Having a rental home can be challenging at times. Finding easy ways to increase your rental property income - even harder.

Renting your house out for a higher price will increase your rental property income, but you want to do it in a way that is fair for all parties.

Providing a quality house with top-rated customer service, proper maintenance, and a fair market price is a sure-fire way to win any tenant’s hearts.

To increase your monthly return, we will need to look at your property the same way our property managers do.

Here are 9 easy steps to increase your monthly return on your property investment:

1. Curb Appeal

Realtors will tell you that giving your house curb appeal is one of the best approaches to make it appealing for buyers; this also remains true for potential tenants.

First impressions mean a lot. You want your house’s first impression to be on a positive note.

That usually means a yard that is well taken care of with a house and fence with no paint flaking off. But do not stop there. How does the garden look (if there’s one)? Have the trees been appropriately pruned?

Can the home benefit from more trees? If that is too much effort, purchase a couple of potted shrubs and line them up in which you want to have more separation from the outside world.

If venturing out into your back yard means you get to hear the hustle and bustle of the city, try purchasing a fountain to burble off and block traffic sounds or loud neighbours.

There is no faster way to increase your rental property income than by having a positive curb appeal.

Brainstorm as many outside improvement ideas as possible to liven up the house’s initial impressions. If your budget is tight, there is always a less costly choice if you get creative.

2. Charge for Amenities/Perks

You can gain extra income by adding more micro-transactions or upsells. Adding services where tenants can pay to mow their yard every two weeks through the summertime can create a simple to implement cash flow.

Even if you do not make much extra cash, you know the lawn will be well maintained. A well-maintained lawn means better curb appeal.

3. Add light by Updating the Windows.

A bright home is a welcoming home. Most people want a home with lots of natural light. You can add light to dark rooms by substituting small, obsolete sash windows with bigger sliding or casement ones.

If you have a brick rental home or when there’s other circumstances that may increase the cost of adding windows, you should consider putting a couple of mirrors in strategic areas to brighten up the living areas. Once the renters have signed a lease, they can always move or remove the mirrors at their pleasure.

A home with deteriorating windows is usually a deal-breaker. No one likes a draft or paying more on their energy bills. Advertising an energy-efficient house in these markets is just one more added benefit. When making your rental listing add the window manufactures data.

4. Future Proof Your House by Making it a Smart House

Turning a dull, old home into a smart home is relatively simple. Adding two or three smart home gadgets can help you flourish! Your once bland home will be transformed into a “smart house” with “innovative technology” For a couple of hundred bucks, your property gets ratcheted up in curb appeal, modernity, and worth.

Landlords may also see an increase in monthly income and longer stays by having a smart house.

One of the best places to start is the thermostat. This way, you can boast to potential tenants it’s going to save hundreds of dollars annually on gas and electricity bills while being environmentally conscious.

Afterward add smart door locks and a smart smoke/ CO detector. Smart door locks have a practical use for landlords and property managers that will provide temporary access to anybody: builders, realtors, leasing representatives, potential tenants, etc.

5. Keep the House Clean

Usually, we shouldn’t need to say this, but… Cleaning your house does create real value to your renters, and raises the potential rent you can charge. Tenants do not just look at things such as leaks in the roof and beautiful appliances; they look at the atmosphere as a whole.

When a previous tenant moves out - bring in the cleaners. Have them clean every nook and cranny. Are the cupboards cleaned inside and out? How about the appliances and walls? This doesn’t just show the house better but increases the perceived value.

6. Add a Layer of Fresh Paint

Painting is the easiest and best way to go from old and run down to bright and shiny, therefore increasing your rental property income.

Outdoor colours that blend with the environment make a home feel much more comfortable and inviting. Indoors, it is all about light. Try keeping the inside colours clean and neutral.

7. Add a Sense of Smell

The sense of smell is very primitive and closely connected with memory, likely more so than some of our other perceptions. To put it simply, if the house is filled with warm and welcoming aromas, then your prospects will more than likely have a positive memory subconsciously affiliated with that house.

Before having prospects show up, some property managers will bake biscuits. Now that is an inviting odour sure touch at the bottom line!

8. Quality Advertising

How often have you heard, “all I will need to do to rent a home is put a sign in the window.” Although this can work, it is likely to get you poor quality tenants.

If you're only getting leads by a sign in the window, you won’t get as much demand as you were to advertise online. When going by supply and demand, this means fewer prospects and fewer prospects means less demand. Less demand means you’re likely to charge your place out for less.

Leasing a house with just a sign likely means you’re underperforming and losing out on opportunities. Let’s say 30 people drive by the house, and 10% of those people are interested. You have three potential people looking at the home. Comparatively, if you advertise online, you have 3000 people interest and the same 10% you have 300 people in your rental pool. A good advertising company will go even further to pair you with even better-quality leads.

Don’t forget quality over quantity also plays a role in the photographs used in marketing your house, so be sure to take high-quality images. If a single picture is shot from an older phone and another from a high-end camera, which set of images do you believe is more inclined to capture the audience of people aimlessly scrolling the world wide web?

9. Provide Quality After Care with Preventative Maintenance

Some of the very best strategies to increase income property revenues are to give a sense of caring. Renters that feel like they are well cared for will usually stay in the house longer. This also increases the likelihood of increasing your rental fees after every lease. So, when you want to foster a relationship of caring, look into preventative maintenance.

What’s more, some tenants will look for any reason to complain and not let you escape about the issues in the home. Worse yet – they will not even tell you about any problems at hand.

If leaks persist for a long time, they could cause significant irreversible rot and water damage. Changing furnace filters increases the life of the furnace and delivers clean air.

Preventative maintenance is good, but don’t interrupt the tenant so often that they get annoyed. At Bermont Realty, we prefer to do them every six months and a year at most.

Good preventative maintenance is the key to tenant retention. If you provide excellent care, this can go a long way to keep you in high favour with your renters and raising the probability of a lease renewal. And turnover is often a landlord’s most significant expense, so whatever you can do to mitigate it’s a fantastic thing for the main point.

Wrapping it All Up

Owning a rental property is a lot of work. Having a qualified property manager to take on the everyday hassle will save you a tremendous amount of time and stress. They will also tell you if you should increase or decrease your rent based on the current markets.

Limiting your rent increases to keep your current renters avoids those extra expenses, but encouraging them to stay creates a neighborhood. That’s what many renters, especially those with families, are looking for.

If you’re looking to see the value of your rental property, check out our home evaluation tool. It’s free!

Looking to hire a manager? Ask the 7 essential questions you should ask any property manager before hiring the one that's right for you.