How to Rent Your House in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis homeowners who are moving, traveling or own a second home can put that real estate to work as a rental property. Renting out your own house in Memphis takes a fair amount of work, so busy people may wish to hire a rental agency to advertise and show the home for them. Those who prefer to do it themselves have a wide range of tools to use in advertising their rental. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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1
Find out what similar properties are renting for in Memphis. Read the newspaper and check Craigslist and other "for sale by owner" websites (see Resources). Write down the prices of homes that have an equal number of rooms as yours or are located in similar neighborhoods.
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2
Determine how much money you need to make to cover your mortgage and expenses. Add up the average annual expenses for the last three to five years of home repairs, utility bills and other common expenses, using your annual tax returns or similar documents. Then divide the total expenses in each year by 12 (for 12 months) to obtain the average monthly expense of your home. Add the monthly expense to the monthly mortgage payment to get your monthly minimum rental price.
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3
Clean up your home and photograph each room. Create a house rental listing that you can post on Craigslist Memphis and the other websites you browsed in Step 1. Post your listing and photographs. Post ads in local Memphis newspapers The Commercial Appeal and Memphis Daily News.
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4
Screen potential tenants. Show them your home and ask questions about their source of income, smoking habits, pets and other issues that are important to you. While you can't discriminate based on sex, religion or other personal preferences, you do have the right to accept or deny smokers or pets and to be assured your tenant can afford the rental payment. Ask tenants to provide proof of employment (such as a pay stub) and what type of work they do and how long they've been working there. Obtain past address information to perform a credit check if you wish (see Resources).
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5
Choose a tenant. Prepare a rental agreement that details the terms of the rental and amount of rental payment, using the free templates at The Landlord Protection Agency to guide you (see Resources). Have the tenant sign the rental agreement and pay a deposit to hold the house rental. On the appointed date, provide the tenant with keys and begin receiving rental income as a landlord.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit House image by Gonçalo Carreira from Fotolia.com
