How to Prevent Missed Mortgage Payments

Owning a property has many advantages and benefits, especially when you turn it into a rental property. At Brotherly Love Real Estate, we buy houses in Philly, and we know there are good investments throughout most of the city.

But owning a property means keeping up with the mortgage payments. When you have tenants, missing mortgage payments is always a possibility.

Missed mortgage payments can be a serious issue. Most lenders start proceedings for foreclosure after three months of missed mortgage payments. So, it’s important to ensure you keep up with payments. This starts with how you run your rental property and manage your relationships with tenants.

Keep reading to learn our top tips on how to prevent missed mortgage payments.

1. Find Great Tenants

Firstly, it’s important to find good tenants that are reliable and pay rent on time every month. While you don’t want voids in a property, don’t rush into finding a new tenant or take anyone on just to fill a void. Once in, a tenant can be difficult and costly to evict (learn more about the Philadelphia eviction process).

It takes some time, effort, and expense to find high-quality tenants. By utilizing credit checks and background reports, you can find the best tenants that won’t hassle you with missed mortgage payments. Using a real estate agent to help you find good tenants is a great way to ensure the occupants are suitably vetted and found via the right channels.

2. Avoid Vacancies

Secondly, you need to keep rentals at full (or optimum) capacity to avoid missing mortgage payments. This is the best way to ensure you have regular rental income to cover your mortgage payments each month. While it might sound obvious, vacancies coupled with a poor marketing strategy are the main reasons why landlords can’t pay their mortgages.

Build a clear strategy for how you’re going to find new tenants when a current tenant gives notice. For example, don’t delay promoting a rental listing. As soon as the notice is received, start advertising the property and organizing viewings. Don’t procrastinate or leave it to the tenants to find someone new.

Cast a wide net when advertising a property and don’t rely on one potential tenant coming through. People can drop out or go with another property at any point – even after they’ve paid the deposit. So, it’s important to have a backup plan. Look at filling your units as a significant part of your REI (real estate investment) business achievement and manage it rapidly and productively.

3. Keep Up With Maintenance

The best way to avoid missed payments and vacancies is to keep current tenants happy. If you find a rock-star tenant who plans to live in your unit long-term, do your part to keep them. Keep up with routine maintenance and property inspections to ensure everything runs smoothly.

When issues are raised by tenants, respond promptly and helpfully to resolve problems. If repairs are needed, action them as a priority and keep tenants informed. Should a tenant call, answer it immediately or let them know that you’ll get back to them soon.

Go above and beyond as much as possible if you want to attract good tenants and keep them there. The best landlords anticipate problems and fix them before they become an issue. For example, they might update appliances when they are getting old or not running as efficiently as they once were.

4. Find Long-Term Occupants

Searching for long-term occupants is another way to prevent missed mortgage payments. When advertising a property, write the listing to attract long-term tenants and offer amenities suitable for such occupants. For example, offer rooms unfurnished or part-furnished so they can bring their own belongings. Or relax your pet policy.

However, don’t assume that quality occupants will always be long-term ones. Some great tenants may move in and out of Philadelphia for various reasons. For example, they may simply be living in an area they don’t plan to stay in very long. Always be prepared for notices and have a strategy to fill voids quickly.

5. Be a Great Landlord

Finally, being a decent landlord goes a long way in creating fruitful and easy relationships with your tenants. Such relationships can attract good tenants and ensure they stick around. Always be polite, respectful, and courteous to your tenants in communication. This includes when communicating about repairs, responding to calls, replying to emails, and when notifying tenants about lease changes.

Summary

In an uncertain economic state, it is critical to do everything you can to avoid missing mortgage payments. These basic hints can help as you work to find easy-going, long-term, rent-paying tenants to keep your properties afloat and allow you to pay for your mortgage each month.

Curious about what your property may be worth? Contact us to find out more details on how to sell your house fast! We buy houses in Philadelphia PA and can close quickly and on your schedule. Text or call us at (215) 326-9208.