Rent increase in Virginia

[Adriana Khdair]

Hi everyone! Do you increase the rent every year after a lease renewal? My tenant in Fredericksburg is renewing and I am not sure what is the average annual increase for rent in VA, since there is no rent control here. Thank you!

[David Fernandez]

When I look at rent increases on my rentals I always check first what is the market rent for my property and then I increase it to slightly below market rent so the tenants have an incentive to stay and I save on vacancy/turnover. Sometimes it is $25, other times is $300. My biggest increase this year was $350 on a $925/month rent from a property I bought and I inherited the tenants. They stayed.

Treat your rentals like a business. When you only have one property, $50/month more doesn't seem like a big deal, but if you plan on scaling and end up with 100 doors, $50/month/property is $5,000/month or $60,000/year.