How To Rent Out Apartments As An Investment

Apartments today are one of the best selling properties on the market, mainly because many investors buy and rent out apartments for second income. This can be a good option so long as the apartment has a nice location, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths as these are what most renters prefer. In order to make your apartment rental business a good investment, the rental income should exceed your costs for example, mortgage, property tax, insurance, etc. Once you have found the ideal property, your next step will be thinking how to rent out your apartment.

Hiring a management company

First, you can hire a management company to do it all for you WITH charges. The fees include finding tenants as well as managing your property and it can range from 50% to 150% of one month’s rent. Management fees typically include collecting the rent, charging late fees, handling repairs and dealing with evictions.

Alternatively, you can list your property on SPEEDHOME and they will guarantee on-time rental regardless of whether your tenant pays you on the due date. Their homerunners team will meet potential tenants and close the deal so you can just post your property and relax as they do the rest.

Listing your property is free on SPEEDHOME and they will only charge you when your property is rented out. The charges include insurance.

Target your tenant

Afterall, the profit you will get from your investment is from the tenant. So, to rent out your apartment you must first target your tenant. There are few things that should be in your consideration. Ask yourself these questions: How many pax can your unit occupy? Is your unit in a strategic location (colleges, public transport)? What is your preferred tenant type/status ( the couples, married, single)? After you have decided what are the types of your ideal tenants, then only you can decide your rental charge. So now, where to get those tenants?

There are many ways to find tenants such as advertising in local newspapers and online websites or even through word of mouth. Listing your property on SPEEDHOME is one of the best ways to find tenants. Not only do you get to communicate directly to your potential tenant instead of through an agent, SPEEDHOME also does background checks on potential tenants to filter out tenants with bad credit ratings and outstanding debts. SPEEDHOME is as strict as a bank when it comes to running background checks on tenants in order to make sure you get a good paymaster everytime. They undertake credit checks from EXPERIAN to protect your property.  

However, if you prefer to do this yourself then don’t forget to ask potential tenants to fill out forms listing their basic information. This includes details such as name, employer, salary, previous landlord and references. You will also need to perform a background check on your own through online credit report agencies. You will also need to check references by contacting employers and talking to previous landlords.

Deciding how much rent to charge

As mentioned earlier, once you have targeted your ideal tenant type you can next decide your rental charge. In order to rent out your unit fast you shall offer a competitive price.

One way to get an idea for how much rent to charge is to check listings for similar properties to yours from online listings. Rent should reflect the market rate but also take into account whether the property is furnished or semi-furnished as you will be able to charge more compared to an unfurnished property.

Here’s some tips to help you increase your rental charge slightly higher than others:

Treat your apartment unit like your home – clean it! Make it feel like a home and impress those potential tenants, it should be no problem to rent out your apartment in a short period of time.

Now that you know this, you can start venturing into the world of property investment by first buying and renting out your apartment (with a little help from SPEEDHOME)! Don’t know how? Get started by following this guide to Malaysia real estate investment!