How to Increase the Rent and Value of Your Rental Property
Two common questions that investors have asked us over the years is “how do I increase the rent and value of my rental property?”. These are very common questions to ask because investors want to get more cash flow from their properties while ensuring that the value of their investments increase at the same time.
In this article we will share with you several tips you can use for increasing the rent and value of your rental property.
Improve the Appearance of the Front of the Property
It’s often noted that people make up their minds about you in seven seconds. In other words, you don’t have long to make a first impression. Neither does your rental. As I noted in my last article, simple aesthetic improvements such as window shutters, painting the front door, mowing the lawn, hedging any bushes or trees, replacing the mailbox or address numbers and the like can be hugely important. Here’s an example from that article of the same house with and without those aesthetic improvements:
All we did was mow the lawn, cut back the low-hanging branches on the tree in front, add a window box beneath the windows, paint the front door red, and add some bark mulch in the flower bed. A total expense of maybe $400. But that can make an incredible difference in both getting a property rented quickly and getting top dollar for it.
Quality Advertising
I’ve heard it said occasionally that “all we need to do to rent a house is put a sign in the yard.” I think this is the wrong approach. As my brother—who is our property manager—put it:
“If all you have is a sign in the yard, then you won’t have as much interest as if it was online everywhere. Fewer prospects means less demand, and when the supply stays the same, the only consequence is a lower price.”
That’s Economics 101 for you.
Put simply, renting a property with only a sign probably means you are under-renting it.
Furthermore, you want to take high quality pictures. If you can afford to invest in a top-end camera, it will pay for itself and much more. Just compare these two photos of this rather awkward house we own. One was taken from my old cellphone and the other from a high-end camera. Which do you think is more likely to get that person scrolling Craigslist to call you?
Don’t Just Show… Sell
If you’re just opening the door and hoping the prospect will like your unit (or if your property manager is), you’re doing it wrong.
There are three great methods for selling during a showing:
If you’re doing the showings (or have hired someone to do them), you should use at least the first two and maybe the third.
Building rapport just means that you are friendly and open with them. Be genuinely interested in them. Ask questions and just shoot the breeze with them a bit. At the same time, don’t oversell or be pushy. People want to rent from people they like.
Anchoring occurs, according to Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, “…when people consider a particular value for an unknown quantity before estimating that quantity.”
Get More Tips Here!
Want more tips on how to increase the rent and value of your property? Contact RPM Central Valley by calling us at (209) 572-2222 or click here to connect with us online.
Let us save you the time, money and hassle of managing your rental property yourself!