Raising Rent

[Sean Connolly]

Hello All,

Just looking for some input. I have recently purchased a single family home and a duplex right next door. I live in the single family now, and kept both tenants in the duplex. They both are very polite, keep to themselves for the most part, and have even helped me with a few things around the property. My dilemma is that one of the tenants rents is grossly under average rent in the area. ( Old owner was his parents ). The longer I am here, the more comfortable I get with the rent as is. Also the more I dread raising the rent. 

Currently, Unit A is rented for $575. Unit B is rented for $750. Both units are 1 bedroom apartments, with walkable attack, basement, private deck, private off street parking and a common yard approximately 1 acre. Both pay own utilities, and have trash pickup provided by me.

Average rent for a 1 bedroom in Westport, MA is $800. 

Just looking for suggestions on whether it is better to keep the rent low, with reliable easy tenants in place, or raise the rent and risk losing those tenants for an unknown future tenants. If so, how would you go about raising it? (They're really nice people!!)

Thanks in advance!