{"id":16108,"date":"2021-12-17T15:32:58","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T23:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rentecdirect.com\/blog\/?p=16108"},"modified":"2021-12-20T16:29:36","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T00:29:36","slug":"how-to-become-a-landlord-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rentecdirect.com\/blog\/how-to-become-a-landlord-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Become a Landlord in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you\u2019re considering a career change where nobody\u2019s your boss, entering the real estate market as a landlord might be a great fit for you. However, it can be quite confusing and challenging trying to navigate the transition into a landlord. If you\u2019d like to become a landlord in 2022, or if you\u2019re simply just curious about how people become landlords, then follow along as we dive into some tips and methods for a budding proprietor.<\/p>\n

What To Know Before Becoming A Landlord<\/h2>\n

You likely have a basic understanding of what becoming a landlord entails: you own a rental property, maintain the property, and people pay you so they can live in it. However, there are some important things to know and consider before you start looking to buy your first rental property.<\/p>\n

Renter Beware<\/h3>\n

There are plenty of stories about nightmare landlords, but there are also many stories of nightmare tenants<\/a>. When you\u2019re just starting out, you\u2019re at your most vulnerable to being taken advantage of by a tenant, even if it was unintentional. It\u2019s vital to perform adequate tenant screening to ensure that you only accept a tenant with an excellent renter history.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Risk More Than You Can Afford To Lose<\/h3>\n

You can take all the precautions to vet your tenants before renting to them, but there can still be unexpected situations that arise. Make sure you have a financial safety net in place before beginning to rent. Having to rely on somebody else carries a lot of uncertainty with it, so it\u2019s not advised to anticipate the income from renting to be guaranteed. This mindset has caused some landlords to run into trouble with their payments toward the loan on the property.<\/p>\n

There have been an incredible number of stories from landlords<\/a> unable to pay the loans on their property during the height of the pandemic due to the unforeseen job loss. It didn\u2019t matter how well-vetted the tenants were, the unexpected situation of the pandemic caused unavoidable obstacles.<\/p>\n

Enlist The Help Of Professionals Of The Field<\/h3>\n

New landlords can be taken advantage of or make errors simply due to lack of knowledge of the ins and outs of the rental industry. The best thing that you can do to protect yourself, in the beginning, is to hire professionals that have already been in the field to help you out.<\/p>\n

The two most important professionals would be a lawyer to draft up rental contracts, and a property management company<\/a> to help with facilitating leases, payments, and performing background checks.<\/p>\n

Learn more: 10 Reasons You Need to Hire a Property Manager<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Make Room In Your Schedule<\/h3>\n

If you decide to be a DIY landlord and avoid hiring a property management team, remember that being a landlord is a profession, and as such, it will require that a good deal of your time. Your time will not just be spent on physically managing the place, but it will also be spent on advertising, giving walk-throughs, shopping around for businesses to perform specialized maintenance, and more. Property management software can be a helpful tool to make those extra daily tasks more efficient. A cloud-based property management software can give you access to essential industry-specific tools such as a tenant portal that allows your tenants to log in to and make maintenance requests and pay their rent. You can even utilize built-in tenant screening that connects your online rental applications to instant tenant screening reports. This can cut back on some of the headaches associated with being a landlord.\u00a0 Regardless, the time investment is especially taxing<\/a> when you\u2019re just starting out since there will be a lot that you\u2019re unfamiliar with until you\u2019ve become accustomed. It may take a few years before you\u2019re able to relax and actually feel like your rental is generating passive income.<\/p>\n

Learn more: Do I Need Property Management Software?\u00a0<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Where Should You Start<\/h2>\n

Still interested in becoming a landlord? The first thing to do is to figure out how you\u2019re going to be purchasing a rental property.<\/p>\n

There are a number of options available, and while it\u2019s entirely doable to purchase a property outright with cash, it\u2019s more likely that you\u2019ll be taking out a loan on the property.<\/p>\n

These are three of the most popular loans:<\/p>\n