It’s not only tenants who will sometime have a hard time paying their mortgage. As an investor or landlord, mortgage payment issues applies to you as well. I’d like to share a few things you can do to avoid not being able to pay your mortgage each month.
Keep your Property Occupied
It goes without saying that you need to keep your properties fully occupied. This is definitely a sure way to keep you in the “not be able to pay your mortgage” category. Empty units means less payments coming to you each month to cover your mortgage. So do whatever you need to do to market for you new tenants. We’re all busy and it’s easy to overlook this, as not having the time to market for new tenants, which is a BIG mistake. This is crucial to the success of your overall success as an investor, so don’t overlook it!
Find Quality Tenants
As far as getting new tenants, spend a little time to find quality tenants. Sure, we want to keep those units/apartments full, but not with lousy tenants. Those can be a real pain. You want tenants that’ll pay their rent on time each month, take some pride in the property itself and take care of it. To improve your chances of getting quality tenants, invest some time in doing background checks and even credit checks. Even take it a step further and get a few references that can vouch for the person that you’re getting ready to rent your property to.
Long Term Tenants
Get tenants that’ll be there long term. Ideally, you want at least a one-year lease with your tenants. There are other occasions where the tenants are looking for somewhere to live for a few months at a time because of whatever reason. Although this may help temporarily to get your property occupied, it’ll only be for a short time. Pretty soon, you’re on the hunt again trying to find another tenant. So if you can, aim to get tenants who can commit to a 1 year lease agreement. It’ll be beneficial for you as an investor.
Keep your property well maintained
If you really want to keep a good cash flow coming in and stay away from a mortgage payment problem, this one tip will definitely help you do just that.
This one tip can help tremendously in attracting good tenants. Whatever up keeps are needed for your property, get them done. That includes both inside as well as outside the property (i.e. appliances, carpet, windows, roof etc.)
Landlord Responsibilities
It helps to be a good landlord also. Don’t be one of those landlords that simply doesn’t care about their tenants, and only wants to collect your rent each month. Try developing a “good” relationship with your tenants. When they see that you care, they in turn will be a better tenants. One that stays long term, pays on time each month, and in some cases even help you maintain your property. So it’s worth the time.
When times are hard, its important you do all you can to avoid running into that problem of not being able to pay your mortgage. In a tough economy, everyone gets affected financially. You are just as susceptible as your tenants to fall prey to low cash flow and not able to pay your living expenses. The tips I’ve provided can help you ensure that you keep your properties fully occupied, by quality long term tenants that pays their rent on time.
These simple tips can help as you work to develop lasting, long term, rent paying tenants to keep your properties bringing in the income you need every month. This will definitely help you avoid that mortgage payment issue trap, which will overall keep your investment healthy.