I am planning to move out of state between 6 months to a year. Instead of selling my house I am considering

Question

to rent or lease it out. My question is how would I collect the rent, which I would need to apply to the morgtage payment every month. Also, if a repair needs to be done and I am not around, how do I go about doing that? Can someone give me some advice. Is there a company who can take care of everything for me or am I basically "on my own"? Also is there an advantage of "leasing" as opposed to renting? Thanks.

Answer 1

Before renting make sure you have the cash reserves to cover your mortgage payment if the renters do not pay.  I've heard financial experts say that you need to have 10-12 months worth of payments saved before you even think about renting.  You can hire a property management company to handle rent collection and repairs for you.  They ask for a certain percentage of the monthly rent.  Just look in your yellow pages or google "property management" for your area.  Renting and leasing are the same thing really...no difference.

Answer 2

tough question. i honestly dont know. sorry. :-( Good Luck!!

Answer 3

Property management companies take care of those issues, but they usually charge about 10 percent. They will handle all of that though.

Otherwise, set up a paypal account or have the person mail you a check. Make a list of plumbers, electricians, etc in the area and keep their contact information.

Leasing implies the person has the option to buy. The benefit is this lessors in this situation usually charge a deposit and if the person doesn't buy, they can keep the deposit.

Answer 4

You can simply have the tenant mail the check to your location.  Very few landlords live within driving distance of all of their properties.

For repairs you should meet a handyman NOW and get a relationship going, so you can send him out whenever there is an issue.   Or, you can have the tenant pay for repairs and deduct it from their rent, mailing you all of the receipts.   I live close by but I often take this route, everyone is happy.

Answer 5

There are a lot of rental agents around.  They will collect the rent, find new tenants and check them out, and arrange for needed repairs to be made, at your expense of course.  If the tenant doesn't pay their rent, the agent will keep on them for it, but you still won't get your money until they pay.

The agent will take a fee, maybe 10 percent of the rent.

Renting a place normally includes a lease, to ensure you aren't just getting people in for a couple months, then having to look for another tenant.  It's not unusual for a property to be vacant for a month or two between tenants - and then of course you don't have any income from it.