Tips to Get More Rent From Tenants In Your Buildings

As a landlord, you want to help your tenants have a nice place to live. However, you also want to be receiving an adequate amount of rent for the quality of your building, units, and location. However, in some major cities across the USA, rent is actually dropping. While this is great for renters and potential tenants, it isn’t great for landlords.

However, there are some things you can do to your buildings and units that will allow you to command more rent from tenants. This article will take a look at a few of them.

Add Amenities

This is one of the best and most common ways to command more rent in your building. Outside of location and size/design of the unit, the building amenities can often command more rent. While adding amenities will often take some time and money, they can be worth it.

The types of things you can add to your building are endless. Washers, dryers, dishwashers, a pool, a gym, vending machines, and more are all things that people enjoy to have at their buildings, and will often pay a higher rent for. Of course, depending on where you are situated, air conditioning and heat are also important if you don’t currently have them.

In addition to that, you can also add things such as a doorman or a valet if you are a high-end building. Both of these offer a lot of value, and people will likely be willing to pay a premium.

Offer Unique Financial Benefits to Renters

People love free stuff, and there is no doubt about it. As a result, you should do so if you can find a way to give some free stuff or other financial benefits to tenants. This could be a rewards/membership card that gives all tenants a discount at participating businesses, a gift card to a partner, or anything in between.

A creative thing that you could do is take advantage of the recent popularity of short-term rentals. They are a web-based service that enables you to implement a short-term rental policy. The tenants will love the ability to rent out their units. Not only will you be able to charge a higher rent by offering the ability to short term rent as an amenity, but you can also potentially take a cut of their earnings for using your unit.

Offer Extra Storage

One problem that many renters have, especially in places like San Francisco, is that they simply don’t have enough space. Storage space is always important, and landlords lose out on many potential tenants if they offer limited space. As a result, adding space in some way (such as a large wardrobe or an on-site storage area) can attract more tenants and get them to pay a higher rent, most likely.

If you cannot physically add more space to units or your building, there might be another way. If you have a storage facility in your city nearby, you can potentially come to an agreement with them that would allow each tenant their unit. For example, maybe the facility would give you a slight discount if you bring them X number of customers, and the fee that the facility does charge would be put on the tenant in the form of a slight bump to rent.

While this would be entirely up to you and the facility (and you need to be aware of any laws around this), it could be a way for you to command more rent, your tenant to get more space, and the storage facility to get more business.

In conclusion, these tips can all help you command more rent in your building. While things like the age of the building, features, and location are still king when deciding rent prices for a building, these few tips can be beneficial. Of course, you want to make sure that the money spent on these additions or added benefits is worth your ROI.