Hey guys! I wanted to shoot you all a quick blog about renting out rooms and condos (I don't know if this will work with single family homes).
If you live near a college campus or in a larger city, you have an even better opportunity to take advantage of this advice.
Sometimes, those of us who own rental property have trouble getting people into our rental units/houses. In my case, it's a condo. I've found that, at least in my case, there's a sure-fire way for me to fill the unit in a matter of days.
What I do is pretty simple. I offer the unit as "month-to-month". I don't ask them to stay long term. The lease is month-to-moth and I tell them that if they want to leave, I need 30 days notice and that I'll give them 30 days notice if I want them out. In return for this great feedom that I offer to my renters, I'm able to raise rent by 20%.
I make sure that I take at least one month's rent up front as a security deposit (in case they don't give me the full 30 days notice). Also, I try to keep the unit furnished. Furnishing units is something that my Hawaiian friend Donovan has mentioned in his blogs at realestateinvestor.com as a strategy that he's implemented in order to make move-in and move-out (or evictions) more convenient for both him and his renters. Keeping the unit furnished also alows for the higher asking price for rent.
I had a room open up on Friday afternoon. I listed it on CraigsList as "month-to-month" and had 3 responses within 1 HOUR!!!! I got 9 replies in 24 hours.
Is there more risk in renting month-to-month? Absolutely. But I think that the additional rent that you will get is a great way to help pad that risk.
Hopefully this will help some of you fill your empty houses, empty units, and empty rooms. After all, we all know that empty rental property creates empty wallets.
Good luck guys (and gals) :)
Happy Investing,
Abe
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;)
Some good advice yes- I also found if you have a larger home such as 4-5 bedrooms and if you are trying to rent it, it works well to advertise by Colleges too because it is easier for students to share the rent and it has been effective also!
Good luck and nice blog!