Free TV for Tenants (at no cost to landlord)

[Steven Keys]

As a kid, I had a little handheld, battery-powered antenna TV with a 2" screen. I thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. With the rise of the internet and the insane price of cable, I have been without live television for over a decade now, but it was recently brought to my attention that antenna TV still exists, and it's now digital and in HD.

Bought a cheap indoor flat antenna just to play around with it. Didn't work very well, and it was ugly inside the house.

We live in a condo that we rent out whenever we do long-term travel, so I thought...what if I install a really nice outdoor antenna in the attic or on the roof, wire it into the house to a dedicated coax outlet in the wall, and just make it a permanent fixture of the house? Then we can enjoy the free TV, and we can offer it as a selling point to tenants in the future ("x channels free HDTV included with rent").

We bought our antenna used, grabbed some coax cable and a wall plate from Lowe's, and the whole project ended up costing $80 total. Free TV forever, and the reception is great. If I owned more rental units, I would definitely do this in every single one of them. Tiny investment for a really nice amenity, especially for lower income tenants.

Wrote a little more about it here, including a link to the antenna we ended up getting (item 1 of 7 in the list): https://www.tripofalifestyle.c...