Finding tenants to fill your rental can be frustrating. Even tougher if your trying to manage you’re rental part time, while working another full time job, have a family, soccer practice, or all of those combined...  Here are a few ways to improve your vacancy rate.

• Rule number one. Be tenacious.
• Use Free marketing
• Use some “almost-free” marketing.
• Section 8… not as scary as you think.

If you plan on being a buy and hold investor, you need a plan for minimizing costs associated with property maintenance and repair. As a landlord, your goal should be to provide a clean, safe, functional house for you tenants that generates an acceptable cash-flow stream.

The following are a few tactics you should consider which will help you reduce re-occurring maintenance and repair costs. My real estate partners and I invest in Arizona, so some of these principles might not apply for your geographic location, but most will. Also keep in mind that we focus on lower middle income single family housing that generates cash-flow, not high-end furnished rentals or multiple unit rentals. Some of the principals don’t apply if you’re trying to attract tenants interested in luxury or posh rentals.