Becoming a landlord might be a good way to earn income, considering the increases in rented U.S. households. Being a landlord requires someone to know their state’s landlord-tenant laws and handle necessary repairs and upgrades to make properties safe for tenants. Landlords can maximize their profit and save money by managing their properties themselves and performing regular maintenance.
Forgo Consulting Professional Property Managers
Property management companies that offer to market properties, screen applicants, meet with tenants, and handle rent collection for landlords can be efficient, but expensive due to various fees or monthly payments. Landlords who take care of marketing, tenant screening, rent collection, and maintenance themselves can save money.
People can list their rental properties online without cost on listing sites such as Craigslist or Zillow Rental Manager, or create a blog post advertising the rental units they have available in apartment complexes.
Deciding against using property managers allows landlords to take full responsibility for their properties and forge relationships with tenants. Meeting potential and current tenants can give landlords the chance to make negotiations and have discussions about renter’s insurance that covers renters’ belongings, rent prices, security deposits, roommates, and what constitutes evictions.
Choose Easy-To-Maintain Properties
While landlords might make higher income on larger properties and homes, they may incur more expenses. Choosing affordable or smaller-sized rentals can be beneficial for making upgrades and repairs. When considering rental properties, landlords should keep local laws in mind. Recent changes to rent laws in New York limit landlords’ ability to raise rent prices, which many landlords would do to cover property repair costs.
Landlords can make their properties and utilities easier to manage with utility submetering. Submetering is efficient for commercial and residential properties with multiple tenants. Property utility bills used to be the landlord’s responsibility. Landlords would divide the bill based on its square footage or distribute bills to tenants and collect the money to pay utility companies themselves.
For utility management, landlords should consult a submetering company, such as FlowRite Metering. With FlowRite Metering, landlords receive submetering equipment and get a streamlined solution to measuring energy costs and consumption, and monitoring tenants’ electricity, gas, and water usage.
Tenants who decrease their energy usage and upgraded appliances and newer fixtures can lower energy bills and make properties more affordable to manage.
Complete Regular Maintenance
Landlords should ensure that rental properties and units are clean and safe in livable condition. They should examine the roofing and roofing materials, and foundation of their property and do a comprehensive analysis of the ceilings, walls, floors, and insulation of a unit.
Regular and consistent maintenance reduces the chances of costly problems with properties over time. Property owners should check for cracked walls and leaky pipes, ensure the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors function correctly in all units, and exterminate to prevent infestations. Safe electrical wiring in properties prevents home electrical fires.
Tenants may have concerns about the plumbing and water temperature, the air conditioning in the summer months, and the heater in winter months. Installing programmable can reduce utility costs and cater to tenants with various temperature preferences. Programmable thermostats can help tenants save money on utility and electric bills.
Other ways to lower utility costs include regularly cleaning and changing HVAC filters when they’re dirty to optimize their performance, lowering the temperature on the water heater, installing new light fixtures, and upgrading appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, and dishwashers.
One way to attract new tenants and raise a property’s value is to keep the lawn manicured. Landlords should consider consulting professional lawn maintenance services, such as A & A Lawn Care. A & A Lawn Care provides the best New Braunfels lawn care for residents and small businesses. Clients in New Braunfels and the surrounding areas can have lawn maintenance by this company that understands that a home or business’s exterior aesthetic is as essential as its interior.
Hands-on landlords who put time and care into managing their properties, upgrading them inside and out, and reducing utility costs can attract new tenants and retain current ones and increase their bottom line while saving money.
