First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series)
- ISBN13: 9781413309119
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
First-time landlord? Learn landlording fundamentals in this primer.
The declining U.S. economy has forced many homeowners to make tough decisions about their property. If you’re one of the millions of Americans affected by the credit crisis, struggling to make your mortgage payments, and are considering renting out your home to make ends meet, you’ll need to learn the basics of being a landlord.
Let First-Time Landlord show you how to start your landlording business and maintain it in your spare time. Get the concise information you need to start making money with a single-family home, written for property owners with little business savvy — and even less time and patience. Learn how to rent out your property lawfully and safely with valuable information on:
how to determine whether or not the property will turn a profit landlord business basics finding the right tenants preparing and signing the lease handling repairs complying with your state’s rental
Rating: 
(out of 26 reviews)
List Price: $ 19.99
Price: $ 12.37
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Review by A. Boston for First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series)
Rating:
When I got this book, I was prepared to most likely rip it to shreds. I’m a Real Estate Broker, and have been doing rentals for a couple years now. I find so many landlords that ignore laws(or just never learned them), don’t do credit checks, etc. that I tend to think it would be extremely difficult for any landlord, especially a first timer, to do everything right.
When you think about it, there is A LOT to cover when you’re a landlord. Buying, preparing, advertising, inteviewing, book keeping, maintaining, dealing with tenant issues. The list goes on and on. There are tons of rules and regulations, fair housing laws, you name it, a tenant can usually find a way to slap you with the book of law.
With that being said, I think this book is a good STARTER to becoming a landlord. It broadly covers all aspects. My state in particular is very picky and has very specific rules for lots of different things. So I wound really recommend you get something up-to-date that pertains just to your state. But this book does cover a lot of ground and from start to finish of being a landlord.
I would personally recommend that every landlord use a Broker. I see so many landlords that insist on coming in for the showing, and they either like the potential tenant and get over eager, or just say something that scares them off. Using a broker who is calm and will just show them around without emotional attachment is really your best bet. Many times I’ve heard someone say “I really like the apartment, but the landlord makes me nervous”.
If not to find the tenants, a Broker can help you do and provide the proper paperwork. For a small fee, they’ll do background checks, credit reports and write the lease for you. A good Broker knows red flags and don’t rely on how they “feel” about the applicant. They go on fact. Spending a couple hundred bucks is going to be cheaper in the long run then breaking a fair housing law and getting sued for thousands. Or having to pay triple damages when you mishandle their security deposit.
Don’t rely on other landlords for “oh, this is the lease I use” or “the addendum I like”. Many landlords these days try to include unenforceable clauses. Do you really want to tell the judge “my landlord friend told me it was ok!”.
My only issue was, why is it for single family homes specifically? I didn’t think the book fit them in particular, and seemed to cover also multi-family houses at times. Personally, I think a multi-family book would be more useful because they seem to be where a good chunk of rentals are.
Get this book, it will get you started in the right direction and then you can branch out with books to more specific landlord topics.
Review by Modern Blue Argonaut for First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series)
Rating:
Much of this book is common sense, but coming in at almost 300 pages plus the index, there is a wealth of information in here.
USA Today, in a joint effort with NOLO takes readers by the hand and explains in simple language the business of becoming a landlord. The graphics were well-placed, interesting, and informative.
Some of the things in the book appeared to be silly & unnecessary (such as don’t hit your tenant, page 199). Other information was very valuable, such as providing accommodation for disabled persons, checking tenants credit (it says you don’t need their permission!), and checking the sex offenders database. I also liked the staging checklist, but the book is full of checklists and bulleted lists that help to ensure you are covering your bases.
Overall, it was a very informative read and should be useful for new landlords.
Review by J. Jacobs for First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series)
Rating:
This easy-to-read book goes over the basics of renting out a single family home. Most of it is easy to understand and reading the book will provide one with a good base of information.
I was disappointed that this book didn’t mention anything specifically related to renting out a part of owner-occupied property and how that situation might be similar to or different from renting out an entire house. Also, the discussion on depreciation of investments and what impact that will have at the time of sale was not well explained.
This is a good book to read for some initial information, but you’ll probably need to consult other sources as well.
Review by Derek G for First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series)
Rating:
I’ve reviewed three Nolo books now and all three have done a wonderful job of translating complicated legal mumbo-jumbo into readable material regular folks can understand. They may not replace the advice of a lawyer in my opinion, but perhaps I’m just a wimp. I was a little apprehensive of a book publisher of this caliber teaming up with USA Today as I consider their newspaper the sort of thing people read when they don’t want to learn anything. Still, in a strange way, the combination works rather well. Nolo provides the information and the pages are sprinkled with interesting factoids or Snapshot Pictures to keep the material from getting too dry and putting you to sleep. It makes the entire book reader-friendly while still providing a valuable source of info.
Here are the different chapters:
1. Is Owning Rental Property for You?
2. Landlording with Family or Friends
3. Preparing and Marketing Your Rental Property
4. Screening and Choosing Good Tenants
5. Preparing a Lease and Getting the Tenant Moved In
6. Manage Your Rental Income to Maximize Tax Deductions
7. Keeping Things Shipshape: Repairs and Maintenance
8. Landlord Liability for Injuries, Crimes, and More
9. Dealing with Difficult Tenants
10. Hiring a Property Manager
11. Exiting the Rental Property Business
Each chapter has subchapters with specific topics that are easily referenced via the table of contents if you are searching for something specific.
Like other Nolo books, First-Time Landlord provides a step-by-step guide to the process of purchasing an investment property from start to finish. UNLIKE other Nolo books, First-Time Landlord does not provide a reference guide containing the various laws in the 50 different states that will impact you. Instead, you will frequently get phrases like, “check state law”, that tend to get annoying. Even worse, they often don’t provide suggestions as to which state department or authority we should talk to. Those blue pages in the phone book get larger every year and it’s difficult to play the runaround game with state workers when we don’t know where to begin. It’s a significant omission and I hope it’s updated in future editions, but it’s my only gripe. Otherwise, any potential landlord will want to read this book first and I’m still giving them five stars for the info and layout. Nice job, Nolo.
Review by J. Shewbridge for First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series)
Rating:
This is an excellent book, but be aware that it serves as an “advertisement” for other NOLO books. It would be nice if it contained more legal information instead of recommending (repeatedly) the purchase of additional books from the same publisher.
Nonetheless, it points out many useful ideas about being a first time landlord.