How to Draw (and Keep Drawing) Tenants to Your Investment Property

When you purchase and own investment property, your utmost concern is to keep the property filled with tenants willing to pay you rent for the opportunity to occupy space in your building. Of course the key is to have occupants willing to pay you a favorable enough rent for you to generate a cash flow and rate of return; it does little for your bottom line just to have renters if it means losing money.

Okay, so the challenge facing real estate investors is first, to draw tenants to their rental property, and secondly, to collect as much rent as possible to make the investment profitable. Here are a few suggestions how you might accomplish that with proper property management.

Maintain the Property

First of all, make sure that the units are made clean, safe, and habitable for renters to occupy. The walls should be painted, and bathroom and kitchen fixtures, tile, linoleum and wood floors, appliances, and windows should all be cleaned before a tenant moves in.

The same goes for the exterior. Trim around exterior doors and windows should be painted. Decks and staircases may need to be painted. Garbage, debris, and junk cars need to be removed.

Of course, you also want to maintain the property. Attend to and repair leaks, drafts, and broken fixtures in a unit quickly to preserve good relations between you and your tenant. And whenever feasible, make an effort to improve the property with new siding, windows, and doors. This will improve the life and appearance of your investment and likewise attract and keep better tenants.

Prepare the Rentals

Tenants rarely leave you with a space that might be suitable to show, so do a thorough cleanup job that makes it "rent-ready". Dispose of the trash (of course), sweep, mop, vacuum floors, wipe down appliances inside and out, use caulking to fill cracks and holes, perhaps apply new paint to walls, ceilings, windows, and doors, clean or replace worn or stained carpets, and be sure to fix or replace damaged fixtures.

Remember, your goal is for a new tenant to occupy that space at top dollar in the shortest time possible. And trying to re-rent a unit with hand prints on walls, smoke stain discoloration, paint chips around doors and windows, or grease and mildew buildup on stoves and refrigerators will not do that. You want to show prospective tenants a rental unit that screams sanitary, clean, and in full working order.

Fair enough, now here's one word of advice. Fight the temptation to show the unit until it is as close to its best condition as possible. First impressions make more of an impact upon potential renters then describing what will be fixed and replaced. If you can, show them a similar unit that does gleam so they get the correct notion of what the unit will look like when they move in.

Institute Safety and Security

The entrance to the rental unit should be solid, weather tight, and have sufficient locks. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, if your state requires them, should be in good working condition and should be properly placed throughout the unit per your state and local fire codes. Doors that share a common hallway should be fire rated if required by state fire codes.

Aside from this, though, look for and repair water leaks as quickly as possible to help prevent damage to floors or subsequently could seep through and cause damage to the ceiling below the unit. Outlets in the vicinity of sinks should be ground faulted for safety reasons. Bathrooms should be properly vented per your state and local building codes. Light fixtures should have working bulbs and switches.

More can be said on this subject, of course; but you get the idea. Your investment property is a product you want to "sell" to people looking for a space to occupy. And by implementing a consistent maintenance program, elbow grease, and a strict adherence to state and local codes, you increase your chances to draw (and keep drawing) good potential renters to your building.

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