eHow launches Android app: Get the best of eHow on the go.
Summary: Getting started in property management involves renting out a property or a part of the property, making sure it is up to code and drawing up renter contracts. Earn a little extra income by renting out a property with helpful information from an experienced real estate agent in this free video on renting a home.
James Kurkela, together with his wife Judy Kurkela, are licensed real estate agents who have been serving Putnam, Westchester, Orange and Dutchess counties for more than 20 years....read more
"So let's assume you that already own a house, or a condo, or a property, and you want to take that and try to derive some extra income out of it by turning it into essentially a rental property. There's several ways to do that, let's assume that you're going to live in the property. If you're going to live there, you can take some of your bedrooms and turn them into rentals. You can take your basement, turn that into a rental, or perhaps your garage. Couple things you want to do is you want to make sure everything is legal, so you want to look at the codes in your town. Your town may allow you to have two or three different individuals live with you in your home, but no more than that. You want to look at your fire codes and make sure that you have the proper amount of windows in each bedroom, you have the fire extinguishers in the house, that you have smoke alarms in the home, etcetera. You also want to look at your stair cases to make sure that they are to code, your railings, etcetera, you want to look at your electrical service that's in the house. These are some of the things you need to look for before you actually turn it into a rental property. You may even want to talk to your town and actually get a C.O. to turn it into a legal rental so that you have umm, you have the documentation in place with your town. Another thing to look for when you go to rent these properties is to make sure that you don't get people in there that are going to be, let's say have conflicts. So, if you're a single person you probably want to rent to other single people. You probably don't want to bring in folks that are married, or college kids, etcetera. You probably want to you know, stick with the same type of clientele, okay?"
eHow Article: Getting Started in Property Management