Moving is a hectic time for tenants. You forget things at the old house. You unpack in the new place and stuff just doesn’t seem to fit or isn’t the right style. It’s often not practical to think about refurnishing a rental if you’ll only be there for one year. But, what if your new landlord would paint the rental your color so your furniture matches, add a ceiling fan for style, and rent you a 60” plasma TV for good times?
Some landlords have been having success in helping tenants by allowing them to customize their unit. By controlling the upgrades and improvements through your (landlord’s) process, not only will you get happier tenants, they’ll pay to upgrade your unit! After running a quick Return on Investment (ROI) scenario for about a dozen different items, it became clear that there’s a business model here that will work.
Landlords can do this two ways:
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When a tenant asks to rent a big TV, go buy it, add a paragraph about it into the lease, and then rent it back to the tenant. Or,
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Partner with a local Rent-a-Center
Both models appear to work and can generate sizzlingly high returns. If you have doubts, start small or start with a single item—the TV. You might be surprised what people are willing to pay for an awesome TV! Depending on your tax situation, you may want to put the TV rental outside of the lease and into its own contract. Or, keep it in the lease; if they default on TV payments or damage the unit, you have grounds for eviction for cause…a great negotiating tool with the tenant.
Here’s a sample form I’ve been using with my units. So far, I’ve had only modest success but I think the idea has legs. Large communities already do some of this; let’s get the smaller landlords into the game! 