First-Time Landlord: Renting out a Single-Family Home

First-Time Landlord: Renting out a Single-Family Home

First-time landlord? Learn landlording fundamentals in this primer. The declining U. S. economy has forced many homeowners to make tough decisions about their property. If you’re one of the millions of Americans affected by the credit crisis, struggling to make your mortgage payments, and are considering renting out your home to make ends meet, you’ll need to learn the basics of being a landlord. Let First-Time Landlord show you how to start your landlording business and main…
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This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “First-Time Landlord: Renting out a Single-Family Home”

  1. Oren says:
    November 30, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    This review is from: First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series) (Paperback)

    When I got this book, I was prepared to most likely rip it to shreds. I’m a Real Estate Broker, and have been doing rentals for a couple years now. I find so many landlords that ignore laws(or just never learned them), don’t do credit checks, etc. that I tend to think it would be extremely difficult for any landlord, especially a first timer, to do everything right. When you think about it, there is A LOT to cover when you’re a landlord. Buying, preparing, advertising, inteviewing, book keeping, maintaining, dealing with tenant issues. The list goes on and on. There are tons of rules and regulations, fair housing laws, you name it, a tenant can usually find a way to slap you with the book of law. With that being said, I think this book is a good STARTER to becoming a landlord. It broadly covers all aspects. My state in particular is very picky and has very specific rules for lots of different things. So I wound really recommend you get something up-to-date that pertains just to your state. But this book does cover a lot of ground and from start to finish of being a landlord. I would personally recommend that every landlord use a Broker. I see so many landlords that insist on coming in for the showing, and they either like the potential tenant and get over eager, or just say something that scares them off. Using a broker who is calm and will just show them around without emotional attachment is really your best bet. Many times I’ve heard someone say “I really like the apartment, but the landlord makes me nervous”. If not to find the tenants, a Broker can help you do and provide the proper paperwork. For a small fee, they’ll do background checks, credit reports and write the lease for you. A good Broker knows red flags and don’t rely on how they “feel” about the applicant. They go on fact. Spending a couple hundred bucks is going to be cheaper in the long run then breaking a fair housing law and getting sued for thousands. Or having to pay triple damages when you mishandle their security deposit. Don’t rely on other landlords for “oh, this is the lease I use” or “the addendum I like”. Many landlords these days try to include unenforceable clauses. Do you really want to tell the judge “my landlord friend told me it was ok!”. My only issue was, why is it for single family homes specifically? I didn’t think the book fit them in particular, and seemed to cover also multi-family houses at times. Personally, I think a multi-family book would be more useful because they seem to be where a good chunk of rentals are. Get this book, it will get you started in the right direction and then you can branch out with books to more specific landlord topics.

  2. Tiltilla says:
    November 30, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    This review is from: First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series) (Paperback)

    Much of this book is common sense, but coming in at almost 300 pages plus the index, there is a wealth of information in here. USA Today, in a joint effort with NOLO takes readers by the hand and explains in simple language the business of becoming a landlord. The graphics were well-placed, interesting, and informative. Some of the things in the book appeared to be silly & unnecessary (such as don’t hit your tenant, page 199). Other information was very valuable, such as providing accommodation for disabled persons, checking tenants credit (it says you don’t need their permission!), and checking the sex offenders database. I also liked the staging checklist, but the book is full of checklists and bulleted lists that help to ensure you are covering your bases. Overall, it was a very informative read and should be useful for new landlords.

  3. Hume says:
    November 30, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    This review is from: First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series) (Paperback)

    This is an excellent book, but be aware that it serves as an “advertisement” for other NOLO books. It would be nice if it contained more legal information instead of recommending (repeatedly) the purchase of additional books from the same publisher. Nonetheless, it points out many useful ideas about being a first time landlord.

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