Renting a house can be profitable and rewarding if you manage it properly.
Benefits of Renting a House
The main reason for renting a house is you can gain a large steady income. Many people buy rental houses in areas that have a constant flow of tenants and rent them for much more than the cost of the mortgage. Or, you have decided to sell, but the property value is lower than you expected. Over time, a house rental will increase in value and you will gain capital appreciation in addition to a steady rental income.
Typically, a house will rent for a lot more than an apartment. They generally will offer more space and they are usually rented by groups such as families, professionals or students as an alternative to buying or renting smaller spaces.
Another benefit of renting a house is to use it as a vacation home and only rent for part of the year. Many people buy shore homes and rent them except for a few weeks of the year.
Don’t forget about the tax advantages. Any tools, supplies and services you purchase for the house can be a tax deduction.
Challenges of Renting a House
Of course there are many challenges to renting a house. While rental income may be bigger, if a property goes un-rented for a period of time, you stand to lose more if you can’t find tenants.
Maintenance of a home rental can also be challenging. Regular painting, lawn care, snow removal can require constant attention or qualified professionals that will cost you money.
Questions from your tenants on how things work, requests for repairs and rent collection can also take away from the experience of house renting.
House Renting Tips
1. Have tenants share some of the responsibilities. If you have a small yard, require the tenant take care of lawn and snow removal. Provide
tenants with tools they need such as a mower, rake or shovel and assist whenever possible.
2. Collect utilities in advance. Often utilities will be in your name and difficult to recoup from tenants, especially after they are no longer renting your house. Determine the average cost of utilities used and include that amount in the rent.
3. Make the tenant feel at home. When renting a house, you want the tenant to stick around for a long time. Do something special, or provide a service that makes it hard for your tenants to want to leave.
4. Provide parking or make it easy of your tenants to park a car.
5. Provide laundry. Tenants won’t want to drag there laundry in and out of your house rental. This simple feature will go a long way.
6. Pre-wire your house with Cable/DSL service. Your tenants will want this anyway so you are better off having it professionally installed. It will help you rent the house and avoid tenants drilling holes in your walls.
Before you Rent a House
Make sure your insurance covers your house as a rental. Some policies may charge extra if you are renting your house but if you don’t let the insurance company know, you may not be covered.
Check with your city or town on regulations. Cities often have rules on what rooms in a house may be used for renting or the number of non family members that may live together.
Take time to research rents in the area. Get the most out of your house rental by getting facts on other rentals in your area.
About the Author: Don Romanek has been investing in Real Estate for 15 years. He runs www.offcampusnetwork.com where landlords can advertise Houses for Rent or find articles, and forms to help manage rental property.
Source: www.isnare.com
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