One of my dreams, when I was still single, was to own a rental property like a condominium unit or apartment. This dream came true after my husband and I decided to sell our first home. We actually had two condominium units which had an adjoining door. We lived there for a few years and then we got a bigger property. But our buyer at that time wanted to buy one unit only. So, we had the adjoining door closed once more. We sold one unit, had the remaining unit renovated and rented out.

Let me share some tips to make sure that you will earn through your rental property.

1. It should be accessible and have a good location.

   One of the things I loved about the location of our condominium is that it is beside a school specializing in aeronautics. Students from different parts of the country and the world study in this school. All of our tenants were students of the school beside it. They were originally based in the province. So, they only go home during school breaks and in the summer months. Our condominium is also surrounded by many of the establishments that most people look for. It is very convenient. There are convenience stores inside the condominium grounds. There are convenience stores like 7-11 and Ministop along the street outside the gated compound. There are several banks with ATMs outside. There are laundry shops, water refilling stations, salons, eateries, restaurants, computer shops both inside and outside the compound. There are nearby malls, supermarkets, churches and schools. One of the malls is just walking distance from the condominium. It is also just minutes away from the airports. Best of all, it is accessible through public transportation like jeeps, shuttle services and taxis.

2. It should have a good neighborhood.

   First and foremost here is that it should be in a safe neighborhood where those who will live there would feel safe and secure. It’s hard to get a good night’s sleep when you don’t feel safe. It’s scary roaming around or walking around a property where you will need to pass through areas where suspicious people frequent. It is best to get a property that is gated and has good security. This is the most important factor I considered when we bought our property. Good thing that our condominium has tight security. All gates have guards. There are guards assigned per building cluster. There are roving guards as well. There are CCTVs also in the building lobbies.

   

3. Furnish your rental property.

   

   We invested on nice dining plates, glasses and placemats.

   

   We bought nice linens also. We even provide towels for our guests, just like in hotels.

   

   Our rental property is a one-bedroom condominium unit with a queen-sized bed and bunk beds. We also have a sofabed in the sala.

   The rent is higher when your unit is furnished or at least semi-furnished. It also looks much better even when you are giving a tour to potential tenants or guests. It also looks attractive in photos. For our unit, I chose colors that give the beach vibe. That way, the guests would feel like they are on vacation or enjoying the beach even while in the city.

4. Get a property with attractive amenities or facilities.

   One of the perks of having a rental property in a condominium is that these condominiums usually have swimming pools, sports facilities or a playground. Other properties in subdivisions also have similar facilities. Our condominium has all these facilities aside from our clubhouse. There is even a weekly Mass in our clubhouse so Catholic residents who do not want to go out of the compound anymore can attend Mass there. There is also a gym and a badminton court. Residents can walk, jog, run or bike inside the compound. There are also activities that are held in the condominium’s clubhouse like Zumba classes or sessions and community events like bazaars, sports competitions, Halloween parties, etc.

   

   The swimming pool in our condominium.

5. Last but not least, buy a property at pre-selling price or at a low price. 

   We were so blessed to find our current property when it was still being constructed. It was still at pre-selling price. We were still an engaged couple then and we were looking for a future home. We each took out a housing loan from Pag-ibig. The monthly mortgage is low. Thus, we get to rent it out at an affordable price and still earn a profit.

I mentioned earlier that our tenants were usually students. There were years when we got very lucky and we found tenants who started renting our unit since they were freshmen. But that batch of tenants graduated and when the K-12 was implemented, we experienced problems in our rental property. It became more difficult to find student tenants. Plus, it happened that one of our tenants suddenly went back to the province after failing many of his subjects. We were informed by our property manager/broker only a few days before the start of classes. It was too late to find new student tenants already.

Join Airbnb

That was when my husband decided to investigate and learn more about Airbnb. He checked out their platform and started renting out our unit through this platform. This was a big help to us in the past year! Instead of just leaving the unit vacant, we still earned through our short-term guests. One of the things I love about Airbnb is that they help you make sure your guests are trustworthy and the payments are automatically sent to your account once your guests check-in because they pay using their credit card through the Airbnb platform.

Most of the bookings and guests we got via this platform stay for just a few days or weeks. But there are also times when they would stay for a month or more. This seldom happens, though.

Profit is higher when we have long-term guests or tenants. It also means less work for the property owners and fewer costs. Long-term tenants and guests pay for their utilities. With short-term guests, these are absorbed by the property owner. Cleaning costs are also shouldered by long-term tenants or guests. But if you have short-term guests, you need to have the unit cleaned after every check-out. You need to have someone check the property and its appliances and pieces of furniture if there were damages. This would mean transportation costs if you live far from your rental property. Therefore, I recommend that you get a rental property that is near your home so you could save time and money in managing it and coordinating with your tenants or guests.

Are you interested to invest in real estate to earn passive or semi-passive income? Do you have a vacant room or an entire house that you’d like to turn into a rental property that you could rent out via Airbnb? This has become a popular option for travelers nowadays because there are many nice but affordable options on this platform. To become a host at Airbnb, click here. Feel free to contact me via email at teresa@fulllifecube.com.

Do you want to know more about starting a business and if real estate is the right business for you? You may learn more about entrepreneurship through our video talk iHOPE through Entrepreneurship. You can download or watch this video for only P500. Click here.