Your Rental, Your Way: A 3-Step Process

Becoming a landlord comes with plenty of decisions, but you don’t have to figure it all out alone. Here’s a simple 3-step process to set yourself up for success.

Step 1: Build Your Team

The best landlords don’t go it alone. Having trusted professionals in your corner helps you avoid costly mistakes and feel confident in your decisions. At minimum, consider:

• Accountant: to guide you on rental income, expenses, and tax benefits.

• Real estate attorney (or legal professional): to review your lease, advise on compliance, and discuss whether an LLC or EIN makes sense for you.

• Insurance advisor: to make sure your rental is properly covered. Landlord insurance is different from homeowner’s insurance, and an advisor can help you understand liability coverage, loss of rent protection, and whether you need umbrella coverage for added peace of mind.

You may want to form an LLC or set up an EIN, but that’s not a one-size-fits-all move. Your accountant and attorney can help you decide what’s best for your situation.

Step 2: Decide How Hands-On You Want to Be

Being a landlord can mean anything from full DIY to fully outsourced management. Ask yourself, do I want to:

• Market rental and secure tenant?
• Handle calls, repairs, and turnover myself?
• Deal with the bookkeeping and banking?
• Acquire a lease and remain compliant with City, County and State requirements?

There are pros and cons for both options. We offer tenant placement services (a.k.a. landlord-tenant matchmaking) to help market your rental and find the right tenant. The fee is typically one month’s rent (about 8% of the annual rent) and is up to each specific agent to negotiate their rate and determine if they have the bandwidth to serve.

Step 3: Choose the Right Management Option

If you’re ready to hand off the day-to-day, we highly recommend both Dan Cohen & Phillip Austin at Acorn + Oak Property Management. I moved my own rentals to Acorn + Oak in 2022, and it’s been a game-changer. Their structure includes:

• $825 setup fee (includes professional photos)
• 10% monthly management fee includes (Leasing, Maintenance, Accounting & Legal compliance)
• No markups on vendor services
• No re-lease fee when tenants turn over

Hint: If you reach out to Dan or Phillip at Acorn & Oak, let them know Live.Laugh.Denver. sent you. They’ll roll out the VIP treatment and take extra great care of you.

For some landlords, saving the 2% by self-managing makes sense. For others, paying a professional to manage everything is worthwhile for the peace of mind it provides.

At the end of the day, success as a landlord comes down to having the right team, asking the right questions, and choosing the level of involvement that feels right for you.

BTW- 6 Minute video on how I turned $6K into $2Million... I am all about leveraging real estate to build wealth, and like anything else, it's imperative you have the right team in place!