If you are obtaining a Santa Clarita rental home ready for your first tenants, or even if you’ve been renting for a while, you might wonder if you should include appliances in your rental property. It’s a challenging question because there is no clear yes or no answer to it. Rather, deciding to include appliances in your rental home must be based upon your location, your target renter, and the feasibility of doing so. By examining these things and considering the benefits and drawbacks of putting appliances in your rental, you can more easily decide if this is right for you.
Consider the Competition
When choosing whether or not to include appliances in your rental home, it’s important to know 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 a distinct disadvantage. This is particularly true if those properties are renting at your desired rate. On the other hand, if most rentals in your area do not include appliances, there is much less reason to do so. By recognizing your local rental market, you can more confidently decide on whether appliances make sense for your rental home.
Consider Tenant Appeal
Even if rental property owners are not required by law to include appliances in their rental homes, there are many good reasons to do so anyway. Perhaps the most important reason to put appliances in your rental is to create a clearer request for your target renters. For instance, suppose your rental is located in a college town, adjacent to an urban center, or a popular retirement spot. In that case, there are probably high statistics of young adults or retirees looking to rent in your area.
For college students, young professionals, and often retired adults, having appliances provided in a rental might be not just desirable but necessary. Young adult renters are much less likely to own or to be able to own appliances and so often need a rental home that includes them. Older adults may be trying to downsize after retirement and don’t want the inconvenience of appliance ownership and maintenance. 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 other reasons why including appliances in your rental property might make sense for you. For example, rental property owners who offer appliances can often charge 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 great benefit of including appliances in your rental home is that it greatly reduces the chance of wall and floor damage during move-in and move-out. Moving large appliances in and out of a rental home is difficult, and unless done by experienced professionals, poses the risk of causing damage to floors, walls, and even doors and trim. By leaving the appliances in place, you avoid this potential damage and make the move-in and move-out process much easier for both you and your tenant.
Potential Drawbacks
Of course, including appliances isn’t right for everyone. Some landlords don’t want the responsibility of maintenance and repair for appliances, which can make sense in some situations. For others, the cost of buying appliances may be prohibitive. This is especially true if you are having cash flow issues or your budget is tight. In such situations, it may simply not be feasible to provide good quality appliances to tenants, and so the better option is to let tenants acquire their own.
While it’s clear that the decision to provide appliances in your rental home or not depends on many things, in the long run, it is up to you to make the choice that works best for your properties. Sometimes, it can be helpful to have an expert Santa Clarita 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 Traditions 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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