Today I want to talk to you about the biggest mistakes I made on my first rental property. Being a first time landlord is no easy task, like I thought it was going to be. You see, back in 2005 I thought after I bought the house, I'd hire a property manager and let the money start rolling in on auto pilot. That wasn't the case. I lost 3 houses to foreclosure because I didn't know what I was doing. I could go on for hours about all the mistakes I made but I decided to narrow it down to the ones that will have the most impact on your real estate rental business. Don't forget to download the accompanying pdf checklist and all the supporting docs so you'll be successful with your first rental property, even if you haven't bought it yet. It's out there waiting for you!
00:00- Intro 2:07 - #1 Allowing my tenants to have pets 3:40 - #2 Doing one year leases with my tenants 4:43 -#3 Trying to be friends instead of being friendly w/ my tenants 6:17 - #4 Only doing 30 day notices to vacate the property instead of 90 day notices 7:45 - #5 Taking personal checks 8:52 - #6 Not keeping track of late fees when the tenant paid rent late 10:14 - #7 Being the owner instead of being the Property Manager 11:36 - #8 Not verifying income with the Employment Verification document 13:14 - #9 Making the rent due on the 1st of the month 14:58 - #10 Not sending out and filing the proper Landlord/tenant paperwork when rent is late 17:05 - #11 Communicating w/ my tenants too much 18:32 - #12 Not trying Section 8 tenants 19:21 - #13 Not taking pictures of damages when the tenant moves out 21:02 - #14 Refusing to try Lease Options as a strategy 21:45 - #15 Not charging court fees to tenants 22:45 - #16 Not checking eviction past filings on prospective tenants 23:36 - #17 Not giving out Air Filters for Central Heating and Air systems 24:35 - #18 I didn't speak to previous Landlords of my prospective tenants 27:11 - #19 Not driving by my properties 28:10 - #20 - Thinking the Property Management company will take care of everything
