Key Takeaways
- Understand and Follow Florida Landlord-Tenant Laws: Familiarity with legal responsibilities like habitability, security deposits, eviction procedures, and fair housing laws is essential to avoid conflicts and protect your investment.
- Prepare and Market Your Property Effectively: Ensure your home meets all health and safety codes before listing, and use broad marketing strategies to attract qualified residents.
- Screen Tenants Carefully or Use a Property Manager: Choose tenants with solid rental, employment, and credit histories to minimize risks, or hire an experienced property management company to handle the complexities for you.
Renting out your Orlando home can be a great option instead of selling. With a rental property, you can guarantee yourself an extra income stream, which you can use to shore up your retirement savings or to fund another property purchase.
A rental property can also help you build equity, enjoy rising property appreciation rates, and take advantage of numerous tax breaks, among other benefits. But, while the benefits may be many, renting out a property can become more trouble than it’s worth. This is especially true if any of the following scenarios are true for you.
- You are managing the property yourself from out of state.
- You’re a seasoned landlord with multiple investment properties to look after.
- You are a newbie landlord just getting started.
Ideally, working with a property management company can guarantee the best outcome in such scenarios. A full-service property management company will provide you with all the help you need to succeed, from marketing the property, screening prospective tenants, collecting rent, and handling repairs and maintenance.
But whether you hire an expert or not, the recipe for successful landlording remains the same. In today’s blog from LRES Property Management, we’ll walk you through 6 tips on how to rent out your home successfully for maximum ROI.
Renting Out Your Home in Orlando: Everything You Should Consider
Familiarize Yourself with Florida Landlord-Tenant Law
Every facet of the landlord-tenant relationship is guided by a certain set of laws. These govern anything from security deposits to habitability codes, to fair housing, and everything in between. In other words, you cannot be a successful landlord if you don’t abide by your legal responsibilities.
Yet, many landlords fail to accord this responsibility the seriousness it deserves. Consequently, it often leads to potential conflicts and misunderstandings in the landlord-tenant relationship. To steer clear of issues, begin your landlording journey by familiarizing yourself with the relevant federal, state, and local laws. For starters, the following are the legal responsibilities landlords have under the Florida landlord-tenant law.
- Keeping the unit habitable, including making repairs within a reasonable time.
- Following the proper eviction process when looking to remove a resident from their rented premises.
- Abiding by the relevant security deposit laws. Including returning it within 30 days after a tenant moves out, less any allowable deductions.
- Treating residents fairly, equally, and respectfully per the Fair Housing Act in Florida.
Know What You’re Getting Yourself Into
Abiding by the landlord-tenant laws isn’t the only responsibility you have as a landlord. There is a smorgasbord of others as well. For one, you’ll need to be proactive when it comes to repairs and maintenance. These are inevitable in the life of any landlord, and you’ll have to be responsive to ensure things run smoothly.
In Florida, once a resident has notified you of an issue, you must respond within 7 days of receiving it. If you ignore addressing the concern, the repercussions may be dire for your bottom line. Among others, the resident can cancel the lease or even sue you in court. Aside from repairs and maintenance, other responsibilities that will be on your landlording to-do list include the following.
- Marketing the property after a resident moves out.
- Screening prospective residents to find the right one.
- Determining the right rent amount to charge residents.
- Filing taxes when that season comes about.
- Evicting difficult residents.
- Responding to resident issues, such as handling noisy neighbor concerns.
If you’re looking to upgrade your property for your residents, check out our tips on transforming your unit into a modern home.
Fill Rental Vacancies
To rent out the home, you’ll need to market it first. The goal here is to attract a large prospective resident pool and then narrow it down until you land the perfect resident. That said, you may not be able to rent out your Orlando home in its current state. You see, rental properties have certain health, safety, and building codes that they must meet. Otherwise, the property may be unfit for habitation.
As such, make sure the home is ready to rent out before listing it. Fix any leaks. Get rid of any mold or pest infestations. Repair any electrical issues. Make sure the home is in par with the minimum state and local habitability codes. After straightening things out, now think about finding a great tenant. Prepare an attractive listing and distribute it on as many platforms as possible.
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Choose the Right Residents
Resident selection is one area where you will not want to come off as desperate. Rushing things to sign a lease with just about any resident can come to haunt you later.
When it comes to screening residents, be very careful. Do your due diligence to ensure only the best resident occupies the property. The following are some qualities to be on the lookout for in this regard.
- Has a solid rental history.
- Has no criminal background.
- Earns enough income to afford living on the property.
- Has a stable employment history.
- Has a solid credit rating.
This is the perfect recipe for landing a great resident. And not just take the resident’s word for it, verify all the information they have provided. To verify the resident’s rental history, for instance, insist on calling a prior landlord. Then, ask them for crucial information regarding the resident to learn one or two things about their experience with them.
Good news for Florida landlords, there’s a surge in wealthy renters. Read more about this trend here.
Work with a Property Manager
This can be an excellent option if you lack the time, expertise, or desire to manage the day-to-day responsibilities of a rental property.
A property manager’s services typically cover a wide range of tasks: marketing the property, screening potential residents, handling lease agreements, addressing maintenance requests, ensuring compliance with local and state laws, and managing rent collection and tenant relations.
A professional property manager can oversee every aspect of the investment on your behalf, allowing you to focus on other priorities in your life, whether that’s career, family, or other ventures. To learn more about property management pricing, read this blog post.
Conclusion
Renting out your house in Orlando can provide you with a ton of benefits to your bottom line. However, that will only be the case if you manage it the right way.
Luckily for you, now you have a tried-and-tested blueprint for this.
But should you need an experienced hand to manage your Orlando home, LRES Property Management can be a great partner to have on your side. We have over 20 years of experience serving the Orlando metropolitan area. Get in touch today to learn more!
