Rent it out myself of use estate agent?

c montgomery

Just looking for opinions
I have a rental property, vacant as of today. Have always rented it to people who approached me, word of mouth in work and through friends etc.. allowed me to rent it directly to people I either know or knew of.

Now however I don't have anyone lined up and I'm concerned about doing background checks etc..I know any prospective tenants can give a phone number of a friend rather than an ex landlord so even using an estate agent will not prevent this from happening but I'm thinking an estate agent will be aware of people in area who I should under no circumstances rent to.

Anyone have any advice?
Property is in East cork

athtrasna

Do you intend being an active landlord, accessible to tenants in case of issues? If so I'd say do it yourself. I would be inclined to start by contacting any large employers in the area, see if you can put something on their notice board or intranet. That gives you a little security in knowing the prospective tenant is employed.

Ask friends if they know of anyone, any kind of a personal contact really is better than a total stranger.

In my landlord days we used agents, I've only got horror stories. Nobody will look after your asset better than you can. In hindsight I wish we'd done it ourselves, we only moved half an hour away.

c montgomery

Thanks for the reply

That's a good idea about approaching employers in the area to put up a notice

I'm a pretty hands on landlord, any issue I respond the same day myself and if I can't resolve it I arrange for someone else to asap. never had any hassle with tennents to date, just worried about some of the horror stories I've heard recently.