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Being a Professional Landlord Sets You Apart

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Start By Making Life Easy For Tenants

Tenants really just want a place they can call home and a landlord they feel will look after them. By portraying yourself as a professional landlord, part of this can easily be accomplished.

If you come across as proficient and prepared it will help allay many of the fears tenants have, so here is a handy tip to help you with that.

be a professional landlordWe have an Emergency Call Number list that we install in every property inside the kitchen cupboard closest to the phone jack. This list has your standard emergency numbers like 911, the local police, non-emergency ambulance, fire department, poison centre, gas and electrical troublelines and of course our contact numbers listed at the bottom.

It’s a simple thing, but it’s just a little bit of comfort for a tenant and is incredibly easy to do. It’s also no accident that we are at the bottom of the list. If there is a fire, or emergency, we want to be called after the appropriate emergency people are called.

Advanced Professional Landlord Tip(s)

If you want to take this to the next level, print these sheets up and take them to Staples or Kinkos or an equivalent office place and have them laminated. We do this and then attach velcro to the backs and in the cupboard so we can easily change them out later if needed. This way they look more professional, they are more durable and it creates a better impression.

Also, if you have certain contractors you deal with all the time, such as a plumber or appliance repair person, include their numbers on there as well. All our tenants have access directly to our plumber and he even has a master key to all of our properties in case of emergencies.

You may want to have an arrangement in place ahead of time, but our plumber knows that if it’s general wear and tear causing the plumbing issues he bills us, if it is a tenant issue (ever had a child’s toy clog a toilet?), he bills the tenant directly.

Can You Be a Professional Landlord?

Do you think this is something you can implement immediately to help establish yourself as a professional landlord? Tell me your thoughts and if you have any additional suggestions or improvements let us know!!

Having contractors you trust makes a huge difference in your landlord business. It’s not always the best price, but it’s always the best relationships that help you succeed.

Do You Really Understand Cashflow?

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Determining Actual Rental Cashflow

rental cashflowT to succeed and really profit as a landlord, one of the basic areas you need to understand is the cashflow your property generates and how to then budget it for future expenses or issues.

Without planning ahead like this, rookie landlords often get caught in rough situations where there simply isn’t enough money to deal with a big problem.

Here’s how a new landlord typically sees it:

Basic Monthly Cashflow

Monthly Income
Rent Upper Unit: $1,100
Rent Lower Unit: $800
Total Rent: $1,900

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage: $1,200
Taxes: $175
Insurance: $50
Total Expenses: $1,425

Total Cashflow (Income – Expenses)
$475

This is pretty typical and the $475 then goes directly into the landlords hands as profit. However, this doesn’t help you long term. Especially if you plan to expand or avoid future expenses.

To avoid falling into a trap, I’d suggest you should change your projections a bit and make it look like this (of course use your own numbers!):

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage: $1,200
Taxes: $175
Insurance: $50
Vacancy Reserve (current vacancy rate % x 2, so 10% of monthly income) $190
Repair Reserve (approximately 5-7% of monthly income) $95 (I used 5%)
Revised Total Expenses: $1,710

Actual Cashflow: $190
But Why?

So you don’t end up like the US government and have to borrow money to pay your expenses! Lack of long term planning and understanding future costs and expenses is wreaking havocs on governments and individuals throughout the world. You can do better than that.

Plan Now For The Future of  Your Property

If you plan in advance and understand you will have vacancies and also understand you will need to do repairs and that you can create reserves so money doesn’t have to come out of your pocket later, you will learn to sleep much better at night. That’s what the second example shows.

The real trick is to take those reserves you are budgeting for and move them into a separate reserve account so you don’t accidentally spend them. Once you start thinking like this you will no longer feel like you are blindsided or trapped when vacancies or repairs start coming up and it will change how you look at your properties.

Remember, Properties are not short term ATM’s, but rather long term investments.

Advanced Landlord Tip

If you have steady tenants for an extended period, this reserve can build up, so we like to put a cap of around $5,000 on a property. Once the reserves break that dollar amount, it all becomes pure cash flow again like the first example. Or……

If you are buying a new rental property, we start with a $5,000 reserve fund that we use as our cushion. That provides us with the higher cash flow right from the start. Then if we do have vacancies or repairs, we draw money out of the reserve and then revert back to the lower cash flow amount until the reserve is topped up again.

Can you see how this takes the stress out of owning property? Once you start implementing a system like this and get used to it, the pressure of having to take the first available tenant just to fill the property evaporates. It affords you more time to choose the proper tenants and doesn’t affect you directly where it hurts, in your bank account!

Is this something you are already doing? If it is great I would love to hear how it’s working for you, if it’s not, when will you be starting?

Why Your Properties MUST Have LockBoxes Installed

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Lockboxes Rock

If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s just a matter of time. Eventually it happens, some day, your tenant will have a problem that using lockboxes could solve, or at least help with. A washing machine will break, a dishwasher will quit or some type of maintenance will be required for your property.

Ideally the tenant can be on site to meet with the repair person, but often it’s not the case and now you have to fit meeting a repair person onsite into your schedule. Introducing the lockbox from Masterlock, a new best friend!

combination lockboxes for rental propertiesI have one of these installed at every single property  and each lock has a key to access the property inside. In the case of up down units, I have keys to access both units plus outer doors keys all nicely labeled.

These units are about $40-50, and you can find two styles. One has the loop , which allows you to attach them to door handles, railings, posts or fences.

The other version requires large screws to secure it to the building. These screws are installed when the unit is open and require a flat sturdy surface to secure them. This isn’t always available, which is why I prefer the loop. Whatever your choice they work great.

Now when I need to arrange a contractor or repairman to visit a property, it’s a matter of passing on the code and away you go, and you can customize the code for each property. That means that if someone knows the code they won’t be able to access your other properties. as well. An important addendum to add to this is, we only do this with trusted contractors and repair people. Not everyone gets the code!

It’s Not Just For Tenants

The other place this can be handy is if a tenant locks themselves out. Some tenants do not understand it’s not your responsibility to go unlock their door when they lock themselves out. They can hire a locksmith to let them in, but this can also be a solution if you don’t want them breaking doors or window to get in. Just remember if you have multiple keys for multiple units, this is not an option.

My favourite use for this though, is during my initial renovations and setup. Often there is no need for you to be onsite to have your painter stop by or your contractor to hang a door or any other myriad of times people you have working on your property need to drop by. Especially when you are first starting out and likely have a day job that you juggle while renting out your property.

By installing one of these units, dropping the appropriate key in and providing your contractors with the code, you can be sitting at your desk while they are working diligently on your property and getting everything ready for you. I’ve recommended this to multiple investors over the years and it’s often one of their favourite tips as it can save hours of time, especially if the property is across the city from you.

How Proper Painting of Rental Properties Can Save You Time

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Painting Rental Properties, The Key is Consistency

When it comes to painting rental property consistency will save you a ton of time and energy.

So what does that mean, consistency?

Does it mean consistently painting your properties? No, not even close, although that can make new tenants happier!

By consistency I’m talking about painting all your properties a single color. From the very first rental property you own to the hundredth, if you stick with one paint color for the walls and white for trim you’ll save yourself a world of headaches and time.

8672W Is Our Secret Painting Code

painting rentals - the secret is ...There, I shared my secret painting code, did it help?

I tell you that code has saved me hundreds of hours and the more properties you have the better it is for you to have a code like this. I guess the big question you might have is, what the heck does it mean?

Well, 8672W was the paint code for the colour of paint we use in all of our rental properties. Now, I’m not suggesting you use the same code (which has actually become a challenge as the paint company producing it has been swallowed up by a larger paint company), but my wife who is an interior designer by trade, picked this for us and we used it in not just all of our rental properties, but we used it in every single rehab property we flipped.

Painting Rental properties - Stick with a consistent color

The great thing about that paint was it’s neutral colour that changed how it looks from room to room depending on the lighting. It’s also a modern colour so it’s appealing to many people.

Now a bonus reason for picking one color when painting rental properties is the time it can save you.

If you have to start painting a wall, you don’t have to try and figure out what colour it is, you just know!

This can save even more time as you scale up and grow your portfolio into multiple properties, you don’t have to remember which property was painted what color, they’re all the same. Better yet, if you do need to touch up a wall or room, since you now buy a single color in bulk (as it’s cheaper to get five gallon buckets than single pails) you usually have a bucket sitting just waiting for the next paint job.

Another bonus with a single paint color you can just give your handyman or painter the color code so they can go pick up the paint directly and it even makes repainting a place easier because it’s the same color!

If you haven’t already looked at using a consistent paint color throughout your properties, you really need to consider it.

Just be sure you don’t choose renter white! It’s too old school, it’s too sterile and it’s a pain to keep clean.

Good Enough To Drink – Fun Facts

Funny fact about that paint code 8672W, it’s “brand name” was “Tequila”, so all my rental walls are painted in Tequila! This particular code was from General Paint and since they’ve been bought out we’ve had to make some minor changes.

Since we have multiple samples of the original color (paint swatches, stir sticks, even pieces of drywall we’ve removed), we’ve been able to get the paint color replicated at Lowe’s.

The important part being it’s mostly consistent. We due occasionally find it’s a slight hue off, but trust me, it still saves a ton of time when you have to repaint a rental property.

And my final caveat, this code might be an entirely different colour somewhere else, so don’t blindly ask for it or you could end up with purple walls!

Making A Great Impression With New Tenants

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Happy New Tenants Stay Longer

keeping new tenants happy makes your job easier as a landlordIt’s true, when tenants are happy, they’re happy to stay where they are at, but when they aren’t happy they tend to look for greener pastures.

One of your jobs as a landlord (or at least if you want to be a successful landlord) is to create a great environment for your new tenant(s), so they stay as long as possible and they treat your property as their home.

Not just a stopping place before they move on to their next rental.

So what can you do to make your new tenants happy?

Let’s start with move in day.

Moving is a stressful time for anyone. All the changes, the deadlines and the newness of the situation.

Often they are moving into a new neighbourhood, aren’t entirely familiar with local stores and restaurants, and they often have a crowd of friends helping them, so why not make the process easier.

First, a flat of water is quite cheap, so pick one up, drop it off in the fridge before you hand the tenant the keys and make sure you put a note welcoming them to the property with it. Now they have cold non-alcoholic refreshments, courtesy of their new favourite landlord, YOU!

A variation on this is to pick up a box of doughnuts. How many tenants, never mind new tenants,  get doughnuts from their landlords?

Talk about making a great first impression!

Second, if your place is vacant, you are guaranteed to have a collection of flyers from local restaurants along with all the other junk mail.

Separate the restaurant flyers (especially the places with take out!) and put them all together in a drawer for the tenants. You can show it to them when they move in and they instantly have a collection of restaurants to call to feed their hungry helpers and to make settling into the area easier.

If you are really good, why not approach a couple of the nearby restaurants and ask if they have flyers or take out menus you can take to provide your new tenants as well.

Some places will even provide discount coupons to attract a new client! It’s little extra steps like this that will make you stand out in your tenants eyes and make their life a little easier as they move into your property.

By simply doing little things like this, you rise above 99% of the landlords out there and make your tenants happy they have you as their landlord. And happy tenants stay longer, take better care of your property and make your life so much easier.

Bonus Ideas

If you were a tenant at one time, did you ever have your landlord give you a Christmas present? Or a birthday present? A $25 box of chocolates at Christmas or a couple of movie passes arriving in their mail on their birthday goes a long way to making you the landlord they tell all their friends about.

What else can you think of doing to attract and keep good tenants? I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. Leave a comment and tell us what ideas you use to keep you tenants happy.

Follow Up With Your New Tenants

One last tip is too follow up. It’s simple enough to do, but we tend to forget this part so as part of your process give your new tenants a quick call, a text or an email just to make sure everything is ok and to see if they have any questions.

Everything might be great, but maybe they have a question and either way they will appreciate you following up!