When looking for a new residence, one of the biggest questions people have to answer is if they want to rent or buy. Renting options (such as apartments) provide them with greater flexibility, especially if they’re only planning on living in the residence for a short period of time. Additionally, they may not have the financial stability to buy. On the other hand, buying options (such as condos and houses) allow them to have a place of their own, which is especially helpful if they’re looking for long-term housing or want greater independence from overseers.
Given these benefits of buying, it’s important to equip your rental with benefits that can sway potential occupants. Below are some options to take into consideration.
For starters, it’s important to recognize that ownership is about more than having a place to call your own. It also comes with many additional benefits, such as having full autonomy over furnishings, remodels, painting, and flooring. These elements allow individuals to feel more at home in their space because they had a hand in designing it.
As a landlord, consider offering more freedom for your tenants to make the apartment their own. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is by allowing them to paint and install decor. These are simple modifications that can really transform a space and give it the personality your residents are looking for. Furthermore, you can use this as a selling point for future residents, giving them the option to repaint the walls a color they prefer or offer to revert it to its original format.
While there are some costs associated with repainting, keep in mind that often after a long term rental you would have to repaint anyway and allowing that freedom of choice just might get you a tenant who stays longer in your rental.
Rules tend to be much more strict for apartments, as property managers hope to keep the space in a transitory condition for future tenants. However, condos and houses do not often face this same level of regulation, as the Homeowners Association (HOA) usually only controls exterior aesthetics (i.e. outside painting and yards) and behavior (partying, noise levels, etc).
While rules are an important and necessary part of managing a rental, consider providing your tenants with the option of negotiating terms that they may not initially be comfortable with. For example, if your standard rental agreement has a no pet rule but a potential renter owns a cat, allow them to present a list of reasons why they should be allowed to keep their pet. Then, perhaps you can reach a compromise with them that has them put down a pet security deposit as part of their rental agreement. In this example, both parties win and the tenant feels like they have a bigger voice in the decisions of their residence.
Other times, negotiations may not present a solution that is accepted by potential occupants, and that’s alright. It’s impossible to please everyone, but allowing greater leeway when it comes to rule enforcement can make all the difference.
Having a wide range of amenities can easily convince potential renters to choose your rental over buying, especially if these amenities would cost them hundreds or thousands of dollars to get on their own.
Common amenities include air conditioning, new and updated kitchen appliances, furnishings, and in-unit washer and dryers (as being able to clean your clothes in your own space feels much homier than going downstairs to a laundry room or having to trek to a laundromat). In condos and houses, buyers would need to purchase many of these items on top of the cost of the residence itself.
Less common amenities that will really stick out to potential occupants are garages, pools, cable and/or Smart TVs, and Wi-Fi. Again, these are additions that buyers would need to purchase themselves but are even less likely to because they often come at high costs.
A major positive of living in a rental is knowing that your landlord has to take care of all maintenance issues from leaky faucets to burnt out lightbulbs. Although individuals enjoy having greater autonomy over their residence, nobody enjoys dealing with maintenance issues and would be happy to have someone do the work of calling in repairs for them. As such, this should become a major selling point when attracting potential renters. Remind them of how tiring and annoying maintenance is and that these worries and inconveniences would be a weight off their shoulders if they lived on your property.
No matter what, having the option to buy a condo or house is always going to be a major cause for competition against renting. Nevertheless, you can really make your property stand out by implementing these recommendations. For more property management strategies we invite you to call us today at (562) 888-0247 or fill out our
Owner Application online.
