The Hindu Business Line : Survival guide for landlords

Investing in real estate is not enough. As a landlord, you need to know how best to manage your property so as to maximise profit. Towards that end, here's help from Melissa Prandi's The Unofficial Guide to Managing Rental Property, from Wiley (www.wiley.com) .

Perhaps you are comfortable the way you manage — getting the rent cheque on time, and the tenant hasn't bothered you with maintenance complaints. "Be proactive, do your drive-bys, and go in your property at least once a year," advises Prandi. Unless you'd want to end up like Shakespeare's King Richard II who said: "All pomp and majesty I do forswear; my manors, rents, revenues I forego."

If you are thinking of converting your property into a rental, age of the structure makes a difference. Thus, when a house is newer, very little may go wrong with it, and you may have little to do with its maintenance and care. On the contrary, an older home can have many problems.

"You or the previous owners have been living there so long that you just put up with the problems and never get around to repairing that leaky sink or running toilet."

In case you are taking over occupied rental property, the author lists the various items you need to pay attention to. Ask for the original rent agreement, copies of rent application and screening paperwork for each adult tenant who lives in the property, instructs Prandi. "Be sure to obtain all keys to all doors", including the garages. "Find out the interior and exterior paint colours and brand," and also get copies of diagrams. "On a larger property, the previous owner may even have a parking diagram and a layout of the property."

There is a chapter on `preparing your property for tenants', because if your property is in excellent condition you will attract excellent tenants, reminds the author. "You also need to keep décor neutral. And don't over-improve your rental property. It is a fine balance between doing too much and doing too little." Begin with painting the interior first, she counsels, because "after you paint the property, everything begins to look better".

Preventive maintenance should be a part of your routine, urges Prandi. There can be emergencies too! "Tenants tend to think the smallest things are emergencies." The most common are about plumbing and electrical problems, but there can be worse things such as pipe bursts, roof leaks and falling trees.

The book goes into what you may consider needless minutiae. For example, when discussing how you should show a vacant property to a prospective tenant, Prandi explains elaborately, but usefully: "As you show the property, point out its positive features. Open up the closets and kitchen cupboards to show the available storage space.

Also talk to the prospective tenant and listen to what she is saying. If the prospective tenant is really interested, she will begin to talk through just how she may lay out some of her furniture. Listen and give feedback." Valuable lessons, these are.

I'm sure you may already be getting friendly with the book. But Prandi advises, "Be friendly, but not too friendly." Because managing your rental property is a business, and so you must run it like a business. "Friendly tenants can quickly become pests!" On the other hand, if there is hostility between you, the owner, and the tenants, they are very likely to vent their animosity by the way they treat the property, warns the author.

A survival guide for landlords.

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D. Murali

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