In competitive markets like San Antonio, some landlords may feel like their rental property business is not bringing in the rental income that they hope for. While raising the rent is a sure strategy to increase revenue, it’s not always the most effective and appropriate solution. So what do you do? To give you some idea, here are creative ways to boost your rental income – from small adjustments to exciting investments. Continue reading to find out!
Key Takeaways
- Boosting rental income doesn’t always require raising rent. Leveraging creative strategies can increase revenue while keeping tenants happy.
- Negotiate vendor contracts to reduce expenses, having pet-friendly policies, and upgrading amenities allows for higher rent prices.
- Offering storage spaces, on-site laundry machines, and premium parking spots are great ways to generate additional cash flow in your rental property business.
3 Creative Ways to Boost Your Rental Income
Drawing from our experience in San Antonio property management, we know that landlords are always on the lookout for ways to increase revenue. Raising your tenants’ rent undoubtedly can boost your rental income, but you may turn tenants away by doing that. So, what are your options? Let’s review some of them.
Negotiate Expenses
One way to increase your rental income is to make sure that you’re covering your expenses efficiently. As a landlord, you’re bound to spend a portion of your income on property maintenance – your legally-mandated pest control, landscaping, and even utilities. Aside from these, there are your insurance premiums.
Now, what you can do is to reach out to your vendors and try to negotiate your service contracts. If you have a good and long-term relationship with them, try to use that to your advantage. Finding opportunities to lower your operational expenses can help increase your income, and what’s even better is that it doesn’t affect your tenants.
The Power of a Pet-Friendly Policy
Did you know that 58% of renters have pets? That’s a significant percentage that you can cater to with pet-friendly policies for renters. While there is a risk of property damage, of course, the average damages pets bring are $210, an amount that most security deposits can cover.
Allowing pets in your rental property not only means that you can tap a broader tenant pool. Pet-friendly policies also mean that you can charge your tenants a pet deposit and monthly pet rent, effectively increasing your income revenue. Not to mention that, in our experience, tenants are less likely to leave pet-inclusive rentals, which minimizes costly vacancies and turnovers.
Boost Amenities
We know we just said that raising the rent can be a gamble. Still, if you add amenities that are worth it, it can make the extra rent worth it, too. One way to attract tenants willing to pay more is offering additional or upgraded amenities. For example, offering high-demand features like smart home technology – locks, thermostat, lighting – can boost your property’s value and appeal. Other amenities, such as high-speed internet connections or premium parking, can also justify having a slightly higher rent than your competitors. From what we’ve seen, these features can be the defining factor that makes a tenant choose one rental over another, so be sure to consider them.
3 Ways to Increase Cashflow
Beyond the amenities we discussed above, we want to showcase 3 specific ones we’ve found tend to work especially well for landlords. Here are some you should seriously consider:
Rent out Storage Space
For most apartments, space is a luxury. It’s one of the drawbacks of living in an apartment – tenants don’t have a backyard, shed, or garage at their disposal for additional storage space. Taking this into consideration, a potential source of additional rental income is to offer storage spaces for your tenants to rent.
If you have ample space, build a small facility on-site with storage spaces of different sizes. You can offer it to your tenants as an optional add-on on their lease or charge a monthly amenity fee.
Add Coin-Operated Laundry
Everyone needs to do their laundry. But not all apartment units are equipped with a washer and dryer or have the space for them. In our experience, laundry facilities are always in high demand, and adding one to your rental property business is a good opportunity to generate additional revenue.
To lessen your workload, take advantage of coin-operated machines. That way, you don’t have to worry about manning the front. You can even add a vending machine of laundry products and other supplies. This income might seem like pocket change but trust us when we say it adds up quickly. Needless to say, this is a great opportunity to boost your rental income passively.
Consider Dedicated Workspaces
In the era of remote jobs, people need places to hunker down and work in peace. Whether tenants want their workspace and home space to be separate, or they don’t want to be disturbed by roommates, they have all kinds of reasons to need a third space to get things done. So, you could offer that space at a reasonable fee.
Enhance Your Rental Property Business with Bay Property Management
When it comes to boosting your rental income, you need to be smart and strategic. Raising your tenants’ rent is not always the best answer. And at times, doing so may do more harm than good. So, as landlord and an entrepreneur, coming up with creative ways to boost rental income, like laundry services, is key to balancing your cash flow and tenant retention.
If you’re planning to implement any of these strategies, having a property services company, like us at BMG, on your side can make all the difference. As experts in the local housing market and property management, we can help handle vendor negotiations, coordinate renovations and repairs, calculate the right amenity pricing for you, answer tenant questions, and more. Sounds good to you? Contact us today!
