Renting Out Your Home in 5 Steps
Should you sell, or should you rent? For homeowners looking to make moves, expanding your real estate portfolio rather than outright selling your home is a smart play in the current market. As a homeowner, you already own an investment property. If you’re looking to say hello to passive income but find the real estate biz intimidating, read on. The process of renting out your home is simpler than you might think!
1 | Connect with a Realtor®
Remember when we said renting out your home is simple? Well, this step is the secret sauce. Leveraging a Realtor® is the easiest way to get your feet wet in the real estate industry and get your home rented out quickly. Going at it alone by listing it on Zillow sounds great in theory, but having a real, expert human being on your side to handle the nitty-gritty details, provide support, and be the ultimate real estate resource is going to save you many, many headaches.
2 | Price your home
Once you’ve paired up with a Realtor®, it’s time to do a home walkthrough and evaluate what you’re working with. Using their housing market expertise and understanding of what comparable homes in the area are renting for, together you’ll come up with a fair rental price that works for you and will attract potential tenants so you can start generating income quickly.
3 | Advertise
The price is right, now let’s get some eyes on your property. Your Realtor® will coordinate photos, prepare listing details, and knock out all of the marketing steps needed to signal-boost your home to future tenants. When you work with Smart City, you won’t need to worry about your home sitting on the market long — on top of leveraging results-driven platforms to generate traffic, we have hundreds of pre-qualified renters in our pipeline who are ready to lease. Once the inquiries start rolling in, your agent will handle the showings and tours.
4 | Screen applications
Paperwork and more paperwork — good thing you’ve got a Realtor® to dot the i’s and line the t’s, right? Your agent will help you sift through applications and run background screenings for things like credit, criminal background, and more to make sure you choose the best possible fit for your home.
5 | Coordinate move-in with Smart City Connect
Perhaps one of the most intimidating parts of renting out your home isn’t necessarily the rental process itself, but what follows — being a landlord. At Smart City, our team is here to help you start off your property management journey on the right foot. After your new tenant has signed the lease, we’ll connect their utilities, movers, renters insurance, appliance/furniture rentals, and more to make their move easy — and make you look like the best landlord ever!
Even after the renter is settled in, our support is ongoing with our complimentary Smart City Connect service. Your tenant needs a handyman to check out the garbage disposal? We’ve got the contact to handle the repair. Want to throw in a pre-move-in deep cleaning? Our partners offer discounts. No need to scour Google for highly-rated home services — we’ve got you covered.
Ready to rent your home? Let’s talk.
Getting your head start in the real estate industry can be intimidating, but our team at Smart City is here to help navigate. We’ve helped thousands of renters land places to call home, and are ready to be your ultimate resource at every step of your real estate journey.