5 Tips for Managing a Garage for Rent
If you have a garage for rent, you might be considering renting it out for a little extra income. However, you’ll need to manage it like any other rental property. This includes researching any local/state laws, determining how much to rent your garage for, screening tenants, signing leases, and, finally, collecting rent.
This might seem overwhelming, but we’ll walk you through a few management steps you can use when navigating renting out your garage space.
How Much to Rent a Garage per Month?
First, you’ll want to determine how much you’re going to charge for your garage for rent.
You can do this by researching garages for rent in your area and matching the prices you find. You can also investigate local storage unit prices and base your price on the average rental price in your area.
Importantly, be competitive in your pricing—make sure it covers any fees but also remember tenants won’t want to pay for overpriced storage space.
Post Your Garage for Rent
You can post your rental on syndicated sites like Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, and Hotpads.
Other sites to try are Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. These will be more popular sites for tenants trying to find a garage space to rent, as people use social media much more frequently.
You can post your listing on these sites and quickly find tenants who are interested in renting your garage space.
Screen Tenants for Your Garage Rental
You’ll want to screen tenants just like you would for managing rental properties. Even though the tenant will not be living in the garage, you’ll still want to make sure they are trustworthy and will pay their rent on time!
Using property management software like RentRedi can help you quickly get prequalified tenants, manage online tenant applications, and run a full background check.
When looking at these screening tools at your disposal (regardless of what platform you choose to use), make sure the tenant meets your minimum requirements and that you are screening based only on those requirements, to avoid violating any Fair Housing Laws.
Sign Lease for Garage Rental
Don’t forget to sign a lease for your garage for ent! This is critical in ensuring you have a legal contract between you and the tenant that they will pay you rent and when. This is important because you don’t want to be stuck with a bunch of someone else’s junk that you have to clean out.
When it comes to signing the lease, take advantage of tech features that are found in property management software like e-lease signing to have a digital copy of your lease. You can also use document storage in the apps to upload and share your lease with the tenant so you both have digital files on hand to refer back to should you need it!
Collect Rent for Your Garage Space
For collecting rent, you’ll want to use property management software like RentRedi to collect rent. Why? Managing a garage for rent is similar to managing a rental property that a tenant lives in. You’ll still want to avoid time-consuming tasks like driving around to pick up a rent check or negotiating a time for the tenant to drop it off.
You’ll also want to avoid using sites like Venmo to collect rent, as they offer little to no value when it comes to managing the other aspects of your business—like listing vacancies, screening tenants, managing leases, and, yes, collecting rent.
Why you’ll love using property management software to manage your rental:
- Collect ACH, card, and even cash via one app
- Set up weekly or monthly or custom charges
- Get instant notifications when a tenant has paid
- Manage rent collection from anywhere
- Tenants can set up auto-pay
- Tenants can also use their on-time rent charges to improve their credit
Managing a Garage for Rent
Choosing to rent out an extra garage space that you have on hand can be an exciting new income stream for you! However, it’s important to remember that this avenue of revenue is still a business and needs to be treated as such!
When you’re navigating how to set up, list, and ultimately collect rent on a garage for rent—make sure you’re putting your best foot forward by using property management software to properly organize, document, and manage your rental!