Rental unit reality check

One of the most frustrating things I come across in the rental business is poorly managed apartments. I’m not talking about bad property management companies (that’s a whole other story), but bad landlords. The biggest issue is that everyone seems to want to have their cake and eat it too. Too many landlords seem to be under the impression that they can put a run-down, dirty rental unit on the market and get paid a premium rent. Time for a reality check.

The rental market is very strong right now. Units over $600 a month have seen a particularly big jump in interest lately, but people expect a quality product when they start spending that much money for an apartment. Outdated kitchens and bathrooms, broken radiators, window ACs, landlord white walls and stick-down tile do not a quality unit make. If your property is located in an area that can handle high quality units, you’ll need to bring your units up to that level of finish if you expect to rent them out. You can’t lose track of the fact that you are competing with other landlords for tenants. If a prospective tenant can get a better unit two blocks away for the same price, why would they rent yours? Get familiar with your local apartment market through the newspaper or internet ad sites such as craigslist or backpage (you can find links in the menu to the right) to avoid this problem. Educate yourself so you don’t waste your time overpricing or under improving your units.

So what’s the moral of this story? If you want to attract quality tenants at a premium rental rate so as to maximize your profit potential, you need to pay the price for it. Otherwise, you can’t blame anyone but yourself if your buildings sit vacant.