Should I Increase the Rent with the Inflation?

[Cheza M.]

Hey Biggerpockets Community,

I have a question for the landlords out there who has rental properties. Did you guys recently increase your rent due to inflation? I'm a new investor who has recently bought a rental property from out of state, located in Maple Heights Ohio that's currently being rented for $1,200 a month. I was wondering do you think it'd be reasonable to increase the rent by $30-$50 per month or is it too high? How do you actually raise it? Do you just tell your property manager that you'd like to increase the rent?

[Kar Sun]

Quote from @Mark Long Jr:

If it's a reliable renter. Be careful. I just raised rent 50 dollars and said it was to increase in taxes. A reliable renter is worth a discount in my opinion 

 In my example I will have to raise the rent by at least $300 because I am grossly below the market.. My renter is reliable and I have not done increases in 2 years. He also makes plenty of income (no less than $300,000 annually). By bringing it up I will be on par or slightly below market. I must do it because I can not have a negative flow due to some upgrade that has to be done. If he leaves then I am confident I will get someone else, even if it will take me a bit of time. He won't find similar property anywhere in a 50 miles radius for the price. He will have to pay extra $200-300 on top of my increase to get anything remotely similar.