If you are preparing a North Hollywood rental home for your first tenants, or even if you’ve been renting for a while, you may be questioning if you must include appliances in your rental property. It’s a difficult question since there is no clear yes or no answer to it. Instead, deciding to include appliances in your rental home must depend on your location, your target renter, and the feasibility of doing so. By looking at these things and thinking about the benefits and drawbacks of putting appliances in your rental, you can more effectively decide if this is appropriate for you.
Consider the Competition
When determining whether or not to include appliances in your rental home, it’s necessary to understand how your rental property compares to others around your area. If comparable rental properties nearby all include appliances and yours doesn’t, you would be at a significant disadvantage. This is especially true if those properties are renting at your desired rate. Then again, if some rentals in your neighborhood do not contain appliances, there is much less reason to do so. By knowing your local rental market, you can make a more confident decision about whether appliances make sense for your rental home.
Consider Tenant Appeal
While rental property owners are not forced by law to include appliances in their rental homes, there are several great reasons to do so anyway. Maybe the most appropriate reason to incorporate appliances in your rental is to create stronger appeal for your target renters. For instance, assume your rental is situated in a college town, adjacent to an urban center, or a popular retirement spot. Therefore, there is likely a high quantity of young adults or retirees looking to rent in your area.
For college students, young professionals, and often retired adults, having appliances included in a rental might be not just needed but necessary. Young adult renters are much less likely to own or to be able to own appliances, so they usually need a rental home that includes them. Older adults may be trying to downsize after retirement and don’t want the burden of appliance ownership and maintenance. In any case, by including appliances in your rental homes, you can better appeal to these renter demographics.
Consider the Benefits
Apart from tenant appeal, there are several explanations why including appliances in your rental property might seem sensible for you. For instance, rental property owners who offer appliances can usually get a higher rent than those who don’t. Not only can you recoup the cost of the appliances over the long term, but once those appliances are paid for, that extra rent will continue to give your cash flows a nice boost.
Another excellent benefit of including appliances in your rental home is that it significantly reduces the chance of wall and floor damage during move-in and move-out. Relocating big appliances in and out of a rental home is hard, and unless if performed by trained professionals, it poses the risk of creating damage to floors, walls, and even doors and trim. By keeping the appliances in place, you prevent this potential damage and make the move-in and move-out process even easier on both you and your tenant.
Potential Drawbacks
Definitely, including appliances isn’t ideal for everybody. Some landlords don’t want the responsibility of maintenance and repair for appliances, which can make sense in some situations. For some, the cost of buying appliances may be too expensive. This is particularly the case if you are having cash flow issues or your budget is tight. In some cases, it may simply not be feasible to include good quality appliances for tenants, and so the better option is to let tenants bring their own.
Although it is obvious that the choice to provide appliances in your rental home or not is influenced by a variety of factors, it is actually up to you to make the right decision for your properties. Sometimes, it can be helpful to have an expert North Hollywood property manager on your side to help you make decisions like these. If you’d like more advice and guidance on how to make your rental property as profitable as it can be, give Real Property Management Vision a call! Our experts can help you set up a rental house that tenants will love while working to keep your monthly expenses as low as possible.
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