People move within this metro constantly — out from in-town, in from the suburbs, across to a different corridor for a job. Often the old house does not sell on the timeline the family needed, so they rent it for a year. Many of them are still renting it a decade later, and the ones who did well set it up properly at the start.
Four minutes for owners who did not plan on this. More in the SPM video library.
1. Set it up as if it is permanent
A property set up for one year and a property set up for ten look different — in what gets repaired, what gets replaced, and how the lease is written. Since the one-year version usually becomes the ten-year version, build the durable one from the start.
2. Your old neighborhood is a submarket with its own rules
Atlanta rents by pocket, not by metro. What your house rents for is set by the specific demand where it sits, which may be nothing like what you assumed when you lived there and were not paying attention to rents.
3. Living nearby is not the same as being able to manage it
Plenty of owners stay in the metro and figure they will handle it themselves. Then traffic, a work week, and a Saturday showing collide. Proximity on a map is not availability, and residents experience the difference as a slow response.
4. Screening and fair housing apply from day one
Written criteria, applied identically to every applicant, with consistent documentation. This protects the owner and it is what the law requires — and it applies just as fully to someone renting out a former home as to anyone else.
5. Then run it on numbers instead of instinct
Days on market, response time, retention, collected rent. Professionally managed portfolios average 19 days on market, retain 72% of residents, collect 99%+ of rents, and answer work orders in an average of 17 minutes through Smart Maintenance, with owners seeing it in Rental-IQ™.
Key learning questions
- Am I setting this house up for one year or for ten?
- Do I know what houses in this specific pocket are leasing for right now?
- Can I realistically be at the property on a weekday afternoon?
Want this looked at for your property?
Aaron Miles, VP of Sales, keeps time open for owners who want a straight read on what their property should be doing. No pitch, no obligation.
Specialized Property Management has managed Atlanta rental homes for 40 years, backed by commitments we stand behind: a Tenant Placement Commitment covering any tenant we place for up to 12 months, a Transparent Pricing Commitment that locks your pricing and agreement terms for three full years, and a Service Resolution Commitment to take immediate action if you are not satisfied. If you want a straight read on what your Atlanta property should be doing, we are ready to help.
