Do you know the Fair Market value of your rental?

Do you know the Fair Market value of your investment property? When you purchase rental real estate in Southern NH, the first thing you need to decide is what you’ll charge someone to occupy your property. The rental value of each unit will help determine if it is a sound investment.

How will you make that decision? Most people check out other Southern NH rentals and see what homes or apartments of a similar size are renting for, but that really isn’t going to tell you all you need to know either. Unless you’ve seen both the interior and exterior of all the Southern NH properties for rent, you don’t know how their condition and location compare to yours. Of course condition and location play an important role in how much a tenant will pay to rent your Southern New Hampshire property. Fair market rent will also depend on a few other factors. Will you as the landlord furnish the appliances? Will the tenants have their own laundry facilities? What will be included in the rent: heat, hot water, sewer, electric, cable, and garbage collection? How much parking is there for each unit? What are all the costs associated with the rental?

The result of not knowing the going rate for other comparable properties in Southern NH is that landlords simply have to guess, and hope for the best answer. Oddly enough, we’ve found that some Southern NH property owners charge a lower rent to their tenant than necessary when they have been long term tenants. When we take over the management of a rental property, we are generally able to raise the tenant’s rent enough to more than cover our management fees. In addition, we’ve found that tenants who pay a little more for rent are usually more responsible and keep your property in better condition than tenants who pay less.

Will you have the tenant fill out an application? Do you know how to verify their employment, references and credit? How will you know if the tenant gives you valid references for their previous landlords? Harmony Real Estate can handle all the details for you and make sure that their references are valid to make sure they will be a good fit for your rental property. This will remove as much doubt as possible to know if they will be good tenants.

Another piece of the puzzle is the lease agreement. Do you have a lease in place to protect you from unforeseen issues? Can you charge the tenant a late fee if they don’t pay on time? How will you address the issue with the tenant if they don’t pay? Is everything addressed on your lease? Do you have an insurance clause for fire damage? Do you have incidentals costs?