# Key Post: Tips from existing investors.



## Brendan Burgess (1 Apr 2002)

Don't provide televisions, VCRs etc


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## MACTHEKNIFE (15 Apr 2002)

*Tips for investors*

Don't mess tenants around - they are paying high rents, they deserve a good service.

Get a list of contact eg. plumber, electrician, etc. etc that you trust and give this to the tenants in the event of an emergency so they can contact directly if need be.

Also get a "good" deposit eg. 1 month and 1 month in advance


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## tedd (15 Apr 2002)

*Re: Tips from existing investors*

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START-->_ Tips for vetting prospective tenants from_<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> <!--EZCODE BOLD START-->* madman*<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->:

Advertise in Evening Herald - reasonably cheap.
Get 3 references - Bank, previous landlord and work.
Verify the references - ring the referees and check that the references are genuine.
Ask their current landlord why they are leaving.
Talk to the tenants and try to sound them out - down to intuition really.
Ask them why they are leaving their current landlord - make sure the answer matches the one the landlord gave you.
Get a deposit equal to one months rent. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START-->_ (minumum! tedd)_<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->
Get a tight letting agreement drawn up.
Visit the property regularly to check on it (quarterly).
Pray.


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## rainyday (18 Sep 2002)

*check out the neighbours*

Originally posted by 'Gary'

Dear all

We often worry about good tenants but take it from me check out the neighbours !!!

I have a lovely house and reasonable tenants but one particular neighbour has made their lives hell accusing them of all sorts of things so much that the tenant is moving on , I dread to think of what they'll do to the next one 

So take care


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## tedd (29 Oct 2002)

*Re: How to check out rental value of investment property*

_advice from bringroyback_ 

A simple bit of market research should help. Consider placing an ad in the Herald/Indo or for higher price brackets the Times. If someone rings up just tell them its gone. Ads usually run for 3 days and are an excellent gauge of your potential market. Place on ad on daft.ie as well. I did this before I bought an investment property 2 years ago and I got about 20 calls. It cost me about 30 quid to put an ad in the Herald!


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## Sarah Wellband (7 Nov 2002)

*Avoiding disputes at the end of a tenancy/life cover*

Either photogragh or video the interior of the house at the start of the tenancy to keep a record of the state of repair so that you can identify any damage at the end.

Also if you have a mortgage do not *assign* life cover to the lender as the mortgage would be automatically cleared in the event of death. If your partner/estate wanted to keep the investment the interest relief would be lost.

Sarah

www.rea.ie


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## rory (7 Nov 2002)

*Re: Avoiding disputes at the end of a tenancy/life cover*

Hi Sarah,

I don't understand your point about the life insurance. How would the mortgage be automatically cleared, and how would it affect your estate?

Thanks,
Rory


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## Sarah Wellband (8 Nov 2002)

*Life cover*

Hi Rory,

If a life assurance is legally assigned to a lender and the borrower dies the death benefit is paid directly to the lender to clear the mortgage. If the deceased's partner/estate decided to keep the investment property rather than sell it the main "allowable expense" - the mortgage interest - would no longer exist.

Kind regards,

Sarah

www.rea.ie


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## 2002monty (27 Dec 2002)

*Re: Tips from existing investors*

Monty

Please post your question as a question and not as a reply to this topic.

To do so, hit the "new topic" button on the top right hand side of the screen

Brendan


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## noordinarythumber (17 Mar 2003)

*painting*

when you first do up the house its handy to use an easy to find colour. if you go off and use some interesting shade of orange its likely that when the time comes for a repaint that you wont be able to get the exact shade again-so you'll have to repaint the whole room instead of just patching with the original colour.

also, if its a new property in an estate you should ask the builder what exact colours were used externally- just so you wont have to spend a week comparing dulux cards to the  original colour.


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## aardvark (27 Aug 2003)

*Tips*

I have recently been vetting tenants for a house for the first time...baptism of fire...

Here are a few suggestions :

1. Advertising in Irish Times is expensive (€117 for 4 days) compared with Independent and Herald (€52 for 3 days for both).  I got more calls from the Herald than anything else. Nothing from IT.

2. Daft.ie was ok. A few enquiries but at least it was free.

2. Watch out for tenants in a panic! They want to see the house immediately but are not listening and eyes are glazed over when you are describing the bits and bobs. 

3. Watch out for people getting separated and want it in a hurry.  I rang one person back about some details and was told that they were living happily ever after again!

4. I am wary about rent allowance. I had never heard of the generosity of the State before this.  But if it does not cover the full rent, is a single mother/father going to let his/her kids starve or not pay your rent. Poor publicity if you want to get them out.

5. I'm not overly bothered about people who are picky, at least they care.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

A


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