Check out this sample of our newsletter! Each week you will receive a landlord tips, early access to our new blogs, links to our podcast episodes, landlord specific articles written by other industry leaders, special products and promotions for your rental property business.
13 Ways to Increase Rent And Add Value To Your Rental Property
Tip of the Week
As an DIY and self managing landlord, we do not invest in expensive marketing sites to advertise our vacancies. Over much trial and tribulation, we have found the best place to market our rentals is on Zillow. Here are 6 reasons why:
- Zillow is a FREE platform to place your ad on. They do offer a premium listing at $29.99 for 30 days which will keep your listing at the top of the search queue for your area on their site. We have found this small investment VERY rewarding and well worth the expense as we have seen a dramatic difference in inquiries since using this service.
- Zillow has the largest database and is the most visited real estate platform in the US. This means Zillow is where most prospective tenants will search for their next rental. More eyes on your listing means more applicants.
- When you list on Zillow, you also get your ad posted in their sister sites, Trulia and Hotpads.
- Zillow has the capability of uploading 3D video walkthroughs. We recently started using a Matterport Axis camera to film our units so prospects can get a 360 degree view of the space. This allows visitors on our listing to feel like they are standing in the unit to get a much better feel for the space and see if it is right for them. In turn, this, in addition to great photos, increases the probability of them submitting an application and not wasting our time.
- Their mobile app is VERY user friendly. Most tenants and landlords alike use their mobile phones predominantly in their daily lives. Zillow has a very easy mobile platform to navigate and makes messaging a breeze for prospects and rental owners alike.
- Zillow is a full service platform. Where we do not use these services, they do offer:
- Online applications.
- Tenant screening.
- Leases (or you can upload your own) with electronic signing capabilities.
- Prospects and tenants can pay you rent, fees, utilities, etc. direct through their app. This is at no fee to the rental property owner.
We are not associated with Zillow in any way but have used their service for years with much success. Other sites either attract the wrong kind of tenant (Craigslist), don't have the exposure and following, or charge a small fortune to advertise on their site. In the end, it was easier for us to only have one advertising site to manage all the inquiries from and Zillow had the most to offer to us for our needs and property locations.
This Week On The Podcast!
Quitting Your 9-5 To Self-Manage Your
Rental Properties Full Time
Where it is not every rental property investors dream to quit their traditional 9-5 job and work at self-managing their units, it is a consideration for many landlords we know.
Some desire FIRE (Financial Independence from Real Estate) where they don’t have many management tasks to take on, some are willing to swap their full-time gig for working to manage their rentals instead.
The desire is freedom. Freedom from reporting to someone else, somewhere else, for a defined time of at least 40 hours during the week.
Freedom to get up in the morning and go to the gym, travel, spend more time with family, and the freedom to develop, scale, and grow their real estate investments so that they and their family can enjoy a comfortable life financially.
But how easy is this to obtain? What are the things that need to be considered before making a life changing move like this?
This is what we are discussing this week so tune on in if you think this is a subject you want to learn more about.
Click HERE to listen to the podcast and view show notes with links to special offers and promotions.
Listen to Our Podcast:
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Favorite Landlord Products
Products we use to make our rental property business more efficient and safe. They make our life easier so we are sharing them with our readers to help you too!
4 Must Have Cleaning Products For Cleaning A Vacant Unit
Bissell CleanView Compact Vacuum
Small, light, and easy to use. Good for carpeted rooms, cleaning dust off baseboards, vents, and behind appliances.
| Learn More: Bissell CleanView Compact Vacuum |
Microfiber Cleaning Cloth, Pack of 12,Size:12.6" x 12.6"
These are a must have for cleaning all surfaces!
Scratch free, lint free, super absorbent, washable and reusable.
| Click to Read More |
Dawn Dish Soap Ultra Dishwashing Liquid, Dish Soap Refill, Original Scent, 56 Fl Oz (Pack of 2)
- Contains 3x more grease-cleaning power (cleaning ingredients per drop vs. The leading competitor's non-concentrated brand)
- Concentrated formula
- Great to use to cut through grease in kitchen and hair products in the bathroom
| Click to Learn More |
Murphy Oil Soap Wood Cleaner, 32 Fluid ounce (Pack of 3)
- Safely cleans woods
- Contains 98% naturally derived ingredients (98% Natural Wood Cleaner. Specially formulated with: water, coconut & plant-derived cleaning ingredients, natural fragrance, and 2% synthetic ingredients.)
- Trusted for over 100 years
- Does not contain ammonia or bleach
- Perfect for cabinets, hardwood floors, and even non-wood surfaces!
| Learn More About Murphy Oil Soap |
This post contains an affiliate link. We may earn a very small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you purchase from here. These small commissions are to benefit our business so thank you for your support.
What's News?
7 Predictions For The 2024 Rental Market
Here are 7 predictions for where the rental market is headed in 2024 from the economists at Apartment List as the once red-hot rental market of previous years has now cooled.
Here is a key topline summary for 2024:
- 2024 will be the strongest year for new apartment construction in decades, giving renters more options and better opportunities to negotiate price and lease terms.
- “We expect that year-over-year rent growth will crawl out of negative territory next year, but that it won’t rise above the low single-digits.”
- Even though mortgage rates are expected to ease modestly, home prices will remain prohibitively high and continue to create more long-term renters.
| Continue Reading to Learn More |
Six New California Laws Impacting Housing in 2024 That You Should Know About
Whether you’re a home buyer, seller, landlord or tenant, there are several new laws set to go into effect in California in 2024 that will impact housing. Topics include ADUs, flipped houses, fire hazards, and tenants’ rights
Here are six laws you should know about...
| Click to Continue Reading |
Good Landlord Reads
13 Ways to Increase Rent And Add Value To Your Rental Property
I’m a big fan of buy and hold and the BRRRR method. That being said, if you’re going to go down this path, you will want to know how to increase the rent and the return from your rentals. Doing so encompasses all factors of property management. Leasing faster and to higher quality tenants will increase your return. Renting for a higher price and increasing the rent upon renewal will as well. And so will prevent maintenance problems before they come up, as well as increase tenant retention. But how do we achieve all of these ends?
Well, I’m glad you asked. Here are 13 of the best ways, in this humble author’s opinion, to do so.
| Read More Here |
Your Landlord Resource: Blogs You Might Have Missed
Business cash reserves are a basically an emergency savings account. If you treat your rental property as a business, you should be putting a little aside each month for the unknown. You know, like a pandemic. So how much cash reserves are enough for your rental property? We get into that in this blog...
| Click to Keep Reading |
Our Stories:
We have now had TWO instances where we have needed and had to file claims for vacancy insurance!
First, let me tell you a quick story about how we came to know the who, what, when, and why of residential vacancy/unoccupied home insurance. In late 2020, sadly, my brother passed away suddenly. I advised our family’s insurance broker of the news and he asked if the home was going to be unused for 30 days or more. Because we needed time to grieve before removing his many personal belongings, I responded “yes”. He recommended that we add a vacancy endorsement on the policy and boy, am I glad he did! Here is why:
| Click to Learn Why |
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$9.99 Your Landlord Resource Periodic Inspection Form: Single Family HomeInspections are important! This is how you know if your tenant is following lease terms and if any unreported... Read more |
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$9.99 Property Manager QuestionnaireWe created a 14-Page questionnaire for landlords to use when vetting a property manager!
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Hi! We are Stacie & Kevin of Your Landlord Resource!
Check out this sample of our newsletter! Each week you will receive a landlord tips, early access to our new blogs, links to our podcast episodes, landlord specific articles written by other industry leaders, special products and promotions for your rental property business.
Tip of the Week We have mentioned this before, but we keep a tenant reference binder in each unit for our tenants to refer to if they have questions. This allows them to troubleshoot issues on their own before just mindlessly sending out a text or email asking us questions. Our binders are comprised of contents and information of our most common questions asked by new tenants. Where we love them to communicate if something is not clear, having a reference binder available to for the tenant to...