5 Affordable Ways to Increase Rental Property
Anum Yoon distills the 5 things that will give you the biggest bang for your buck when trying to boost the perceived value of your rental property. In doing so, you can capture higher rents and retain tenants for longer lease terms.
- Paint: Use a brand new coat of a fresh, neutral hue. Paint makes your rental look well taken care of and can even make the space look larger depending on the paint colors you choose. Playing with accent colors can create a lot of character and appeal in your rental too.
- Updated Kitchen: An updated and modern looking kitchen creates lots of appeal for your rental. So how do you update the kitchen without breaking the bank? You can do small things to create appeal like updating cabinet knobs, swap door pulls for stylish cup pulls, replace cabinet hinges, install a wine rack, update to a warmer lighting, mount LED lighting under cabinets, repaint cabinets, and update your switch plates and outlets.
- Add a Washer Dryer: This will pay for itself over a 1 year lease term. Yes it is expensive, but you’ll command a much higher rental price.
- Exterior Update: Do the small things that make a big difference like repainting the front door. Repainting window trim that has faded also goes a long way. Lastly, if your condo or home has a unit number, make sure the unit number is freshly painted and looks new.
- Replace Carpet: This is the single biggest thing that can drop your rental value if not taken care of. Dirty or old carpet creates a dingy look throughout the entire home and often detracts from what would otherwise be a beautiful home.
Do you use any tricks to increase your rental properties value?
Retail Earnings This Week
Walmart, Macy’s, and Home Depot will be reporting Q1 earnings this week, giving some new perspective on the state of retail in 2018.
Their performance will give fresh perspectives into the health of brick-and-mortar retail and the strength of buyer sentiment in the U.S. So far this year, the consumer climate has been pretty strong. Although Americans aren’t running out to the mall in droves with their tax-refund dollars, they say they’re in the mood to ramp up spending.
Here are some things to look out for in the earnings for each.
- Walmart: Recent attempts to expand online footprint have led to incredibly low operating margins. Have they been able to make a come back in Q1?
- Home Depot: Performance can be indicative of the direction of the housing market overall. Is the housing market going to continue trending up this year?
- Macy’s: Implemented new strategies to attract shoppers and move sales away from brick and mortar. Is this strategy working?
Get the full scoop here.
Retirement Funds Targeting RE Investments
California’s largest teacher retirement fund is investing heavily in real estate in cities with a strong tech presence. While these cities have been largely protected from the housing swings of the last 2 decades, an overinvestment in real estate could spell trouble when housing dries up or if another tech bubble bursts.
Calstrs is starting a $300 million venture with DivcoWest Real Estate Services LLC that will focus on buying commercial property in cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and New York that have “strong local economies and highly qualified workforces,” according to a statement Monday. The investment builds on more than $1.5 billion that Calstrs previously committed to the real estate investment manager.
Legal Q&A
CAA recently did another legal Q&A. Here’s the outcome.
Question: Can I ban alcohol in the pool area?
Answer: You can control the common areas of the premises so you could ban the use of alcohol in the pool area.
Question: Do I have to give a 60-day notice on a month-to-month tenancy for a rent increase of 10 percent?
Answer: No, a 30-day notice is all that is required unless the increase is more than 10 percent of what the rent was one year ago.
Question: In our lease agreements, we require tenants to pay their rent on the first of the month. If the first falls on a holiday, do you have to give the tenants until midnight on the second to pay the rent, or can you still enforce the late fee as of midnight on the first?
Answer: Rent is not “legally late” unless one business day has expired from the date the rent is due. So if the first is a weekend or holiday, the rent is not late until the next business day has expired.
