Attracting higher-paying tenants for properties with higher monthly rent can be challenging, but it’s worth the investment. Such tenants require higher-quality properties, better advertising, and a strategic selling process. Additionally, landlords may need to adjust their rental property business to appeal to them. To learn more about attracting higher-paying tenants and keeping them in your rental properties, just keep reading.
How Landlords Can Get Higher-Paying Tenants
Finding tenants for your rentals doesn’t always come easily. However, there are several things landlords can do to make their rentals more attractive to higher-paying tenants. Here are some simple ways to attract and retain higher-paying tenants for your rental properties.
- Target Millennials
- Market the Community
- Improve Your Advertising Process
- Add to Your Property’s Curb Appeal
- Ensure the Property is Clean
- Offer Flexible Lease Options
- Build Your Brand Online
Target Millennials
Renting to millennials can be extremely profitable, but to do so successfully, you need to learn what specific amenities and attractions appeal to them. If you’re used to renting to families and older tenants, you may need to do some extra research, as millennials have vastly different preferences.
To get you started, here are a few ways you can attract high-paying millennials to your properties:
- Offer environmentally-friendly amenities. Install energy-efficient light bulbs, low-flow showerheads, and other environmentally-friendly amenities to save money and attract better-paying tenants.
- Advertise any nearby outdoor recreation areas. Millennials are often active and will appreciate a property that is located near hiking trails, national parks, and similar attractions.
- Buy properties near popular millennial workplaces and activities. Millennials often look to rent a property near where they work.
- Research to find out which locations in your area are popular for millennials to work and hang out in their free time.
When advertising your property to attract millennial tenants, you may also want to highlight nearby public transportation options, as millennials sometimes live car-free.
Tip: While it’s okay to market with a millennial audience in mind, remember that discriminating based on familial status when choosing a tenant is illegal.
Market the Community
High-paying tenants often care about where their new residence is located just as much as they care about the quality of the home. So, don’t only mention the interior and exterior of your property – talk about the neighborhood and local attractions, including:
- Nightlife
- Nearby highways
- Sports arenas
- Coffee shops
- Shopping malls
- Schools
Consider your target audience when deciding which community features to mention in your advertisements. For example, if you’re trying to attract millennials, you’ll likely want to mention different attractions than those applying to older tenants and families.
Improve Your Advertising Process
If you’re trying to attract high-paying tenants, you’ve got to advertise where they’re most likely to look for a new place to live. Chances are, that means you can’t just use Craigslist or a local newspaper and hope for the best outcome. Instead, it’s best to use multiple advertising websites (like Trulia, HotPads, and Zillow) because many high-paying renters search mainly online for a new place to live.
When you are creating your property ad, make sure to include the following:
- High-quality photos of the property’s interior and exterior
- Any policies that the tenant should know about (pet policy, etc.)
- Type of flooring
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- Address of the property
- Information about the neighborhood and surrounding attractions
You’ll also want to craft an enticing description of your property using descriptive words that help portray its attractiveness. That way, your potential tenants can see the value in your property’s amenities and more easily envision themselves living there.
Tip: If you need help with the best way to advertise your property, consider hiring a Baltimore rental property management team to handle advertising and other unwanted duties.
Add to Your Property’s Curb Appeal
A property with lots of curb appeal will appeal to potential renters at first glance. So, regardless of how you’re advertising your property, you’ll need to clean up the exterior to attract a high-paying tenant. That means that you should:
- Mow the lawn.
- Trim all trees, bushes, and overgrown plants.
- Touch up the paint as needed.
- Sweep the porch.
- Replace any outdated hardware (light fixtures, doorknobs, mailboxes, etc.).
- Remove any debris from the yard.
- Make any necessary repairs to the property’s fence.
Also, consider showing your property on a day when the trash isn’t being picked up. Ensure nothing distracting (maintenance, yard work, etc.) occurs when you show your property. That way, tenants can focus on the positive aspects of the property.
Tip: Check out this blog post to learn even more ways you can add serious curb appeal to your property.
Ensure the Property is Clean
High-paying tenants don’t want to live in just any property – they want to live in a spotless property. That means you can’t simply do some light cleaning and expect a positive outcome. Instead, you should plan to deep clean the inside and outside of your property before you show it.
More specifically, here are some things you should do to make sure your property is up to a high-paying tenant’s standards:
- Clean the carpets.
- Scrub any tile.
- If the property is furnished when you show it, dust each individual knickknack.
- Clean the inside and outside of all appliances.
- Dust all mini blinds.
Of course, you’ll want to take care of regular cleaning duties like sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping as well. When you’re done, carefully inspect the property to look for anything else that requires your attention before showing it to a prospective tenant.
If you don’t have time to clean your property or don’t want to do it, consider hiring a professional cleaning company to take care of it for you. Just make sure you research the company first and look for several positive online reviews.
Offer Flexible Lease Options
Tenants that can pay a higher monthly rental fee may sometimes need to travel and/or move often. That’s why it could benefit you to offer more flexible leasing terms.
So, consider offering a month-to-month option or making it easy for tenants to terminate their lease as needed if you’re looking to attract a high-paying tenant to your property. Your flexibility could mean the difference between them signing a lease and looking elsewhere for a place to live.
On top of that, month-to-month rental rates are typically higher than normal lease rates, so you’ll find yourself generating more money than you would otherwise from already high-paying renters.
Build Your Brand Online
If you have a website for your rental property business (or even a social media site), you can use it to set yourself apart from other landlords in your area.
Consider what makes your business different from the rest, and advertise that. For example, if you regularly support a specific cause, you can mention that cause to attract high-paying tenants. Doing so can be particularly helpful in attracting people who are more likely to pay a higher rate if they know their money is going to a good cause.
Following the tactics outlined here can help you attract the high-paying tenants you want to your properties. On top of that, these tactics will give you a clear competitive advantage because not many landlords are taking the time to implement them.
Hire Comprehensive Management for Your Rentals
Owning and operating a rental business can be an overwhelming and time-consuming task. If it’s not your full-time job, keeping up with the day-to-day tasks of managing rental properties could be challenging. As such, many property owners with several rentals opt to hire full-service property management.
So, if you need help with advertising, tenant screening, and other landlord duties, our Baltimore rental property management team is here to assist you. Bay Property Management Group offers comprehensive rental management services so busy landlords don’t have to stress. Instead, we focus on maximizing your rental income while managing and maintaining all your properties.
Contact us today to learn more about our management services in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC.
