Tenants and toilets! That’s all part of being a landlord, right?

Most people think being a landlord is just one big headache. According to Gary Marshall, broker at Assist 2 Sell Buyer and Seller Realty Center, it doesn’t have to be that way if you run it like a business and have systems in place.

Marshall has come up with the six biggest mistakes landlords make and how to avoid them. Use these ideas and you can eliminate 90 percent of the problems and stress associated with being a landlord.

• Renting to the first person. Don’t rent to the first person that comes along just because they flash cash in front of you. Remember, you don’t know anything about them. I would rather have a house vacant then have a bad tenant. You must screen applicants first.

• Not properly screening tenants. A lot of landlords have no idea what their criteria is to rent to someone. You can eliminate a lot of headache and weed out potentiality bad tenants with proper screening. You need a set of minimum requirements of what it takes to rent your property. Some ideas might include no pets, gross income must be four times the rent, must be at current residence for at least one year, must be on current job for at least one year, credit score of at least 585, must have two favorable landlord references, no criminal history, etc. You must stay consistent with this and you must rent to the first person that meets your minimum requirements. Remember, the fair housing law says you cannot discriminate based on race, creed, color, religion or national origin.

• Not having a good lease. You need a killer lease that really protects you as a landlord. Don’t buy a cheap generic lease from Lowe’s or Home Depot. My rental agreement is 13 pages long and includes not only the standard info like rent due date and eviction date but a whole page on what it takes to get their security deposit back, a smoke free policy page, a tenant repair fees for damages page, a move-in inspection list and several special stipulation paragraphs to cover me on as many legal aspects as possible. Your lease can make you or break you!

• Not enforcing the lease. A good lease does you no good if you don’t enforce it. If rent is late on the 6th of the month, the tenant should get a pay rent or quit notice on the 6th and the tenant should have to pay the late fee charge. Charge the late fee! Don’t let them getaway with it. If you find out they are smoking in the house (and you have a smoke-free policy) they should be given a 14-day notice to stop smoking in the house or they will have to vacate. Whatever the problem might be, if it’s in the lease, you need to enforce it. That’s what it’s for. If you ever get slack, many tenants will take full advantage of you.

• Not having a tenant retention system. One of the reasons tenants move is indifference. They don’t think you care anymore. It’s much less expensive to keep a tenant then it is continually to re-rent your property. Usually, when a tenant moves out, you’re going to spend a couple of thousand dollars painting, putting in new carpet, cleaning, etc. Why not try to keep your current tenants happy so they’ll stay? You need a good tenant retention system in place. Here are some ideas. Make repair requests quickly. One person I know of actually offers a 3 day repair guarantee to his tenants as an incentive for them to rent from him. He guarantees the repairs to be done in 3 days or the rent is free for each day he is late. You might try sending out a thank you/ welcome letter as soon as the tenant moves in. Try calling the tenant 3 days after moving in and asking if everything is OK. Order address labels with the tenant’s name and address and send it to them to use. Mail holiday cards. Get a rubber stamp that says, “Our residents are special,” and stamp it on all correspondence to your tenants. We mailed a 9-volt battery to all our residents with a letter that says to be sure to replace the battery in your smoke detector. Smoke detectors save lives. Have the carpets cleaned. I’m sure you can get creative and come up with other inexpensive ideas to keep your tenants happy.

• Not having your team in place. This means you need to have a working relationship with a handyman, a heating and air condition person, a painter, a plumber, a cleaning person, a yard person, a carpet cleaner, etc. You need all these people lined up so when a repair is needed, your ready. You don’t want to be fumbling through the yellow pages looking for some one every time one of your tenants calls with a problem. You need people you can trust that charge a fair price. You’ll also need these people every time a tenant moves out and you have to get the property ready to rent again. Have your team in place and ready to go.

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