People who are not in the rental housing business often think that being a landlord is simple: you just collect rent then voila! Easy money. In reality, however, tenants deal with a great amount of stress, and they need to put in a lot of their time, effort, and capital before they start earning financial rewards.

Laying the groundwork for the business alone takes months of preparation: from business planning and property search to legal consultations and registrations.

Afterward, they need to market their units, screen tenants, and conduct dozens of walkthroughs.

And the work doesn’t end even after they find a tenant. They have to maintain the property and ensure all tenants will have quality living conditions for the entire duration of their tenancy.

Anxiety is the usual cause of a landlord’s stress. They constantly worry about how to satisfy tenants, ensure on-time rent, maintain property efficiently, decrease vacancy rate, and avoid tenant lawsuits, to name a few.

As a tenant, you have to ensure that your business wouldn’t cost you your peace of mind or will get in the way of your happiness. After all, you can’t put a price tag on the happy life that you could live. So here are a few things you can do in your rental business that minimizes the unnecessary stress and anxiety that comes from managing a property:

Build a strong foundation

To prevent tenant dissatisfaction, lawsuits, and delayed rent, you have to take precautionary steps before the start of every leasing contract. Usually, landlords are advised to create detailed listings to better attract prospects. However, there’s a non-marketing-related benefit to that as well: it gives your future tenants all the information about the property so that there’s less chance of them complaining about an undisclosed issue.

When you post property listings on platforms like Padleads.com where hundreds of potential clients could see it, make sure that you are as honest as possible about the details of your units. This transparency must also be practiced and documented during property showings. This way, you can use the documentation as a basis to prove that you did not deceive your tenant.

Another way of ensuring a good foundation is by being clear with all the rules, regulations, boundaries, and obligations in your leasing contract. Make sure that your tenant fully understands and agrees to them in order to set realistic expectations for all parties involved.

Do your part

An agreement is a compact between two or more parties promising to perform responsibilities that they agree to do. Violating an agreement causes conflict; whoever commits the violation usually suffers consequences.

In the case of a leasing agreement, it’s entered into by a tenant and a landlord. Usual tenant obligations include paying rent on time, keeping the property undamaged, and following rules and regulations. On the other hand, usual landlord obligations include conducting maintenance checks, performing repairs, and safeguarding security deposits.

By simply performing (to the best of your abilities) all your landlord responsibilities according to the leasing agreement and to the state and federal laws, you’ll have a lower chance of facing complaints or lawsuits. This way, you can be sure that should conflicts arise, you will not be on the losing end. Simply put: no violation, no consequence.

Try to delegate       

Some landlords tend to juggle everything on their own. The next thing they know, they are dealing with overwhelming stress and burnout. To avoid this, it’s good to network with different service providers. If a task is too difficult for you or is beyond your area of expertise, it’s better to hire professionals. It might cost you money, but it’s worth the comfort of not needing to overwork yourself.

Take advantage of technology

This is especially important when you need to market your units. If you suddenly lose a tenant, it could be very stressful to look for another tenant to fill in the vacancy. It’s a huge opportunity cost for any landlord if a unit stays unoccupied for weeks.

It’s a good thing that looking for leads nowadays is easier and faster because the home hunters now look for vacancies online. Go where the market is and post your unit listings on property listing management platforms like Padleads. Since it syndicates your listings to popular rental sites, people looking for a place to stay could easily see your unit’s features and can contact you directly.