Editor’s Note: Sponsored Content

5 Ways to Increase Your Income Without Raising Rent

It’s a consistent problem for landlords: How do you increase profits from your rental properties without raising rent and driving away tenants? At the end of the day, your customers (and the source of your profits) are your tenants, so it’s important to keep them happy and to keep your retention high. Driving up rent in an economy that is desperate for affordable housing isn’t the best way to increase your property’s profitability. Instead, try one of the following methods to raise profits, maintain tenant satisfaction, and increase your income year after year.

Update your property management

If you’re a landlord in the US, it’s likely that you’re an individual investor, meaning you’re a “mom-and-pop” shop. While this can be attractive to potential renters who are tired of renting from faceless, anonymous developments, there are many unique challenges that come along with being a small business owner. For example, without the infrastructure of a developer or property management company, it can be hard to keep track of the day-to-day management of everything from a prospect’s rental application to maintenance.

Consider updating the way you manage your properties with a virtual manager. Virtual managers can save you time and money by posting listings across the internet, creating places for renters to apply online, and by screening potential tenants’ credit report and criminal history, so you don’t have to. Plus, sites such as TurboTenant offer an app that lets you manage your properties from the palm of your hand.

Capital improvements

Sometimes, you really do have to spend money to make money. With the prevalence of HGTV and Pinterest, many new renters are looking for updated apartments. Millenials are the “renter” generation, and though they largely can’t afford to purchase a home, they won’t settle for outdated finishes. This is especially true in the kitchen. They love to cook at home, so if you have a few vacancies and room in your budget to make capital improvements, consider starting in your units’ kitchens.

Additionally, consider improving the overall longevity of your properties. If you rent out older houses or even townhomes built within the last twenty years, it is definitely time to consider updating or replacing your property’s roof.  This is especially important if you own properties in areas of the country that experience wet and inclement weather. Consider the Everdrain™ roof design by Everlast Roofing. With superior drainage and a watertight seal, investing in such a roof improvement will save you money on costly, and inevitable, repairs down the line. Where most roofs last between 15 and 20 years, metal roofs last up to 50 years!

Rent out additional amenities

In many areas, parking spots are worth their weight in gold. If your property has extra land and is zoned for it, create additional parking spots and rent them out on a weekly or monthly basis. For special events, you can quardon these areas and charge a premium. Another way to creatively turn a profit is through renting appliances. Very few renters own their own washers and dryers. If you don’t already have a laundromat on your property, or nearby, consider investing in several washers and dryers. You can rent these out and within a year, they’ll have paid for themselves and will be directly contributing to your income.

Offer storage space

It’s an inevitable truth that apartments and rental homes rarely have enough space for storage. It’s a rare property that offers a basement or attic space. So what will your tenants do with their excess furniture or winter wardrobe? Enter your next income increasing opportunity. Offer onsite storage to your tenants. If you own a multifamily property, you can designate space for renters to store their belongings  or, you can even offer these storage spaces to non-tenants, for an extra fee, of course. Storage space doesn’t require nearly as many regulations as a residential property, so getting this additional moneymaker off its feet and ready to go should be a simple, cost effective matter.

Get green

If your local power grid allows for two-way transfers (i.e. if your property has excess electricity, you’d be able to sell it back to the city utility), installing solar panels is a great way to go. Install solar panels on your properties’ clubhouses, leasing offices, pool houses, and essentially any structure that won’t be aesthetically disrupted by having them Once these have been installed, you can effectively become the utility! You can “raise the rent” by including the cost of electricity in rent, and sell whatever is left over every month to the city, increasing your profits in two ways.

Being a property owner and manager is no easy feat. Luckily, these days, there are many ways to turn a profit.