The amenities today’s tenants seek in a rental unit

girl running treadmill fitness centerToday’s tenants are savvy. More than 70 percent of them start their rental search — whether for an apartment or single-family home — online. Without even visiting your property, they can potentially eliminate you from their options.

With this easily conducted vetting process, it’s clear one of the major things today’s tenants are looking for are established happy tenants. Attracting today’s tenants means making sure you’re appeasing your current ones.

Outside of solid reviews, today’s tenants are keening in on several amenities. A recent survey from Cozy.com revealed walk-in closets as the most sought-after amenity with 70 percent of respondents revealing their desire for extra closet space. The second highest response was in-unit laundry facilities with a 69 percent result.

Reliable, high-speed Internet is becoming a major factor for tenants. With the prominence of cord-cutting, many resort to streaming entertainment. For gamers and streamers, this isn’t a plus, but a must. This one can definitely be tricky, however, since it can be difficult in determining if spotty Internet is the result of the provider or building/house.

Modern tenants are also becoming increasingly environmentally conscious. Nearly 40 percent of renters cite environmentally friendly as a high or very high priority in their renting decision — and it’s a figure that gets higher each year.

A space outfitted with LED lighting and energy-efficient appliances are attractive for young renters. Even installing bike racks or having water friendly landscaping makes you a more appealing option for the environmental, healthy-living tenants.

For apartment complexes, outside of the actual unit space, three popular add-ons include: a fitness center, parking and outdoor pool.

Creating a community atmosphere is also growing in popularity. By connecting the complex better within the neighborhood, tenants feel more “at home”. Consider finding and partnering with businesses in the neighborhood where tenants can get a discount – like coffee shops, yoga centers, etc.

You can have all these amenities and the newest appliances, but, if the property isn’t maintained and past landlord-tenant relationships haven’t been great, it’s still going to be hard to attract tenants easily. Connection with tenants is key, and if it’s a reliable, trustworthy connection, you’ll be in a good spot for accumulating tenants and filling vacancies quick.

In fact, the connection with tenants is so crucial, the cleanness and upkeep of the property needs to be maintained whether a tenant is paying on time or not. Good landlords maintain their service and their end of the landlord-tenant relationship. Cleanliness and property upkeep goes a long way in attracting new tenants and retaining them.

For some landlords, maintaining such an effective and efficient connection with their tenants means hiring a property management company to deal with everything from landscaping to rent collection.

Source: mlive.com