Buying or Selling a Home

How to Prep your House for Renting

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So you've decided to rent your house. You have everything ready, from the application to the lease agreement, but what about your home itself? Besides cleaning it, what else can you do to make sure it's ready to rent? Landmark Home Warranty has a checklist of things you can do to make sure your home is ready for renters.

LIGHT UP THE HOUSE

Light has been proven time and time again to help sell and rent properties. So, when you show a prospective tenant your home, make sure to open the windows and draw the drapes! You can also buy higher wattage bulbs, clean out light fixtures and clean the windows to make rooms appear bright and open.

NEW COAT OF PAINT

Put a fresh coat of paint on the walls of your home in a white or neutral color. Neutral colors will make rooms appear more open and bright. If you're trying to rent a smaller space, this, coupled with clean or new light bulbs, can do wonders.

CLEAN YOUR HOME

The top deterrent for a renter is a dirty home. Nobody wants to deal with moving into a new home while worrying about its cleanliness. Although you could clean the house yourself, you will save a lot of time by hiring a professional cleaner. Most of them aren't terribly expensive, and can generally come during the daytime while you're at work, or on weekends.

STEAM CLEAN FLOORS

While you're cleaning, it's a good idea to rent a steam cleaner, or call a steam cleaning company to freshen up your carpets and hardwood floors. While you might not think your house has dirty carpets, it may be because you look at the carpet every day. A renter will be able to tell when a carpet is dingier than normal, and not want to rent the home.

MAKE MAJOR REPAIRS IN THE HOME

It's always a good idea to do a home inspection before you rent out a house. That way, you'll know what state the home's systems and appliances are in before you rent it, and you can fix any major problems that may deter a renter. If an inspection says that your gutters are leaking, you should make sure to fix it before a tenant moves into the home.

GET A HOME WARRANTY

After getting a home inspection, get a home warranty on the property. A home warranty provides protection from unexpected and pricey repairs for you as the landlord, and for your tenants. If your property has a home warranty and a home system or appliance fails, you will only have to pay a small service call fee to get it fixed, versus the hundreds or thousands of dollars you would spend without a home warranty. That means you only pay a service call fee for a failed HVAC system, dishwasher or plumbing system if they have failed from normal wear and tear and are part of the home warranty contract. As a landlord, putting a home warranty on a house can save you money, and provide peace of mind for you and your tenants.

GET PEST CONTROL

No renter wants to see spiders, beetles or earwigs on a tour of a possible home. If you have a problem with insects in your house, consider having a pest control company spray for pests. If your home is in Arizona, Texas or Nevada and you have a home warranty, you can get professional pest control to rid your property from most pests. Take a look at Landmark Home Warranty's infographic about home warranties and pests here.

For more information about home warranties, go to www.landmarkhw.com. At Landmark's website, you can look at home warranty coverage, read home warranty reviews, and see why Landmark beats out the rest of the home warranty companies. 

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