If you are getting a Converse rental home prepared for your first tenants, or even if you’ve been renting for a while, you may be wondering if you need to include appliances in your rental property. It’s a serious question since there is no clear yes or no answer to it. However, deciding to include appliances in your rental home must be based on your location, your target renter, and the feasibility of doing so. By learning these factors and thinking about the benefits and drawbacks of putting appliances in your rental, you can more easily decide if this is ideal for you.
Consider the Competition
When picking whether or not to include appliances in your rental home, it’s important to determine how your rental property compares to others in your area. If comparable rental properties near yours all include appliances and yours doesn’t, that will put you at an obvious disadvantage. This is particularly the case if those properties are renting at your desired rate. However, if the majority of rentals in your neighborhood do not include appliances, there is considerably less reason to do so. By examining your local rental market, you can make the best decision on whether appliances make sense for your rental home.
Consider Tenant Appeal
While rental property owners are not imposed by law to include appliances in their rental homes, there are several good reasons to do so anyway. Maybe the most valid reason to include appliances in your rental is to enhance their attractiveness for your target renters. As an illustration, assume your rental is located in a college town, adjacent to an urban center, or a popular retirement spot. For that reason, there are definitely a large number 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 enticing but also necessary. Young adult renters are far less likely to own or to be able to own appliances, so they want a rental home that includes them. Older adults may be trying to downsize after retirement and don’t want to manage the appliance ownership and maintenance stress. Either way, by including appliances in your rental homes, you can better appeal to these renter demographics.
Consider the Benefits
Beyond tenant appeal, there are numerous other justifications why including appliances in your rental property could make sense for you. For example, rental property owners who offer appliances can often request a higher rent than those who are not. 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 contribute to your earnings.
Another major benefit of including appliances in your rental home is that it hugely reduces the chance of wall and floor damage during move-in and move-out. Moving hefty appliances in and out of a rental home is complex, and except if handled by trained professionals, it poses the risk of causing damage to floors, walls, and even doors and trim. By holding the appliances in place, you eliminate potential damage and make the move-in and move-out process much smoother for both you and your tenant.
Potential Drawbacks
Obviously, including appliances isn’t meant for all. Many landlords don’t want the responsibility of maintenance and repair for appliances, which may reasonable in some cases. For some, the cost of buying appliances may be ridiculously expensive. This is particularly true if you are having cash flow issues or your budget is tight. Sometimes, it can actually be unfeasible to provide good quality appliances to tenants; therefore, it is better to let tenants get their own.
Even though it’s clear that the decision to provide appliances in your rental home or not depends on numerous things, at the end of the day, it is up to you to make the choice that works best for your properties. In such situations, it can be helpful to have an expert Converse property manager on your side to help you make decisions like these. If you want more advice and guidance on how to make your rental property as profitable as it can be, give Real Property Management LoneStar a call! Our team can help you set up a rental house that tenants will love while working to keep your monthly expenses as low as possible.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.