Orlando rental property owners shouldn’t have to worry about vacancies. Good tenants are always seeking well-maintained homes, and a strong tenant retention effort will ensure that you can avoid vacancy and turnover costs by keeping great renters in place.
Vacancies are expensive, and you’ll never be able to earn back the money you lose on an unoccupied property. You don’t have rent coming in and not only that, you have to pay out of pocket for utilities, landscaping, cleaning, and maintenance.
To keep your revenues up, you need to keep vacancies to a minimum.
We have a few tips that will help you do that.
Focus on Well-Qualified Orlando Tenants
Tenant selection has a huge impact on vacancy rates. During the tenant screening process, look for responsible people who have a record of paying rent on time and taking good care of rental homes. You also need to consider how long the prospective tenants are going to stay in your property. Look for tenants with a history of remaining in one home for several years, then provide them with a great rental experience. Ongoing lease renewals will maximize the potential of consistent income for your rental property and keep vacancy and turnover costs to a minimum.
Pay Attention to Maintenance
One of the most frequently cited reasons that tenants leave the property they are renting is because maintenance requests are not being completed in a timely manner. Don’t avoid necessary repairs, and complete maintenance requests as quickly as possible.
While emergency maintenance issues will always require an immediate response, we recommend that you treat routine repair requests with the same sense of urgency. It minimizes your vacancy potential and it’s also better for your property. Great tenants you worked so hard to find will not stick around in a run-down rental, so be sure to provide a comfortable and safe property that your tenants will be happy to call their home.
Remember to take care of any necessary issues before you market a vacant property. The longer it takes you to fix it up, the longer your vacancy will last.
Pay Attention to Your Lease Term
While it’s possible to rent out a well-priced, attractive property at any time of the year, most rental properties are easier to market during the spring and summer months. You’ll have more tenants looking for homes during that period, especially if they have children.
Plan your lease terms accordingly. You’ll want each tenancy to potentially end during a well-timed season, when renters are plentiful and vacancy is more likely to be low. If your vacancy is during the first month of December, you might have to wait until after the New Year to have rent coming in again.
Hire a Great Orlando Property Manager
Hiring a great property manager in Orlando is the best way to protect your rental property from long vacancy periods. Property managers make recommendations about what prospective tenants are looking for in rental properties and help price your home competitively. A good property manager will be an expert in the local market who can maintain and lease your rental property with expertise and experience. You’ll have more competitive pricing, a better pool of tenants, and a faster maintenance response. The result is more income and a better rental experience.
If you’d like to hear more about how we maintain our low vacancy rates for the Orlando rental properties we manage, please contact our team at R. Russell Properties.
