Although rentals can bring tenants and landlords together it can often leave couples separated. There is a point when moving in together means you have to pick his or hers place to share and start renting out the other or when you just want to take on a new investment.For this reason the largest share of landlords are couples. Today we want to talk about some tips for being an effective landlord and staying together.
1.The key is communication
First of all, being a modern landlord means balancing family, work and rentals. There is no reason to get in arguments over information on how the rental is doing or who is talking with the tenant. The best way to do this is by being organized and making your phone a joined networking office. Cloud based apps can assist with managing listings, photos, maintenance requests, document storage and basic organizational tools for your rental and everyone can see everything all the time. Don’t be stubborn - learn how to use new software. For example, TenantCloud system is really user friendly and it won’t take too long to learn how to use it. There is no reason to get in arguments over a lack of information.
2. Friend, Family and Fools
Couples often have disputes about letting a family member or old college friend rent from them. Don’t rent to someone you can’t evict. Never make an approval decision saying, “that poor person needs a home”. If you feel bad for them and move them in, then you will only feel worse moving them out. If either of you know the applicant on a personal level then it should be no. As a couple you should create a process in advance for approving applicants and always stick to it. Online applications are free and can help you create, so each applicant gets the same process.
3. “I Do”
The honey-do list shouldn’t be an overwhelming list for either that seems to require constant attention. Create a process for how to handle maintenance requests. This can be done by requiring the tenant to send maintenance request in a specific manner. If maintenance requests can only be sent through an online portal then you know exactly where to find any issues and don’t have to dread every phone call, or answering machine message that comes in.
4. Schedule some time
Couples should be doing this for each other, so don’t make your rental the only time you hangout. Set some time aside each month to do maintenance requests this way it is already in the calendar. If nothing comes up then great you get some free time, but at least you have some time blocked out. Also, set some time aside every year to go over the rental’s financial performance - there are great accounting tools available for free to help you do this.
These four tips can help you maintain a great investment and a great relationship with your partner.
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