Whether you’ve been leasing for years or you’re a first time landlord, taking the right steps before, during and after you lease your property out will help you get the right tenants in place and maximise the potential returns you receive.
Whatever your reasons for leasing your property out, it’s best to make a plan before you make a move.
A well thought out, written down plan will help to guide you and keep you on track, minimising your level of stress when things pop up and get in the way – things like work, commitments and just life in general.
Considerations to help plan your move would be things like;
Do you currently live in the property and plan to lease it out temporarily?
If so, consider where you’re moving to and when you’ll likely be moving back in.
Then ask yourself, how long will you be out of the house for?
This should give you a good indication for the best way to move your things.
If this situation sounds like yours, consider putting your possessions in storage.
Tip – You can lease your property out as fully furnished but, depending on the type of property it is, this may limit your pool of potential tenants.
When getting ready to move, consider packing all of your essentials separately to everything else that will be packed.
Essentials include anything you use on a daily basis.
This involves anything from chargers, laptops, computers, kitchen and cooking appliances to lounge room furniture and appliances like TV’s.
Then separate everything else by packing room by room and marking on the boxes what room is packed into which boxes.
This will help to make for a much easier move.
Do you even plan to move back in?
Or will selling the property in a few years be a possibility?
If this situation sounds like yours, consider decluttering first, then either selling unwanted things on sites like eBay and Gumtree or hold a yard sale to make some extra cash, donating to St Vincent de Pauls (Vinnies) or the Salvation Army (The Salvos) as they can usually pick up items that are in good, useable, sell-able condition, or throwing out all the things that are of no use to you anymore.
Once you’ve minimised your things down to your essentials, determine what you’ll be putting into storage and what you’ll be taking with you.
If you have a lot of things to move, consider calling around and get quotes from removalists.
Job relocation? Ask your employer if they can assist and help with organising with the move.
Tip – If you don’t have much time, hate moving or just can’t be bothered, get quotes from removalists that can pack up your things, move them and then unpack at your new place.
If the property is going to be a permanent rental
You may want to plan out the amount of money you’re going to spend and how you’ll spend it to improve the property and its desirability to attract good tenants.
Ensuring the money spent will be beneficial and profitable for you to make the alterations, adjustments and improvements before you actually do them is also a wise move.
Tip – Most costs associated with rental properties can be tax deductable.
Lastly, remember when renting your property out that you’ll be making a number of investments.
These include;
Investing in professionals – lender, agent, accountant, quantity surveyor
Investing in good tenants
Investing in the property’s presentation, upkeep and maintenance
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This information is of a general nature only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. We are not financial, legal or tax advisers. You should seek appropriate professional advice specific to you before acting on this information.
