David G. Brown - HOW TO REDUCE YOUR RISK IN REAL ESTATE INVESTING

your comprehensive checklist of minimum qualification standards, and it can be a time-consuming process to put this all into place. However, it’s worth your while to do it, because, I’ll say it again, screening tenants is the most important component of renting out your property, and creating minimum qualification standards is necessary for the screening process!

GET IT IN WRITING

The lease is one of the most important steps in ensuring the overall success of your rental property management business. It can also be the most time-consuming, but trust me when I say you’ll want to spend the time to make sure every possible area is addressed. It’s not enough to have any old lease; you need a rock-solid, iron- clad lease that protects you and your property from any potential issues with tenants. Even if you’ve done your due diligence in every other matter, and even if you think you trust your tenant, a rock-solid lease is essential.

Location, Location, Location

You’ve likely heard this phrase in real estate before, but I mean it differently here. When drawing up a lease, you must consider your location — where you live. Every area, county, municipality, and state might have different rules and regulations regarding leases, so do your research. Many newbies to the rental property business mistakenly assume they can just look up a lease template or a lease example online and use that as the basis for their own lease. Or worse, they’ll just plain-out copy it and use it as the lease! Big mistake. First, the lease will either be too generic and not cover all the areas you need it to cover, or it will be too specific to a certain

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