Rental Property Investor 路 Virginia Beach, VA 路 Member since 2023 路 10 posts 路 3 votes
My wife and I have 6-8 months to move from Virginia to Florida, shooting for summer time frame. Plan on renting out our current home to tenants. mortgage is $970 and comparable rents in area are between 1700-1900. What are some important things to do when preparing to turn your property into a rental? Any precautionary maintenance? Especially considering we will be out of state. And what is overkill? Home doesn鈥檛 need any special maintenance and all floors have been redone this year. Anyone have experience managing out of state rentals? And also moving in the process? Any insight or general information to make this transition any easier would be greatly appreciated. 馃榾
When I have done this in the past, I made sure all of the major items were not near the end of their lifecycle. This includes the roof, hot water heater, HVAC, etc. These are the items that cost the most, that you really want to be present for when they are replaced. I would start making the house more maintenance-friendly. Remove/trim trees that could fall, and repair anything that does not look like it will last another few years.
Investor 路 Sarasota, FL 路 Member since 2023 路 7 posts 路 5 votes
3y
I just did this last with my personal home in Iowa when we moved to Florida. I would recommend getting all the safety items taken care of, you can typically find a list of standard items from your county for rentals. This would include items such as smoke/co detectors, railings, windows functioning, screens, GFCI, outdoor motion lights, and repair anything that is broken. You could also get a home inspection to determine if everything is functioning properly and up to date. If you are planning to pay for utilities I would plan on getting a nest thermostat or something similar to monitor HVAC. If you have other questions, let me know!
Property Manager 路 Virginia Beach, VA 路 Member since 2016 路 2k+ posts 路 2k+ votes
3y
If you plan to paint, use washable paint. Flat paint can't be washed, so you will only get one tenant out of it, pretty much no matter how long they stay. Fix anything that is broken, but don't go overboard. You don't have to do "upgrades" to make it a rental. If you are moving that far away, I would recommend hiring a PM.