When marketing a property for rent, the biggest concerns for most landlords are usually the amount of rent they can earn from the property and the speed they can get a tenant moved in.
If the property appeals to the target tenant, it will likely rent quickly and for a good price. If the property is not attracting the attention in the market you'd hoped, perhaps there's something that you could change to entice a tenant?
There is a sort of chicken-and-egg question here, though. Do you upgrade the property to try to appeal to potential tenants and possibly fit the wrong style or colours? Or do you wait until you have found a good tenant and upgrade the property to their tastes and style preferences?
What if you find a great tenant who says they're unhappy with some part of the property? What if they say they'll take it but on the condition that you must change something for them? Maybe they want new carpets or a redecoration. Should you change the property for them?
This is a tricky scenario for many landlords, so what is the best way to navigate this?
Well, you need to have a good look, objectively, at the property as well as consider the feedback from other viewings that you may have had.
If the feedback has been the same from lots of the viewings, to say that the property isn't decorated well or the carpets are no good, then perhaps these things need addressing anyway. In this scenario, the chances are that you will not be able to rent the property as easily without upgrading these areas, which will mean that you may have the property empty for longer, or you might even have to reduce the rent to attract a tenant.
What if you haven't had any feedback to assess? Perhaps this is your only potential tenant since being on the market? If that is the case, then you need to consider why this might be. Most properties will receive several viewings reasonably quickly. If your property hasn't, it may be time to consider why.
Maybe this is the only tenant; therefore, it could be wise to do whatever you can to encourage them to take the property. In the grand scheme of things, the cost of new carpets will be similar to two or three months of missed rent.
But if the tenant requests new carpets simply because they aren't to their taste, you may decide to not actually change the property and allow that tenant to walk away.
You don't need to provide a property that matches the decor tastes of a tenant, but it may help you achieve a higher or faster rent if your carpets are good quality and not worn or past their best. If you cannot find a decent tenant with the property as it is, the tenant may not be picky or cheeky in asking for new carpets; maybe the property needs an upgrade.
You have a decision to make:
- improve the property to enable finding a decent tenant at the advertised rent
- Reduce the rent in the hope that another tenant will accept the property in its current condition for a lower price.
Marketing a property for rent is not as simple as it looks. When a tenant searches for a new home, they usually commit to a year or two, maximum. This is not as big of a decision as when a homeowner moves. If a property is not quite right for the tenant, they will simply look for somewhere different. They won't spend their money refurbishing a property to their own style and taste when the property doesn't belong to them.
As the landlord, you will protect your investment if you update the property to modern trends so that good tenants will be interested in living there. This way, you will always be able to charge a reasonable rent for the property, which will, in turn, pay you a strong yield and keep your property as a sound investment.
If you are unsure of the rental value of your property or would like advice on how to decorate and market your property to find an excellent tenant, get in touch with our team of property lettings experts today.
