Book Review: 40 Ways to Increase the Net Income of your Rental Propert

Al Wiliamson and I share a passion for proving leadership to support neighborhood revitalization in the communities we invest in.

I felt so honored when he sent me a copy of his latest book, 40 Ways to Increase the Net Income of your Rental Property. He even marked some pages that I might be particularly interested in!

The book focuses on how to generate ancillary, or non-rent income from investment properties, as a strategy to increase profit without increasing number of properties or debt load. I love that he uses the term collaborative economy to point out that we can partner with others, including tenants, to raise the income of both parties. It takes creative thinking, which this book starts to prime those creative thoughts. I’ve very intrigued with Al’s out-of-the-box idea to sell naming rights to his complex, with exterior paint to match the sponsor’s colors.

I enjoyed reading about the Guardaldis family, who operate rooming houses as a profitable business that is also a ministry, providing housing to sex offenders and felons. Another tough niche, with payoffs more than the positive cash flow.

We already practice some of the ideas in the book – we started a local market trend of charging a service fee to have pets, we are working with residents to improve the neighborhood (including adopt-a-block program and block party), we have leased a little strip of land to an Internet provider for them to potentially put some equipment on, resulting in a one time payment of $3500. Ideas I’d like to ponder for our rentals: providing scratch tickets to those that pay on time (although scratch tickets are a tax on the poor, so not sure I want to encourage their use) and offering financing to tenants for appliances or household items at better rates than they can otherwise get. Ideas I’d like to ponder for when we move to non-low income investing: shared office areas, mini storage, and Airbnb with a tenant serving as Innkeeper.

Way to go Al!