How to Select Your Next Rental Property Purchase
Rental properties can provide an excellent source of income to meet your current needs and your needs after you retire. In order to be successful, though, you need to purchase the right income properties that will be attractive to potential renters. This ensures you won’t go long periods with vacancies in your properties, which could end up costing you thousands of dollars. To ensure you pick a winner, then, here are a few tips to help you select your next rental property.
Imagine the Renter
The type of home you purchase will determine the types of renters who are interested in that home. It’s important, then, to envision the types of people you want renting your home to guide your purchase decision. Think about the person’s marital and socioeconomic status, their job history, their qualifications, and other characteristics that make them an attractive tenant. Then, purchase a house that you think will be attractive to that type of person so you can hopefully end up with a match made in heaven.
Consider Transportation
Wherever you decide to purchase a rental property, the tenants will want to travel away from that property as they go about their daily lives. Therefore, it’s vital that you consider the transportation options that surround a potential home before you buy property. Think about nearby interstates and how easy they are to access from the local neighborhood. You’ll also want to research mass transit options and the proximity to the nearest airport, all of which can factor into a tenant’s decision to rent a property.
Look at Timetable
Another factor that will help you select your next rental property purchase is the amount of work you want to put into the property before you offer it to renters. While you certainly want a property to look nice, keep in mind that if your ideal tenant is a family, a totally renovated home may be a turn-off as the parents consider how expensive it would be to replace items that their children might break. So, depending on the timetable you have to put renters in your new property, you can select a property that has a corresponding amount of work to be done, keeping in mind the needs of your ideal renters.
Where Are You?
If you plan on managing the property yourself instead of utilizing a third-party agency, then you’ll need to purchase a home that’s fairly close to your primary residence. If something breaks in the rental property, you don’t want to have to drive hours on end to make an otherwise simple repair. This will also be quite useful when a tenant leaves, as you want to be able to easily access the home to clean it and show it to potential tenants.
The most important part of purchasing a rental property is to take your time before you pull the trigger. While it can be excruciating to watch the months tick by with no rental income, it’s better than rushing the process and ending up with a house that is impossible to rent. So, carefully consider your options and you’ll end up with a property that keeps all parties happy.