New Investor - How to increase rents

[Christian Tallet]

I'm about to close on a 4 unit multifamily property. I'll be owner occupying one of the units. it consists of 2 two bedrooms and 2 one bedrooms and I'll live in one of the one bedroom. currently the rents for the 2 bedrooms are 560 and 580 and the 1 bedroom is 510. Looking at rentometer and HUD fair market rent, one bedrooms in the area average 580 to 600 and the 2 bedrooms are about 700. The property is in a nice neighborhood with mainly single family homes. The square footage is 700 and 950 so they're about average size. The only thing not going for them is it's not a large apartment complex with a pool, etc (which I've seen rents going for way more than 600 and 700). I'm just trying to figure out how much to increase the rents. I could just go up by 30 or 40 and most likely be able to keep the current tenants and make it take longer or I could just say this is the new rent (jump straight up to market rents) but id probably have to find new tenants. Any suggestions? Thanks everyone. -Christian