This article will help you understand ‘How to rent by owner in Orlando.’ Suppose you’ve bought an investment home in Orlando and looking into making it a long-term rental home. Where do you start? How do you qualify long-term rental applicants and find the good ones? If you’re serious about managing and renting your house direct to tenants, you must keep up to date with Florida Landlord and Tenant laws and check out our article on seven mistakes that investors make.
What to Ask When You Rent By Owner In Orlando
You’ll need to know what to look for when interviewing applicants, so here are some of the things we look for when interviewing long-term rental applicants at McCormack Realty & Renters Choice Homes:
- Meet them in person at the property and show them around. First impressions count; do they seem like good reliable people?
- If they’re interested in leasing your home and you like the idea of them as tenants, get signed consent from all the applicants to order their credit, background, and employment verification. You should order these reports from the leading credit agencies after they have viewed your home. These reports will show if they have ever been evicted and if they pay their bills on time. Also, check their criminal background in all 50 states.
- Ask for personal references and call all the supplied references to ask about the applicants. You want to ensure your potential tenant is trustworthy for a long-term rental.
- Verify the prospect’s employment and income by looking at their pay stubs for the last couple of months, calling the employer’s HR department, and verifying the income and jobs are stable.
4) Don’t rent sight unseen; be upfront about your expectations with potential long-term rental applicants.
- Talk to their previous landlord, ask whether they pay on time, and take good care of the home. Would you rerent to them?
- First impressions count! Did you get a good feeling from them when you met them? If you don’t feel they’re the right fit for your home, chances are they won’t be. A good property manager will know what signs to look out for, and it’s always best to wait for the right long-term rental tenants.
- If you’re doing this yourself, here’s where you can view our application online to get an idea of the questions to put on your application. Click here and check our “Rental Application” for ideas of what to ask applicants.
- Is the rent affordable – a good rule of thumb is their net pay should be at least three times the rent? Ask to see the last two months of their paystubs; if they are self-employed, ask to see the previous two years of their tax returns.
- Do they have pets if so, meet their pet or ask for a video of their pet and its name. The pet should be under 40 pounds, and insured. Ask them where the pet will stay when they’re at work. With long-term rentals, pets can add a lot of unforeseen damage, and you want to ensure you are protected.
- Did everything check out ok, or did they lie? If they lied on the application, they wouldn’t make good tenants. It’s best to start with honesty when considering a long-term rental contract.
- Check your HOA rules for parking and vehicle restrictions and ensure the tenant’s vehicles will be ok with the HOA rules. It may also be helpful to ask if they plan to work on cars at the residence. Some long-term rental tenants will slowly bring more and more vehicles onto the property, potentially causing an HOA issue.
- Once you’ve told the applicants, they can lease your home. Ask for a nonrefundable rent holding deposit, which will be applied towards the rent while you have your attorney draw up the lease.
- Check their ID and ensure the applicants want to live in your home. Sometimes parents will apply and think it’s ok to be on the lease with their grown-up children..but not live there. Tell them you’re only running applications on people who will be living there.
14) Don’t take regular checks or cash when asking for security deposits and rent-holding funds. These should be paid by cashier’s check, bank wire, or money orders.
15) Decide how they will pay the ongoing monthly rent payments and set it up for them.
The final decision is always yours; you don’t have to say yes to long-term rental applicants that don’t match your criteria. If all of this seems a bit much and you’d instead hire a property manager to do all this for you, don’t hesitate to contact McCormack Realty & Renter’s Choice Homes. 407-933-2367 or in the UK, 0161-300-9595.
Phone USA: 407 933 2367
Phone UK: 0161 300 9595
broker@renterschoicehomes.com
