If you have owned rental real estate for a long period of time – or you plan to hang on to a property that you’ve recently purchased – then it is likely that at some point, you will have to raise the rent.
In many cases, tenants will actually expect at least a slight increase in the amount they pay each year. Just like the price of most any other product or service goes up due to inflation, rent amount should ideally follow suit.
One of the easiest ways to both raise the rent and not shock your tenant(s) is to automatically include a slight yearly increase in the lease. For instance, by notifying the tenants up-front that the monthly rent will go up by $20 or $25 per month, they will anticipate the higher amount if they decide to renew for another year.
There may be some instances, though, where it is better to keep the amount of rent as is, in return for a good tenant signing a new lease for another year (or even longer). In this case, it can actually be more profitable for you as the property owner to know that you can count on a set amount of income for another 12 months, as versus taking the chance that a good tenant will move out because of a rent increase.
Collecting rent from tenants, along with the long list of other duties that are required of a landlord can take up a significant amount of your time. But it doesn’t have to. By working in conjunction with a property manager, you can free up your time to do other things.
If you own rental real estate in or around the Orlando and Central Florida locale, give us a call for more details.