Rental Property Improvement – Five Improvements That Cost a Lot Less Than You Think

Are you planning on making rental property improvements to your Portland Oregon rental? If so, you come to the right place!

Making regular improvements to your rental property is important because, this shows your tenants that you care about them as individuals, and you’re not just focusing on earning income from them monthly.

Studies have shown that happy tenants are also long-term tenants, so it’s important to get started with making the improvements that you’ve been thinking about sooner rather than later if you want to keep your tenants around for more than 12 months at a time.

In this article, we will share with you several improvements that will cost a lot less than you think.

Rental Property Improvement Tips

The first improvement that you should make to your Portland Oregon rental property is painting the inside and outside of the property if it’s in need of a fresh coat of paint.

Paint is by far one of the least expensive improvements that you can make to your property and it’s something that you can easily get done in a couple of weekends yourself.

For best results with choosing paint colors for your rental property, it’s ideal to choose neutral colors, simply because your goal should be to help your tenant envision themselves living in the property instead of being overwhelmed by your decorating choices or decisions.

When painting your rental property, don’t just focus on walls, baseboards, and trim, you should also focus on painting outdated brick fireplaces and any other area of the property that’s in need of a fresh coat of paint.

Studies show that tenants respond more favorably to a rental property when it’s been freshly painted, especially because a freshly painted rental property looks like it’s clean and well maintained.

New Flooring

Besides paint, another improvement that you should consider making to your rental property is adding new flooring.

Flooring is essential especially because it’s what’s going to preserve your rental property and keep it in good shape for years to come so it’s best to invest in durable flooring that will stand the test of time.

You should invest in a combination of carpeting and wood flooring because of the simple fact that not every tenant likes the idea of living in a house with all wood floors so it’s best to mix up the flooring and have carpeting in the bedrooms while having wood flooring in other areas of the home.

Since this rental property improvements article is supposed to be about affordable improvements that you can make to your rental property, you should consider investing in vinyl flooring instead of real wood flooring for your property simply because vinyl flooring can easily be purchased for less money per square foot than wood flooring and you can also install vinyl flooring yourself.

Update The Kitchen

So far, we’ve discussed repainting your rental property and adding new flooring, but another important update that you should make it to your Portland rental property is updating the kitchen.

Kitchen updates are by far one of the most important investments to make in a rental property simply because its where tenants typically spend the most time.

Since we’re assuming that you’re on a budget, the good news is that you don’t have to go through a complete kitchen remodel to update the kitchen in your rental property.

You could start with repainting the kitchen, adding a backsplash behind the stove, updating the lighting with a modern fixture, replacing the faucet, replacing the flooring, and refinishing the cabinets.

Once the cabinets are refinished, you should also replace the drawer and door hardware with new knobs and pulls because, the new hardware will update the look of the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen and help the kitchen to look sleek, regardless of the age of your rental property.

Add Smart Home Tech

Since the goal of owning a rental property in the 2020’s is long-term profitability, you should also focus on converting your rental property into a home that has plenty of smart home technology.

This means adding a smart thermostat, doorbell cam, and other smart home features to your rental property that make it possible for your tenants to control the rental property via their smartphones even when they’re away from the house.

The good news about smart home technology is that it’s possible to invest in features like doorbell cams, smart thermostats, and smart appliances for hundreds of dollars less than what they cost just a couple of years ago.

Finish The Garage

Once you have your rental property looking sleek and modern, you may be thinking that your rental property is done but, the good news is that there are always more improvements that you can make.

The garage is often one of the most neglected parts of a rental property and it can also prove to be the most valuable simply because once you finish the garage off by adding drywall, improved lighting, and security.

Once finished, that garage could effectively be a space where your tenants could store their additional belongings that they may be currently storing offsite at local storage facilities.

If the garage has a space for a washer and dryer, you may want to consider adding a washer and dryer combination unit to your rental property because you could effectively increase the rent by $50 to $100 or more per month because, tenants were currently spending that money doing their laundry offsite will be glad to pay an additional cost to do their laundry at home at their own rental property.

Hire A Local Property Manager

In this rental property improvements article, we’ve offered you a variety of tips that you can use to increase the value of your rental property and make it more desirable for long-term tenants.

Making regular improvements to your rental property is a smart move but one of the best things that you can do to ensure long-term profitability from your property is to hire a local property manager.

A property manager will save you the time, money, and hassle of having to manage the rental property yourself so that you can focus on enjoying the passive income from that property without having to become overburdened with the day-to-day responsibilities of DIY management.

To learn more about the property management services that we can offer you, contact us today by calling (503) 447-7735 or clicking here to connect with us online.