When you’re leasing, managing, and maintaining a rental home in Memphis, it’s easy to make a mistake or two. There are going to be oversights. Unless you have a lot of experience managing properties and dealing with tenants and maintenance vendors and legal requirements, you can expect to miss some important details. 

Unfortunately, these oversights are often at the expense of your rental income, tenant retention, property condition, or long term ROI. 

They’re costly. 

What smart real estate investors understand is that Memphis property management can help. When you partner with a local property management company, there are fewer mistakes and a lower risk of oversights. 

Here are the most common oversights we see and some ideas on how we can help you avoid them. 

Local Market Oversights When Pricing a Memphis Rental Property

Your property’s rental value will depend largely on the Memphis rental market. 

We talk to a lot of landlords who neglect to look at what similar homes are renting for, and they overprice or underprice their property, resulting in lost money. 

• A home that’s underpriced will not earn you what it could be earning in monthly rent. It will be harder to bring that rental value up to market rates because a huge rental increase at renewal time will only chase away your tenants. 
• An overpriced property is also expensive for landlords. It will result in a longer vacancy period, and it might induce you to accept a less-than-qualified tenant who is willing to pay your too-high price.  

Property managers do not have this oversight to worry about. We know the competition in the market before we price a home. We measure what other homes are renting for against your unique location, property condition, and what your home has to offer that others don’t. 

Screening Oversights with Memphis Tenants 

Choosing and placing a good tenant is going to shape your entire rental experience. 

If you’re not careful about who you put into your property, you will spend a lot of time trying to collect late and unpaid rent. You’re going to run into conflicts and disputes, and you may even find yourself with expensive property damage at the end of a lease. Bad tenants often need to be evicted, and it’s hard to hold them accountable or have them removed once they’ve taken possession of your property.

You don’t want to skip the screening process. You don’t want to run a credit check and call it a day. Good tenant screening requires a process that’s fair, consistent, and rigorous. 

It’s an oversight not to look at rental history, measure income against what you’re charging in rent, or check for past evictions. 

• Put together some standard qualifying rental criteria and document your process. 
• Check national eviction and criminal databases. 
• Look at credit and financial stability. 
• Verify income and employment. 
• Check rental references. 

These things are important in placing a qualified, responsible tenant who can be counted on to pay rent and take care of your home. Property managers have a screening process in place, and if they haven’t had to evict any tenants recently, you know it’s an effective process. 

Working with Unlicensed and Uninsured Maintenance Vendors

Working with professional vendors and contractors who are licensed, insured, and bonded has to be non-negotiable when you’re renting out a Memphis property. 

We know all rental property owners are concerned with costs, but it’s going to be far more expensive for you to hire cheap labor when you need work done at your property. If a worker falls off a ladder while trimming your trees and doesn’t have insurance, guess who has to pay those medical bills? 

You do. You might find yourself sued for lost wages, too. 

Cheap labor is not just an oversight, it’s neglect. You can have a cost-effective maintenance plan that isn’t dangerous for you, your tenants, or your investment. Don’t make the mistake of seeking out the cheapest possible workers or using substandard materials when you’re attending to routine maintenance. 

Be preventative and use good, qualified vendors who stand by their work. Otherwise, this is one oversight that’s putting your entire investment at risk.

Enforce Your Lease Agreement

Your lease agreement is a written contract between you and your tenants. You have to enforce it and hold both yourself and your residents accountable to what’s included there. 

For example, if there are late fees for rent that isn’t paid on time, make sure you charge them. If the lease agreement says there’s no smoking on the property and your maintenance vendors report that they are making repairs while your tenants are smoking, address the issue with your residents. 

The lease contains important information about who is responsible for what at the property. There are expectations and responsibilities clearly spelled out. But, it means nothing if you don’t follow the lease. Make sure you pay attention to it, and make sure your tenants know that they are accountable to it as well. 

Property managers enforce lease agreements by collecting rent on time, conducting inspections, and communicating with tenants. There’s no risk that something will be missed.

Fair Housing and Other Rental Laws

You cannot afford oversights when it comes to rental laws. 

Landlords who don’t know the fair housing laws are in danger of making huge mistakes when they’re advertising, screening, and even collecting rent and enforcing the lease. You need to know the fair housing laws on a federal, state, and even local level. Otherwise, you could be accused of fair housing violations, and you probably won’t even realize you’ve done something wrong. This is where professional property management can help. 

Your property manager knows the law and can keep you in compliance. Fair housing fines are thousands of dollars, and it’s easy to make an error. Rejecting a tenant with an emotional support animal because you don’t allow pets can get you into some expensive trouble, for example. 

Beyond fair housing laws, you also need to know the laws that govern habitability, security deposits, and eviction. 

Let’s not make any additional oversights with your Memphis rental property. Contact us at RiverTown Realty, and we’ll help you have a better investment experience.