Believe it or not – Curb Appeal is Important

 

For years I’ve helped and placed Investors into Residential Rental properties such as Duplexes, Four-plexes, small and medium sized apartment complexes and even single family homes.

If you didn’t know, renters also want to have pride in where they live.   If the property is a single family dwelling or a duplex for example with a backyard, I’ve always encouraged investors/landlords to give their residence a place to go outside of the unit for entertaining and relaxing.

But many times investors overlook and don’t take into account the “curb appeal” of the property after they have purchased it or maintaining landscaping in general.

Coming home after working a long day isn’t it nice to have some extra place to relax..?  A nice backyard is great to have your family over to enjoy a BBQ and entertaining friends.

I personally use my backyard a lot when the weather is nice and so do Renters.

AMENITIES… AMENITIES…IT’S AMENITIES. 

When you have nice amenities…Guess what…?  You can charge higher rents.  Also if you ever want to Sell your Investment, when your rents are at or near “market” you’re going to be much more successful in bringing in Top Dollar.

It disappoints me when I see rental units in my travels with the lack of care shown by some landlords in maintaining even the front yard and the overall poor appearance of their rentals.

Yes I know Landlords think the tenant should maintain the yard.  While we’d like to have them do it, most don’t and that’s the problem.  After a while if they don’t regularly maintain it, that “run down” look comes up and people driving by know it’s “a rental” because an owner occupant of a home generally cares more and it shows.

If it’s Nice They Will Pay More Rent

The reason I’m so passionate about this issue is because as a Property Manager I know for a fact you will get more money in rent and a better class of tenant if they have pride in where they live.   A nicely landscaped property with a backyard is a great “amenity”.   The more “amenities” you have the more rent you can charge and the more rent you can charge the more the value of your investment increases.

Amenities many tenants like to be included are not just central heat and air, dishwashers, maybe a Fridge& Washer/Dryer, a garage or covered parking…But if you include a backyard they can use to take advantage of the great climate for outdoor entertaining that will also bring a lot of Tenant Satisfaction.

Also poor curb appeal can turn off a prospective tenant when they pull up to view it.   They will assume the inside will look like the outside does and sometimes just keep going.

I’ve got a short slide show of some Rancho Cordova Duplexes that are currently on the market in the same areas that I’ve placed investors in and/or currently manage.  This will illustrate my point.

We get Top Dollar by the way, for our inventory because of the superior condition and if we were to place any of these on the market, they’d get multiple offers.

Let me know what you think…does it make a difference…?

In the Mean Time…?

Make it a Great Day…!

Ed Favinger, Broker Associate