Anyone have experience with rental properties?

I ask as I am looking into turning my house into a rental property, so i am trying to find out what you have to do to set up a rental property, who to call, etc. also about how this would work with your taxes, stuff like that.

so if anyone has experience on this situation any info would be appreciated

thanks, ryan

 

It's a minefield. Management companies aren't interested unless you have a lot of properties for them to look after, and if you get a crappy tenant, the property may well suffer for it. And you can't pre-screen tenants because of potential discrimination lawsuits. We looked into it before we left the US, because it would give us a bolt hole in case things went horribly wrong. We eventually decided that it would be easier to just rent somewhere new if we did have to come back.

Stuart.

 

My accounting professor was a young lady who was into the rental thing. She said it was important to create a separate business entity to protect yourself from liability. I don't know much about it, but you should check that out before getting into a rental agreement.

 

well im not looking into having a separate company do anything, its something i would do on my own since at this point it would just be my house that would be rented out.

basically i am assuming you have to call the city/county and get your place registered as a rental unit? to make it totally legal, and maybe a inspection to make sure the place is safe and livable?

also along the lines of rental contracts to make sure they are legit and legal.

and for the taxes i would assume you would just report your rental income at tax time and pay the taxes on that income then?

 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...snum=0&ct=broad-revision&cd=2&ved=0CCYQ1QIoAQ

Try starting there. I think not only do you have to register it with the city and county, but the state too. the AG's website should have a ton of info, and you could always call your local city hall or go down there and talk to someone about it. It's not entirely uncommon for someone to wish to do this

 

thanks!!

 

Just beware that the landlord/tenant laws in MN are very strict and can be easily manipulated by tenants to work against you. Ideally this would not be an issue, but it is best to look into it before you start. just as a heads up incase at some point the poo hits the oscillator.