All Forum Posts by: Kyle Mullins

I wanted to follow up on this thread and let everyone know that we feel we made a better choice after reading all the responses. We are going to raise the rent from $425 to $525 and give them 2 months' notice of this. This price is still the best price for a 1B1B in the area while getting us into market rent territory for the unit. We are going to take the advice given by many about not promising any improvements but instead just doing them. Thanks again and I will be reaching out to those who offered to share welcome letters and other helpful documents.

Well based on the new responses I feel like maybe we haven’t made the right decision. On one hand I want to run this well, but on another I never want to be the reason someone is displaced. I guess that is going to be a challenge in this business. We will think about this more, thanks everyone!

Thank you all for your responses. My wife and I have been reading is discussing all of them. I think what we have decided is we will raise rents by only $25 for each tenant and ask them to sign a 1 year lease. Then spend the year making improvements and showing them  that we will be the best landlords they will ever have. Then next year do another $25. Building a strong base now and the money will come later. If anyone decides to move on later, then we will be prepared for a full Reno for that unit. 

Additional question though, when should we present the lease? I like what @Kenneth Garrett said about having new tenants fill out the application. This will help us understand our tenants situation better, as well as actually meeting them and getting to know them. Would we present it after that? Or should we let them go month to month for a while longer and present it later? Seems simple enough to just present it the month following closing but you all seem to have some good insights. 

I guess I was not clear, the plan has always been to make the improvements first before raising rent. I definitely am going to take what you said @Jim K. and think about the amount. Your comments combined with how @Kenneth Garrett broke it down gives us some thinking to do. These comments and guidance are exactly why I asked the question here. Keep it coming!

Hello! My wife and I are in contract for our first rental property, a triplex! The current owner has had it for 21 years and is older so rents have not increased over time. The current tenants are being charged $425 while the fair rental value for the area is about $600. Two tenants have been there for 7 years and we would like to keep all three. We plan to make improvements to the property to make it more enjoyable for them to live there, but we will not completely renovate the units unless a tenant moves out. So I feel it is appropriate to raise the rent at least a little. To do this ethically, we were thinking we would tell them in January that we would be making improvements in the spring and raising the rent to $500. They are month to month currently so in the spring if they agreed, they would sign a one-year lease. Then the year after, raise it to $550 and repeat until at fair value. 

Is this a good way to do this or is there a better way? I am not sure if this way of doing it is a good idea and would love to hear the communities feedback. Thanks!