Long Term Unfurnished Rentals
Unfurnished, traditional rentals where you rent to a tenant for 12 months or longer, are the most simple and least labor-intensive buy & hold model, however, it doesn’t cash flow positively these days. The cost of Real Estate and high interest rates make this model very hard to pull off, UNLESS, you purchased the property before 2020 and have a low rate, or own it outright! In that case, this is a great model!
Long-term rentals will need to abide by all California Real Estate tenant laws, which include having tenants and landlords sign a battery of documents with the intention of protecting both parties during the rental duration. The CAR forms that will be required include:
- Residential Lease or month-to-month rental agreement
- Bed Bug Disclosure
- Tenant Flood Hazard Disclosure
- Rent Cap and Just Cause Addendum
- Fair Housing & Discrimination Advisory
- Mold & Ventilation Disclosure & Addendum
- Pet Addendum
- Parking & Storage Disclosure
- CA consumer Privacy Act Advisory
- Wildfire Disaster Advisory
- Water Heater & Smoke Detector statement of Compliance
- Lease/Rental Commission agreement
- Broker Specific Disclosures (TBD)
- Find out more here
Compliance & Getting your home ready for a long term rental:
Safety and liability are the main drivers of long term rental lawsuits, which is why there are so many disclosures. In order to rent out your home on a long term basis, you will need to make sure your home is in compliance with the updated housing safety standards. For example, if you have an older home with older smoke detectors or missing Carbon Monoxide detectors, you will need to update and install new ones prior to tenants moving in. If there are any safety concerns, leaks, potential moldy areas, dated electrical boxes, etc, you should consider making those improvements prior to having a tenant live in your property.
From a marketing perspective, we will recommend doing some minor upgrades to your home if we feel the property won’t show well. For example, some paint to cover up scuffed-up walls, or perhaps new light fixtures to make the home look more up to date.
The cost of these upgrades is well worth avoiding a safety issue during a tenant’s stay or making your property sit on the market with limited inquiries. Our Team can help advise on all necessary changes in order to make sure your home is a safe and marketable place for the ideal tenant.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Should I stage my unfurnished rental for photos?
Staging always makes photography look better, which drives the number of people who are interested in your rental.
The cost of staging, however, can be cost prohibitive for a long term rental. So, we would recommend not staging, however, with that being said, if you have photo worthy furnishings, I would recommend we photograph the rental prior to removing your furnishings, as the home will look better online.
Vetting tenants:
The hardest part of getting a rental to market is the marketing & vetting of the property.
If the homes has been updated and is in show-ready condition, then marketing should be quicker and easier. Vetting, however, is what can take the most time. For example, for long term rentals, we have tenants fill out an application, run their credit and background checks. We also meet with and speak directly to all applicants.
As rental owners, we personally take great pride in the quality of renters we have brought to the table. Our team takes great pride in our ability to sniff out potential tenants that could cause issues for us in the long term.
Lock boxes:
We recommend and provide lockboxes for your rental, so tenants can access the property along with Realtors, and handymen.
