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I received the "invitation" to come in and renew the lease on my 1br apt. they must be smoking crack for the rents they listed in the letter. Holy crap, I'm very surprised, since I know they have vacancies, the apt directly below me has been open since SEPTEMBER!! And 2 on the other end of my building are empty, for 2 mos now. I probably can go in and work them down, but I'm not sure I want to.
I'm seriously considering finding a small house to rent, just getting tired of climbing those stairs, dealing with other renters, and their guests who hog all the parking lot, trash all over, lousy maintenance, etc,
My question is, what is your 'average' rent increase after the initial lease time? Do you have a percentage in mind, do you set by what you can get, what similar units are going for? How do you figure this, I'm looking for a guesstimate.
Would you consider a lease longer than 12 mos? How do you handle lawn care issues? These things keep popping into my mind...I want to have a firm decision this week, then I can start seriously start looking.
Some locales have laws governing the % a LL can increase rent from one year to the next.
In your particular situation, I would think you have a distinct advantage since most apts are not rented. I would walk in the office and say I want to stay here but I can't and won't for the amount of this increase. See if they make you a counter offer or better yet you give them an offer.
With regards to a house, it will depend on the LL. Some LL will say it is the tenants responsibility for lawn maint. other say the rent covers it and still other may say they will do it for a little extra money. So it really is dependent on the LL and the house you select.
I would not consider a lease for longer than 12 months.
I am somewhat new to being a landlord, and my longest stay has been 12 months and they moved BUT I personally didn't consider raising the rent on them after the 1st year. As far as lawn care, I expect my tenants to take care of the lawns and any code violations they might get for not doing so.
I own 3 rental's I only raise it if the market goes up. but I will wait until it it goes empty first. I would never raise it on any one with the housing shortage that we have around here.
Two of my rentals the tenant's responsible for lawn and snow. The other one is a duplex that I happen to live in too so I take care, well pay for the lawn care and snow removal.
Raising the rent depends on the rise in costs. If costs go up, then the rent has to go up. I generally keep the rent the same if possible, if it still allows a profit. If costs go up, there goes the rent. If I have a good tenant, I do my best to keep the rent the same.
I did raise the rent on a long term tenant (5years), she laughed as said she was wondering when that would happen. I raised it $25.00, with apologies. She is staying.
I would try to negotiate with the management if I were you. Several empties is not good, and the prospect of another vacanciy is not good. If your a valuable tenant, they should want to keep you.
I spoke to a neighbor last night and she told me (one of the maintenance guys tells her everything that's going on in the office) that everyone's rent is going up this year due to the "improvements" they are doing, power washing the buildings (we're just coming out of a drought???), resurfacing the tennis courts (no one has ever been on them that I've seen except some kids on skates) new exercise equipment and a new racquetball floor (again, I've never seen anyone in there and I can see in the building from my apartment). Basic fluff.....
She also he also said they've had a lot of expenses this year replacing appliances, so I'd bet thats another part of the raise. My water heater died and flooded the utility room so they had to replace, so that's part of my increase, I'll bet....
I'm going to go into the office this weekend and talk to them, but really think it's time to move on. this increase will make my rent $ 125.00 more than when I first moved in 3 years ago, plus we are now paying for water at approx $ 35.00 a month.... not sure it's worth it....
Same counts for me...if the tenant is outstanding I wouldn't consider to raise the rent unless cost have been raised from the HOA, etc.
I did tell my previous tenant who had 2 bounced checks and came up with an excuse every month when the rent had to be paid, that it would be higher....he got the message and vanished...but I already had his sec. deposit which was non refundable and I went to court for last months rent + damages and it will show up on his credit raport...and I didn't even have to go evicting him....
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