In this instructional vlog, property‑manager Mendell Gosnell, CPM, walks new landlords through the end‑to‑end process of renting a house. He begins by urging owners to manage their own properties at least initially to gain hands‑on experience. He then outlines the essential pre‑rental steps: boosting curb appeal, pricing competitively, and creating a compelling ad with high‑quality photos. He discusses effective advertising channels—flyers, Craigslist, yard signs—while stressing strict adherence to fair‑housing laws and non‑discriminatory practices. The video details tenant‑screening options, recommending reputable screening services and outlining flexible, lawful screening criteria. Finally, Gosnell explains move‑in logistics: setting a move‑in date, completing state‑required paperwork, providing addenda and disclosures, and handing over the keys. He closes by inviting viewers to call with further questions, positioning the advice as a practical roadmap for successful, compliant rental investing.
Chapters
How do I rent my house? Advice for new landlords. That's the subject of today's video blog. Personally, I highly recommend trying to manage your properties yourself. Yes, I am a property manager and make money off of managing other people's property, but we still think that the experience and learning the reality of what it takes to manage property firsthand is going to make you a great owner to manage for. You're gonna understand firsthand the challenges that we are going through to ensure success on your rental property. One of the first pieces of advice we would give a new landlord is to make sure that your curb appeal is up to par. Price your apartment or house competitively, so you'll want to do a search of what other similar homes or apartments are going for in that area. You've got to really work work hard to compare apples to apples. One of the things that we set as a bare minimum for rentals in our company is safe, clean, and habitable. Craft a good ad that really highlights all of the appealing amenities and attributes of your rental. So if it's got a nice fenced backyard, focus on that. If it's got some highlights inside like granite stainless steel, or you just painted. Those are some things that you'll really want to highlight. Good photos— just opening up all the blinds, turning on the lights, getting good lighting, using the best camera that you have. iPhones or some of the new smartphones, so those will usually work. But if you have a tripod, that's going to help stabilize the image. We use really good camera equipment to take most of our photos. Effective advertising, create a flyer and put that on your front door. Advertising Craigslist, online mediums, there's just a lot of different sources out there. Yard sign, yard signs just work, still work incredibly well. You do not discriminate, pay attention to all the fair housing laws, especially in your advertising. If someone inquires, make sure that you give an application to everyone who inquires. Follow the, the laws for your state. Here in Oregon, it's a first-come, first-served, so the first qualified applicant according to your screening guidelines. Your screening guidelines can, as long as you don't discriminate against a protected class, there's a lot of flexibility that you can set for your standard, or you can go with kind of a generic standard that some of the rental housing associations in your local area should be able to give you resources for. We certainly encourage you to screen all your tenants. You'll want to get connected with a good screening company, or you can outsource that. There's several different organizations online that you can use to screen to a limited degree. Once you've found or approved an applicant, set a move-in date, fill out the move-in paperwork. You'll want to make sure that you have all the appropriate move-in documentation for your state or area, and there's a additional things that you can do, addendums and disclosures to the tenants, rules and regulations that you can create, again, in accordance with limitations of the law or in compliance with fair housing, and turn the keys over and congratulations, you rented your place. I hope that helps, and if you have more questions, feel free to give us a call. Happy investing. Okay.
