Tips For Renting Out Your Home Safely

Renting your seasonal or second home is an easy way to generate additional income, especially here in Arizona. With fantastic year-round weather, great restaurants and no shortage of things to do, our state is a hot market for rentals. In fact, more than 200 people are moving to the Valley every day. If you’re trying to rent out your home, it’s important to take appropriate precautions before handing the keys to renters. Here are a few things we do at Tweener Homes that you’ll want to keep in mind if you’re planning on entering the rental market.

Check Your Community Rental Rules

Nick Calvi is the founder and CEO of Tweener Homes.

While state bill 1350 bans cities, counties or towns from prohibiting short-term tenants less than 29 days, community associations still have the right to restrict certain type of rentals depending on your HOA agreements. Before listing your home, I recommend checking your community association rental rules to ensure you are following proper regulations.

Obtain Proper Insurance Coverage

What happens if your home floods while renters are there? Or if there’s a break-in? Most homeowner insurance policies will not honor claims if the home is occupied with renters. It’s crucial to check your policy and call your insurance company right away to verify that the proper liability insurance is in place. If not, consider using a company such as Property Protect , that offers insurance coverage for home renters. They even offer a protection plan option instead of collecting a security deposit.

Find a Quality Tenant

You’re finally ready to find a quality tenant, but how do you do it? This might be one of the most important aspects of rental safety. Ensure your tenant has a steady income stream, good credit and no criminal background. At Tweener Homes, we provide background screenings as part of our service to help ensure a safe rental transaction. We also require that the renter puts down a security deposit once we have successfully connected them with a homeowner or will have the renter pay for a damage deposit waiver in lieu of collecting and holding a security deposit.

Navigate the Need of the Renter

Once you have a qualified renter, find out what the purpose of their extended stay is. Is it a family looking for a home to call theirs while they wait for their newly purchased home to be ready? Or is it a group of friends looking for a place to throw a party? This is an important step to guarantee your home will be occupied by the right tenant for you. As an extended-rental company, our homeowners can avoid the weekend partiers, and find renters looking for a home to treat as their own.

If you’ve made the decision to rent out your home, be sure to keep these safety tips in mind. It’s always best to be prepared and take precautions, especially when it comes to your own home.

Nick Calvi is the founder and CEO of Tweener Homes, the first technology-based real estate brokerage dedicated to people searching for a comfortable, fully furnished home that can be rented on a monthly basis. Originally, Calvi is from Harvey, Illinois just south of Chicago. In 1981, he started work at a steel tube manufacturer in Harvey. Calvi’s ambition and drive for success enabled him to work his way from the plant floor to national product manager, eventually starting and running national manufacturer representative company for more than 20 years.

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