First time renting out my home in Northern VA. What to expect

[Luis Reyes]

Good afternoon BP! This is my first time I will be renting out my home. My property is in Northern VA and i would like to ask the community what I should expect. I know i know i need to search more on the forums to get more info. Its been crazy with working 80-90hr work weeks. No excuses... but there has been alot going on. I wanted to see if there are specific things i should be looking out for or a list of what i should do. Basically the do's and dont's. Should i do property management, real estate agent (Don't want to really do this option), post myself, rent to military, etc) I appreciate all the positive feedback.

Best Regards,

Lou

[Ron Gallagher]

I found at this time of year renting out room by room has been much easier than trying to rent a 2 bedroom unit to a couple or 2 friends.  People just seem to be looking for individual accommodations for themselves in November and December.

I have heard some pros and cons about renting to military which you will obviously have in Woodbridge. The pro is that if they don't pay their rent, from my understanding, you can talk to their superior officer and then their officer will yell at them and they will likely pay up since they are getting in trouble at work.  The con is that military personnel can break their lease early if they get orders to move elsewhere. If you are renting room by room this becomes less of an issue because you just replace the tenant in that room which from my experience is pretty easy in the DC Metro area.

Good luck!