Starting off with Rentals, got a couple of questions.

**Mike in FL** · 05-13-2009, 07:28 AM

Me and my friend/partner just got our licenses about a month. The reason I say partner is because we are going into this together and will be making sure to keep each other motivated.

Anyways, we signed up with a friend that’s a broker. He mostly deals with bank foreclosures, which he get a lot of them from the bank. More into the summer we were told we will be helping out more and more with leads coming in pertaining to those properties.

In the mean time, me and my friend were going to start off working with rentals. My question are:

1. What the process of taking and showing a potential tenant a rental?

2. Do I have to be there to show them? If not, what are the procedures taken for letting the potential tenant see the apart with you being able to still get commission? ( I still work full time at the moment, this is for people who would like to see a house during a week day.)

3. What documents do I need to have? I believe there’s contract to lease and a rental agreement…anything else?

4. Would working in a college town be benificial?

5. If there’s anything else that you can add that would be great.

Edit: We are 22 and 23 btw....
Edit2: We are only doing this part time until we are finacially stable enough to take Real Estate full time.

**kevin@BootStrapLearning** · 05-13-2009, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by Mike in FL

. In the mean time, me and my friend were going to start off working with rentals. My question are:

1. What the process of taking and showing a potential tenant a rental?

2. Do I have to be there to show them? If not, what are the procedures taken for letting the potential tenant see the apart with you being able to still get commission? ( I still work full time at the moment, this is for people who would like to see a house during a week day.)

It depends on the rental. For houses you most often are taking the tenants and showing them the property, for apartments it can range from taking the tenants to the complex or in some cases sending them with your card.

[quote]3. [FONT=Arial]What documents do I need to have? I believe there

**Mike in FL** · 05-13-2009, 09:04 AM

Awesome answer. I really appreciate it. Me and my friend have already accumulated a huge spreadsheet of apartments in all surrounding areas. Still trying to get the info from most of them, long process hehe.

**RedCarpetSchool** · 05-13-2009, 09:12 AM

First off with any agency relationship you really need to meet the individual(s) and present to them the law of agency if required by your state. At that time you may want to have them sign an exclusive buyer (leaser) agency agreement. That way if they do rent they will be required to pay you for your services. This is sometimes a conundrum as the Landlord will be willing to pay for finding them a tenant and the tenant can be paying twice in a roundabout way. You may want to consider this when you put together your agreement with the tenant. If you do not have any kind of agreement with the tenant and they are off looking at potential units without you, you will risk losing them directly to the landlord or some other agent that is representing the building.

In my opinion you are picking one of the hardest means of starting out part time. It takes a lot of work doing lease negotiation and finding residential tenants. You may be better off looking directly for landlords and representing the building in finding new tenants.

**kevin@BootStrapLearning** · 05-13-2009, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by Mike in FL

Awesome answer. I really appreciate it. Me and my friend have already accumulated a huge spreadsheet of apartments in all surrounding areas. Still trying to get the info from most of them, long process hehe.

You might be surprised where this ends up. Given your age and the demographic you are focusing on you are uniquely positioned to provide added value to the process - which are the best apts for student life, best location, party complexes, non party complexes, etc.

Add onto this working relationships with the apartment property managers so that you know who is offering the best tenant premiums (free rent, etc) and you have a winning combo. I agree that the buyer rep agreement is a requirement for submitting your invoice but I have never had to bill a client for services, ultimately, the property management companies want you to keep bringing them people.

**Hollywood Landlord** · 07-17-2009, 03:12 PM

are highly motivated and very organized which will be key to your success particularly as expressed earlier.

You guys could for now market yourselves as the "go-to" guys for college kids just entering the scene and looking for apartments. You can set up a very inexpensive website and advertise on campus... you have a fantastic built in client pool.

Just make sure you are able to secure the potential renter's info, so that you don't lose them directly to the landlord as previous mentioned.

**janice** · 07-17-2009, 07:33 PM

You must be very persistent in this situation, well there are lots of college students wh looks for a board or apartment to rent why don't you try t o have a deal with them I'm sure you and your friend can get clients.