How to Select Rental Properties in the Elk Grove Property Management Market
Are you looking to purchase your first or second investment property? If you already have at least one, you probably have an idea of what makes for a good investment property. If you are a first time investment property buyer, the professionals at Elk Grove property management team, RPM Select, know a thing or two about what makes a home desirable for renters. With almost 35 years of experience, you can trust what we have to say when it comes to attracting the right tenant with the right property.
Location, Location, Location
When a tenant makes their criteria for finding a rental property, the first thing they determine is location. Location is often determined by proximity to their workplace. Purchasing a rental home in a desirable location can be a game changer for property managers. Elk Grove is a sought after community in the Sacramento area, providing residents with everything they need to succeed in life. Purchasing a rental property in Elk Grove provides residents with close proximity to work, access for easy and quick transportation, restaurants, shopping, quality schools, beautiful landscape, and safety. Search for a home that is located in a quiet and safe neighborhood, away from busy streets, and near clean parks.
Elk Grove Property Management House Requirements
Searching for a rental property often starts online. Prospective tenants look at popular sites like Craigslist, Zillow, Rent.com, and Trulia, just to name a few. These sites allow landlords to post photos of their properties, which immediately give them the chance to hook someone’s interest. Property management in Elk Grove is competitive, so pick the best picture of your rental property, and use it as your featured image, or the image that shows up first on the listing. This picture is often of the exterior of the house, highlighting its curb appeal, or of the kitchen. When purchasing an investment property, search for homes that offer at least 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a fenced in yard, an open floor plan, and one that is no older than 15 years unless renovations have taken place or you intend to renovate and bring it up to date in appearances. A house with a two car garage is also desirable. All of these factors will determine a person’s decision to rent. Select recommends single family homes over condos and apartments because a single family home is more likely to offer these housing requirements. A 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home will be attractive to families who intend to plant roots for a couple of years, giving you a long term tenant. Single family homes also provide property owners the opportunity for a better return on investment.
Things to Avoid in Housing
From so many years of experience, Elk Grove property managers have discovered that the following houses are difficult to rent and these characteristics in a house should be avoided:
- Less than 1,000 square feet
- Without a yard
- Located on a busy street
- More than 25 years old
- Houses that fail to offer an obvious master bedroom. If all the rooms appear to be so similar in size that it is difficult to determine which is the master, keep looking.
- Quirky or dysfunctional layouts
If a house that you are considering buying as a rental property falls into any of the above categories, do yourself a favor and keep looking. Though it may take longer now, your vacancy times in the future will be reduced if you avoid these features. Of course a few of these mentioned characteristics can be fixed, but do your research on pricing to fix these items if you choose to move forward with the property. Sometimes the price is simply too high to make it worth the fix.
Self Management or Professional Management?
It is a common misconception that investment property owners can save themselves money by doing their own property management. Elk Grove management experts have found that the most common reasons landlords hire professional property managers are:
- Setting accurate rental rates
- Rent collection and deposit handling
- Marketing the property
- Rigorous Tenant screening
- Management of tenants
- Scheduling maintenance and vendor credibility
- Resting easy knowing you are in compliance with all laws
- Capitalizing on your time and money
Private landlords either bring so much stress and anxiety upon themselves or fail to adhere to housing laws that it is either not worth the savings or it ends up costing them more to self-manage due to legal issues. With so many federal, state, and local housing laws, it feels nearly impossible to landlords to educate themselves fully. Maintenance requests and trying to do-it-yourself jobs cause added stress and anxiety. Landlords must also provide around-the-clock availability and service to tenants in case of maintenance emergencies. These are just a few of the most common stresses and burdens that landlords feel. Eliminate these pitfalls and reduce your stress level by calling Select today. Discover how we handle the Elk Grove property management tasks while still having the shortest vacancy rates when compared to our competition and find high quality tenants for our clients. Call us today.
