You don’t want to scare a good tenant away by driving up the rent – but at the same time, you’ve invested in property to make money. So how do you strike the perfect balance between happy tenants and a healthy bank balance?
1. Little and often…
The most successful way to hang on to good tenants and keep your rental returns increasing is to raise the rent by a small amount every six or 12 months, depending on the legislation in your state.
If you don’t increase the rent for several years, then hit your tenants with a $50 per week raise out of the blue, they’ll be understandably annoyed and you may find your next communication with them is when you receive their Notice to Vacate!
Instead, try tacking $5 or $10 per week onto the rental amount at a time. Each of these small, incremental increases will be affordable to your tenants, meaning they’ll be less likely to jump ship and leave you with a vacant property that’ll cost you money to maintain while you find new tenants.
2. Know what the tenants want…
As a landlord, it’s easy to get caught up and throw good money after bad when
it comes to making improvements to your property. Unless you know what tenants
are looking for, you can’t possibly cater to it.
You could spend thousands re-painting or installing a dishwasher, when an air
conditioner may have made the property much more appealing to potential
tenants, at half the price.
Seek feedback from your property manager about the must-have items on tenants’
checklists.
Comments
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You are not really in disagreement. It is a question of what is meant by ‘better’. In the eyes of the tenant, or the owner? If the tenant’s opinions are sought, then you are giving them more power. If the improvements are made to the ‘quality’ as defined by the tenant then surely this will lower the risk of cancellation.