Landlord`s Guide

Making money is an art and entering into a landlord business, you gradually master the art. Getting a decent enough cash flow every month is great to sustain your business. Every month, your mortgage is paying off; your business expenses are getting paid. In an all, you are at a state of getting decent revenues every month. But do you know; you can make more money with rental property by applying little creativity to the art of rental business.

Pursuing a landlord business gives you enormous money-making opportunities other than just collecting rent payments every month. You can maximize rental income and make more money with rental property. Learn to identify the money-making opportunities in your rental business and cash them quickly to maximize your rental income.  

How to make more Money with Rental Property?

Creativity and thinking out of the box can help you make more money with rental property. Make your asset churn out more profits for you every month. Here`s how you can do it?

1. Convenience Charges:

You have set up a system of collecting rent payments from your tenants. Suppose your tenant is required to pay you through bank transfer. But this time, he requires some flexibility and not being able to pay via bank transfer. The tenant asks you to accept the rent payment with a check. In this situation, a tenant won`t mind an extra $10 charge for added convenience.  After all, you will now take some extra time out of your business to deposit the check for the tenant.

2. Bounced Check Charges:

Suppose your tenant paid through check and the check got bounced. You can charge your tenant for the bounced check and can also levy late rent charges in such cases. The general charges for bounced checks vary from $20-$40 depending upon the state. Make sure you comply with the rules of the state while charging your tenants.

3. Late Rent Charges:

Every landlord hates to have a delayed rent payment. But if somehow the tenant is delaying the rent payment, you can put late rent charges with the rent payments. But, you can collect these late rent charges only if you have prior included these in the rental agreement. A landlord can collect up to 5% late payment charges on the due rent payment. However, never mistake to let the tenant gets more than 10 days behind the rent payment. Otherwise, he can assume to have a full month to pay the rent.

4. Payday Payment Plan Charges:

If you are a landlord who rents in a small income neighborhood, there are chances your tenant wants to opt for a payday payment plan. Mostly the tenants living in small income neighborhoods are service person who gets their wages weekly or bi-weekly in a month. These tenants may want you to collect the rent payment on a weekly or a bi-weekly basis. You can then provide the convenience of weekly payments by adding a convenience fee of up to $10 every week with their rent payment.

5. Lease Violation charges:

You and your tenant have entered into a rental agreement. The tenant is required to abide by all the rules and regulations of the agreement. But failing to abide, you can charge your tenant for violating the lease. In general, you can`t charge the tenant for the first violation and is required to only give a written warning for violation of lease as per state laws. But, if the tenant keeps on violating the lease, you can definitely charge him. In this case, always handover a written notice of lease violation with levied charges.

6. Move-in Charges for Non Operational hours:

You are pursuing a business and have set up business hours for yourself. You necessarily don`t work on weekends and after certain hours. But some tenants feel more comfortable moving in at weekends. So you can ask them to pay some extra charges if they wish to move-in the weekend or in hours you don`t operate. Most movers and packers companies practice the same thing. These service providers generally charge more for their service on weekends.

7. Missed Appointment Charge:

You can charge the tenants for missing a prior booked appointment with a service person. The appointment should however be confirmed by the tenant and should be in writing. A service person coming at your property will anyway charge for the visit irrespective the tenant shows up or not. In such cases, you can charge a tenant for up to $125. The tenant has caused the time and money of the service person and the person who has arranged the appointment.

8. One Time Pet Fee:

Landlords certainly don`t allow pets in their rental buildings. But if you are a kind of landlord who allows pets, you can have pet fee charges from your tenant. It is a one-time charge to allow the pet to stay at the property. This charge however is different from and doesn`t include pet rent and refundable pet deposit. Pet fee charges are legal in most states but it is always better to check first hand. In general, a non-refundable one-time pet fee may range from $300-$500.

9. Pet Inspection Service:

If you are allowing pets on your property, you definitely will like to know about the pet. You allow only certain types of pets on the property and that too has to be under the regulation of laws. So you need to have a pet inspection and charge your tenant for the pet inspection services. You can charge $25 to $150 maximum per pet for pet inspection service from the tenant.

10. Rent for keeping Pet:

Setting up a pet rent allows you to have more revenue per month from the rental property. You can charge a monthly rent from the tenant to keep a pet on the property. Generally, the monthly pet rent starts from $35 which is to be paid by the tenant with their monthly rent.

11. Violation by Pet Charges:

You can charge a tenant for the violation caused by their pet to the property. These charges can include not cleaning up after the pet, urination by the pet, or other pet damages to the property. However, if you have decided to become a pet-friendly landlord; consider having the landlord insurance with a pet cover.

12. Lease Buy Out Charges:

Sometimes the tenant may want to end the lease before the lease gets to an end. In such cases, you can set up lease buy out charges for the tenants. In general, the lease buys out charge is a three-month rent plus an additional charge of about $200. Having paid the lease buy out charge, the end date of the lease has been changed for the tenant. And, the tenant can move out normally without required to pay the rent for remaining months according to lease.

13. Tenant Overstay Charges:

A tenant whose lease has expired has to move out of the property. But that tenant is delaying the process and can tend to overstay at the property. You can charge a tenant for overstaying once the lease has expired and is delaying in moving out. Generally, a landlord can charge up to $300 if either the tenant hasn`t vacated or their stuff is lying at the property. Doing so, you will be having a timely move-out. And, you are keeping your property readily available for the next tenant to move in.

14. Renting Appliances:

Renting appliances to your tenant can help you maximize your rental profits. You can make more money with your rental property by renting appliances like microwave ovens, refrigerators, Washing machines, Vacuum Cleaners, etc. Most tenants like to live in a completely furnished dwelling and then can have such appliances on rent. Renting these appliances is much easy for them rather than buying. And this can be a good opportunity for landlords to earn some extra bucks from the rental business.

15. Garage Rent:

As a landlord, you can charge extra rent from tenants if you are providing a dedicated garage space to them. It is most commonly seen among tenants living in multifamily homes to rent a garage. If you have a dedicated garage, your tenant won`t mind paying extra bucks for this extra convenience. Renting a garage, you are required to have a separate agreement with the tenant. You can charge up to $250 depending upon the location and size of the garage.

16. Storage Space:

You can additionally make up to $100 per month if you have extra storage space available for tenants outside the rented unit. The tenants living in multiplexes and small condos have limited space for keeping all their stuff. You can provide that extra space to tenants and tenants won`t mind paying a little extra for the added convenience.

17. Parking Charge:

Some states see tourism activities in some months of the year. During that time, the parking space becomes very limited due to the inflow of a lot of tourists. If you have additional parking spaces available at your property, you can charge $25 to $100 depending upon the location of your property. Also, you can let this parking space to the tenants living at your nearby properties which lacks a dedicated parking space.

18. Coin-Operated Laundry:

A coin-operated laundry can work wonders for a landlord. It is an important amenity most tenants require for their convenience. So, installing a coin-operated laundry can help you generate extra revenue and can also improve the retention rate of the tenants at your property. Also, you can partner with the laundry companies. These companies can install a coin-operated laundry at your property by having small revenue shares from you.

19. Vending Machines:

This hack mostly works well in multifamily homes where you have a lot of tenants living at your property. Install a vending machine outside your building where your tenants can easily notice it. You can make up to $300 extra every month by installing one vending machine.

20. Partnering with Local Vendors:

You can partner with small vendors who have set up their business around your property. You can recommend their services to your tenants.  A small business won`t mind you giving some revenue if your tenant purchases a service from the vendor you have recommended to your tenant. Doing so, you can easily make up to extra $300-$400 monthly.

21. Providing Utility:

The times have changed and being a landlord, you can take advantage of this opportunity by becoming a utility provider by yourself. Earlier the utility belongs to the government. You need to pay the use of utility to the government. Instead, now, you can install solar panel roofs at your property and generate electricity yourself. You can then make more money by selling this electricity to either the tenants or even to the government.

22. Recreational Areas:

If you have extra space available at your property, you can turn that space into a recreational area. You can set up ping pong tables, play stations, pool tables, and a lot more to earn more money from your rental property. Tenants will definitely appreciate having a recreational area at the property and won`t mind paying some more bucks to use these services.

23. Activity Classes:

You can make money at your rental property by setting up activity classes for the tenants at your backyard. Activity classes like Yoga, Zumba, and Fitness Boot Camps can be your pick for the tenants. Additionally, you can partner with the new gymnasiums or fitness classes in organizing a free one time demo for your tenants. You can then share revenues with these service providers if they get a sale from your tenants.