First rental property? Security deposits, credit checks, and home renovations can seem DAUNTING when it’s your first real estate rodeo. How much do you charge, which tenant do you select, and will refreshing the grout allow you to double your passive income? These are just some of the questions you’ll have before you collect your first rent check. But don’t worry about answering them yourselves; we have the experts to help!
Welcome to this week’s Rookie Reply! If you’re just starting your real estate investing journey, this is the place to be! Ashley and Tony go through some VERY common questions, such as what to do if your tenant terminates their lease early, how much to charge for security deposits, and how to run your first credit/background check. For those who are a bit more experienced in the investing game, we also chat about HELOCs, rental renovations (and if they’re worth the cost), and moving properties into an LLC.
Ashley:
This is Real Estate Rookie episode 332. How much should I charge for a security deposit? The first thing that you need to do is know what you are allowed to charge per your state laws. A really, really great resource is Avail.co. It will actually tell you what your state laws are.
Does this only cover damages for the security deposit? So, that’s what you would put into your lease agreement. And one thing I highly recommend is putting into the lease agreement what somebody will be charged. So, actually, itemizing like here is your checklist of things of how we want the apartment to come back from us. My name is Ashley Kehr and I’m here with my co-host, Tony Robinson.
Tony:
And welcome to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast where every week, twice a week, we bring you the inspiration, motivation, and stories you need to hear to kickstart your investing journey. Today we’ve got a Rookie Reply, which means we’re taking questions from our Rookie audience. I say today’s episode is a little Ashley heavy because we’re talking…