When buying a new rental property, we need to take care of a few things.
To ensure we are buying a good property, we need to follow the steps.
To ensure we are ready for whatever comes, we need to collect the supporting documents.
I divided the checklist into phases: before purchase, while in escrow, and after purchasing.
After Purchase
Congratulations! You are the new owner of a hopefully very good rental that will help you achieve. your goals. Let's get to the line items needed to be taken care of
Let the tenants know
If you self-manage the new property, you will need to let the tenants know that you are the new owner, that this is the new bank account to make deposits, etc.
If you use a property management company for that, you are in good hands and they will take care of that.
Take over bills
If the property is a single-family, it is likely that the tenants will pay for their own bills. If this is now the case, i.e. it is a duplex or a larger property, now is the time to take over the bills from the previous owner and move them to your name, put them on auto payment, etc.
Log the new property
Part of our job as investors are to keep everything ordered so it will be easy to keep track of stuff and scale. For that, we have to a Google spreadsheet with the details of the house - tax ID number, water account number, insurance number, etc.
After Purchase - summary
Document Type | Who Should Provide It | What is it? |
Recorded Deed | Lawyer / Title | Confirmation that the property is now yours |
Bills | Service provider | Confirmation that the accounts are on your name as the owner |