Here a few links I’ve found about real estate that I’ve enjoyed and think you will too.
1) Brian Davis at Bigger Pockets wrote an article with 6 tips about raising rents without losing tenants.
His number 1 tip was to raise the rents incrementally each year. I’ve found for my tenants that raising rents each year is too often. Instead of raising rents $10-15 each year I raise them $25 every two years.
One other change that has worked for us is in our letters I like to say “your rent will change to ____” instead of “your rent will increase to ____ “ It’s a subtle change, but I think it sounds slightly better.
2) Rachelle, with Landlord Rescue, wrote about running into previous tenants.
My biggest take away from the article was this quote:
“My point is oftentimes a my [sic] job just involves an absence of pain and so even though you do a lot of work and set up for things to flow smoothly, no one notices. People just don’t go around saying “holy crow did you notice that house is ok and the tenants paid the rent in full and on time?””
Sometimes the best landlords go unnoticted by tenants and that is how it should be.
3) Leonard on the PropertyVista Blog wrote about preparing for the holidays.
He wrote about decorating the exterior and keeping everything festive. I don’t decorate our buildings, some tenants will decorate their units. However, the most important point he raised is to have open communication with your tenants. Let them know what your plan over the holidays is, are you going to be available all the time, is your office going to be closed. Communication with your tenants can prevent a lot of disagreements over the holidays.
I hope you enjoy and learn something from these articles.
Andrew