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Inexpensive Ways to Make Your Home More Appealing to Tenants in 2022

Juan Martinez • March 30, 2021

Renting a home is a both a matter of housing a family and a business transaction. During tenant turnover, you are looking to both get the best value for the property you are renting and invite a new, stable family to turn that house into their family residence. This means that the best connections and tenant partnerships occur when a home is appealing to those who apply to become your tenants. You want a family who falls in love with the house, who will be compelled to care for it as you might care for it if you were there every day. You want tenants who are motivated to pay market value or higher for the amenities and location because they would love to live in the house.

To find and win these tenants, you need each rental home to glow with potential; to show its best face when tenants view the home on virtual tours or visit to walk the floors in person. You want the home to be the perfect backdrop for new family memories - but without spending all your reserve funds on superficial renovations.

What are a few inexpensive ways to make your home more appealing to tenants in 2022? As an experienced property management team, we have more than a few tricks up our sleeves that we're here to share with you on how to make any property stand out without overspending on turnover.

1. Increase the Light Levels

Bring up the lights. Gloomy rooms are less appealing than rooms washed with diffused warm white clear enough to see every corner and detail. Even without furniture, a warm glow will make the room glow. So pull back heavy drapes and replace lightbulbs in every fixture. If that's not enough, consider ways to enhance the light like mirrors or even lamps to bring warm light to every corner of the house.

2. Repaint to Inspiring Neutral

Repainting is a typical part of rental home turnover - but are you repainting for neutral inspiration? Rental homes are painted neutral colors to welcome any tenant with any personal sense of style. However, a slight variation in shade and hue between your walls can make the home's architecture pop and even suggest which walls are just waiting for the perfect piece of art when your next tenants move in.

3. Detail Polish the Doors and Fixtures

Subtly hidden dirt can subtly lower a tenant's opinion of any house. Take a close look at the light switches, for example. Take a windex paper towel to them. Get a color change? That's one place hidden dirt is quietly making your rental home look shabbier than it is - and a commonly missed detail even for professional cleaning services.

Polish up those high-touch yet rarely cleaned surfaces like doors (doors can get really dirty), handles, knobs, control panels, and plate covers throughout the house.

4. Warm Wood with Oil Polish

If you have stained or varnished wood in the home's structure, polish it with oil. Wood-paneled walls, wood doors, window frames, and wood floors can all be oiled until the wood drinks the moisture and begins to glow. Give your wood infrastructure new life with every wipe of the cloth. A little olive oil or wood polish spray can make an incredible difference - especially for older homes with plenty of wood in the architectural design.

5. Hone Your Curb Appeal Appearance

Make sure your curb appeal is perfect before photographs or the arrival of applicants to tour the home. Try to remove every stray leaf from the lawn. Keep the bushes perfectly trimmed. Even consider bringing in a few potted plants to stage the front walk where ground-grown plants may not have the wow-factor you're looking for.

6. Little Decorations Go a Long Way

Then there are those little touches you can make inside the home without actually staging or furnishing the rental house between tenants. A few little decorations can go a long way. Hand towels in the kitchen and bathroom that match the color scheme can make a surprisingly strong impression. Place a bowl of flowers or an abstract sculpture in the center of the kitchen island. A vase of flower petals in the bathroom and decorative pulls on the ceiling fans in each bedroom can quietly bring an empty rental home to life and help tenants envision their future in the space even without example furniture to help.

7. Hang Fresh Window Treatments

Speaking of curtains, take a look at the windows of your rental home. Bare windows can make a home look vacant or unwelcoming, while bulky curtains are likely to be taken down. Instead, choose something sturdy, neutral, and clean that freshens the space without dominating. Mini blinds and opaque cloth blinds are both popular "default" window treatments that both help to make a rental home more appealing and can be trusted with tenants when you hand over the keys. Most tenants will hang curtains over blinds for the functionality bonus.

8. Invest in a High-Quality Digital Tour

What about your digital showing? In a post-COVID market, most renters now do most of their house-hunting online including a love of digital tours. 360 photography photo tours are now the leading way to get a feel for a home before starting the online application process. So if you make one new investment when sprucing up your rental home for new tenants, it should be a high-quality digital tour.

Before photographing, make sure the light is just right so that each shot is warm and inviting.

9. Show Off Smart Integration

Want to really show your tenants that your rental home has something special to offer? Show off smart home integration. A few smart speakers and a "house account" are easy and inexpensive to set up - and the rewards can multiply. No need to spring for a smart thermostat or Ring doorbell if that's not in the plans. Just a few cleverly placed and powered smart speakers can play soft music, answer trivia, and show off your selection of coordinated smart lightbulbs throughout the house to really wow new tenants on a modest turnover budget.

10. Make the House Smell Nice

Finally, the one trick that's been floating through real estate for years is the scent trick. Make a house smell like home, and tenants will feel like home when they walk through the door. Warm baking and vanilla extract are a popular choice, and you don't have to bake a pan of cookies to make it waft through the house. You can spritz a high-quality vanilla spray through the house or even lightly simmer a little vanilla extract and water on the stove before tours for that special final touch to help tenants fall in love with the house.

Work with a Property Management Service

Are you ready to take your tenant turnover to the next level without spending an arm & leg on trending renovations? Working with an experienced property management team like Americana Property Management can transform your turnover experience and help you get the best rental value for your location and market every time.

Contact us today to learn more about great turnover techniques and how working with a professional team can streamline your efforts, results, and costs in one smart decision.

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What Does a Property Management Company Actually Do? Behind the Scenes Look

November 26, 2024

A lot of people think property managers just sit back, relax, wait for the phone to ring, collect rent, and that's it. My name is Jorge Rodriguez, president of Americana Property Management in Las Vegas, and I want to show you what really goes on behind the scenes in property management. Should You Hire a Property Manager? Whether you own one property or twenty, there comes a point when managing everything yourself becomes overwhelming. At Americana Property Management, we typically help owners who: Own multiple rental properties and can't keep up with all the demands Live far from their Las Vegas investments Want their rental income to be truly passive Don't want to deal with hiring maintenance staff and contractors Can afford to invest 8-12% of their rental income into professional management The cost of property management isn't just an expense - it's an investment in protecting your property and maximizing its value. Let me show you exactly what I mean. How We Protect Your Investment A lot of owners don't realize how much liability they take on when they self-manage. At Americana, we: Stay current with all landlord-tenant laws Use legally-sound lease agreements that protect your interests Handle evictions professionally when needed Document everything to protect you from false claims Maintain detailed records of all income and expenses Take care of tax documentation Most importantly, we act as a buffer between you and your tenants. When there's a challenging situation - like late rent or lease violations - we handle it professionally so you don't have to be the "bad guy." How We Find Qualified Tenants The number one thing is making sure we find a qualified applicant for your home. At Americana Property Management, we market homes on over 50 websites, including: Zillow Trulia Realtor.com Apartments.com We also list properties on the MLS and work with other realtors to show our homes. We've found that applications from realtors tend to be better because the realtor pre-qualifies them before showing homes. Our Tenant Screening Process When we receive applications, we put them through a very strict verification process: Background checks Credit checks Rental history verification Employment verification Reference calls We want to make sure the person we're putting inside your home is going to pay rent on time and take care of the property. This verification process is vital to successfully managing your property. Once we complete the verification process, we always reach out to the owner with our findings and get their final approval before moving forward. The Move-In Process Setting Up the Lease We draft up a landlord-friendly lease agreement that protects everyone involved - the owner, the property management company, and the tenant. This gives us a legal binding contract that we all must abide by, preventing any misunderstandings in the future. Move-In Orientation Other property management companies might call this a move-in inspection, but we take it a little further. We: Document the condition of the home with pictures Demonstrate how the home functions, including: Where to shut off water if there's a leak How to reset breakers How to reset a GFCI How to relight a water heater How to change filters How to change batteries in smoke detectors and thermostats Ninety-five percent of work orders are very small and something the tenant can take care of. By showing them how during the move-in orientation, we save our owners money on unnecessary maintenance calls. How We Handle Day-to-Day Property Management Rent Collection We make sure rent is collected by the first of the month. Tenants have until the third to pay with no late fee - that's their grace period. On the fourth, they're charged a 5% late fee. If a tenant still doesn't pay rent, we start serving legal notices and ensure we follow through on our collection efforts. Maintenance and Repairs Tenants can submit work orders through our online portal - the same place they make rent payments. When we receive a work order: We inform the owner We dispatch our vendor to diagnose and repair the issue If the cost exceeds our approval limit, we contact the owner so we can make the right decision together Our vendors provide us discounts because of the volume of work we give them. These savings get passed on to our owners - you're getting highly qualified vendors for less than what you'd pay finding someone through Google. Working with Home Warranty Companies If you have a home warranty, we handle everything: Filing the claim Coordinating with the tenant Making sure the vendor goes out Following up to ensure everything is working properly HOA Violations If your property receives an HOA violation: For tenant-caused issues: We contact the tenant and ensure they fix the violation For owner responsibilities: We communicate with you, get bids if needed, and help choose the right vendor to resolve the issue How We Save You Money with Our Vendor Network One of the biggest advantages of working with a professional property manager is our vendor relationships. At Americana Property Management: We have trusted vendors for every type of repair and maintenance Our vendors give us significant discounts because of our volume We only work with licensed, insured professionals We know which vendors do quality work at fair prices We handle all vendor coordination and payment Think about it: When you search for a plumber on Google, you're paying retail prices and taking a chance on quality. Our vendors know they'll get consistent work from us, so they give us better rates - and those savings get passed directly to you. How We Keep You Informed We believe in complete transparency with our owners. Through our online portal, you can: See real-time updates on rent collection Review maintenance requests and approvals Access monthly financial statements Track property performance View all property-related documents Every month, you'll know exactly: How much rent was collected What maintenance was performed Any upcoming expenses or needs Your property's bottom line We take care of your property like it's our own, and we make sure you always know what's happening with your investment. The Lease Renewal Process We start the renewal process 90 days before the lease expires. During this time we: Compare similar properties to see if a rent increase (usually 3-5%) is justified Inspect the property to ensure it's being properly maintained Review the tenant's payment history We take all these factors into consideration before offering a renewal, and we always get your blessing before moving forward. Most of our initial leases are for one year. This gives us flexibility - if a tenant isn't paying on time or taking care of the home, we can give them a 30-day notice to vacate instead of renewing. However, when we do find good tenants, they tend to stay in our properties between 3 to 5 years. We really try to find long-term tenants so you can make consistent income from your investment. Looking for Property Management? Our main focus is making sure your interests are taken care of. You collect a nice check every month, and we handle all the headaches. If you have any questions about how we can help manage your property, you can reach us at 702-719-2100 or email us at pm@americanapm.com.