@Anthony Hartzog - Welcome to BP where you will find a trove of info and near real time help to your inquiries.
I found a response to a similar question by @Nancy Neville and it has a lot of salient points that will start your education in REI and the road to being a landlord.....here is Nancy's response which is a course outline in itself.
This is a very good question and one I feel strongly about when new investors are interested in becoming a landlord.
First of all you must accept that this is a business of evictions, damages, fires, tenants not paying rent, and more. This is a business of people management. We are responsible for other people's lives and their families. Yet we seem to just jump into it without any knowledge or Continuing Education Courses required.
The media, the courts, and the neighbors, and sometimes family and friends view us a the "Dastardly Landlord" who only have broken down homes for rent. We care nothing about money and my mission has been to change that mindset for a very long time. So let's begin.
This is a business of
*Fires
*Damages
*Vehicles left behind
*Clutter left behind
*Hoarders
*Dirty Carpeting and walls
*and Left behind vehicles
*Not to mention really nasty stuff that smells bad!!!
Once you accept this as part of being a landlord and view your home as a "tool of the trade", although and expensive one, and that this is a business of damages, repairs, fixing up your home, evictions and doing it all over again and again, only then will you be a true landlord!
So the bottom line is that you need a plan
You need to know the things that you don't know.
You need to know the following:
*Location, Location, Location, How much rent can you collect in this location? What are the rents going for in this location?
*Take into account, Cash Flow: Mtg pymts, Property taxes, Property Insurance, Normal Repairs, Damages, Vacancies, Tenants not paying rent, Evictions.
*You need to know the landlord/tenant laws of your State and the City Ordinances of your rental properties.
*And you need an EXIT PLAN! Even if your young!
*You need to know how to advertise and words you should use.
*You need to setup your office (whether home or building) with the right equipment, such as a color printer, computer, Internet, webpage, vonage phone, stamps.com, etc.
*You need to screen your tenants and know what to ask them.
*You need to have a rental criteria
*You need to have excellent curb appeal
*You need to have an appealing open house, application forms, good setup, with card table and chairs, pens and paper, receipt book, etc.
*You need a legal binding lease agreement. You need to know whether to rent your homes out month to month or annual and know the difference.
*You need to attend some court sessions to see how the court system works.
*Purchase as much landlord information as you can as you can write it off.
*Purchase a good financial software program.
*Study the legal forms and know what they mean and when to send them.
*Take before photo's prior to you renting out the home and photo's when they leave. Have the tenants sign the before photo's at the signing of the lease.
*Once the Eviction has been started, never never never try to interfere with the process after such as locking a tenant out, going to the home, harrassing the tenant for non pay, even if they are DESTROYING YOUR HOUSE!
The eviction process is a sad and dangerous time. If you take matters into your own hands you could lose you case, you could lose everything you own, you could receive jail time, and more importantly you could lose your life. That is why we have a court appointed official called a Bailiff to handle this matter and NOT YOU!
I hope I have helped you and I wish you good luck.
Nancy Neville
