Congratulations, You just bought your first investment property! Now What? There are a lot of factors that you need to think about. Here is a helpful checklist of things to get you started.

Get to know your property
- You are about to find a new tenant, you will need to be able to explain your property to them.
  - What type of utilities do you have? Do you have all electric or do you have gas…who are the companies used?
  - Where are your emergency water shutoffs?
  - Are there any issues with water drainage in the yard?
  - Do the tubs drain slowly ?
  - How is the water pressure?
  - Where is your hot water heater?
  - Where is your fuse box?
Get to know your market and how it relates to leasing your home.
- Walk the property and look for updates needed to level the playing field against your competition.
  - Do appliances need updating?
  - Cabinets painted/replaced/refinished?
  - Flooring replaced/refinished/cleaned?
    - If so what is best to replace with?
  - Power-washing?
  - Landscaping?
  - Painting?
Find Vendors
- It is not a question of if your home will have maintenance issues, but when and how often. Have you lined up vendors for the home?
  - Be proactive not reactive.
    - HVAC
    - Plumber
    - Electrician
    - General Handyman
    - Landscaping
    - Painter
    - Flooring
    - Pest Control
How much time do you have to dedicate to funding and managing the home?
- Do you have a full time job?
- Do you have other obligations that take up your free time?
- In order to rent your home you will need to take time to:
  - Market the home
  - Answer questions from prospective tenants
  - Schedule showings
  - Run and review background reports
  - Draft leases
  - Perform inspections
  - Handle move in maintenance items(change light bulbs, clean, paint, etc…)
- Then once the home is rented, you will have to:
  - Collect rents
  - Follow up on unpaid rents
  - Handle legal matters such as evictions if needed
  - Receive and handle maintenance issues(please note that maintenance doesn’t have normal business hours).
  - Facilitate and manage vendors and work needed.
Is a property manager a good idea?
- Managing even one rental property can at times become a full time job, no one needs assistance with Property Management until they do. You may be imagining A utopian experience of a home with the perfect tenant that pays on time, in full and never submits a maintenance request . The facts are that even the best tenants and the best property will have issues from time to time. A professional property manager can take that stress off of you, not to mention give you a degree of separation between you and the tenant. Typically, the fee’s are very nominal in exchange for the services rendered, not to mention you can write the expense off on your taxes. Contact Oak City Properties today and let’s have a conversation!