Being a landlord is a great and steady revenue, but unless you have several venues you are renting out it won’t be a viable main source of income. Nonetheless, same as your tenants have the responsibility to pay you in time, you have it as an obligation to provide them with a suitable place to live in. Additionally, by improving the place a bit can ensure you get your rent a bit higher, therefore increasing both your income and the satisfaction of your tenants. All in all, here are five improvements you should definitely consider before renting out your house.

1. It Isn’t Your Home

In order to help potential tenants see your rental property as their future home, you need to strip it of all your personal memento, in case you previously lived there. Additionally, when investing, you need to keep in mind that this isn’t your home anymore but a rental house, which means that paying a fortune in order to slightly elevate the quality of living usually isn’t a smart move. Over-renovating property in this manner will, therefore, be seen as a bad investment, which is something you should definitely avoid.

1. Repair Instead of Replacing

As we already mentioned, the price of an investment should always be a huge issue, so when a piece of tech or an installation seems to be malfunctioning, you may want to consider a repair before buying a new item. Sure it is usually better to just buy a new flat screen TV than buy a new one, but when it comes to refrigerators, dishwashers and stoves, repairing definitely gives you a much better ROI.

1. Check the Roof

Another thing you need to do is inspect the roof, seeing how it is one of the home’s major elements and probably the first thing your future tenants will look at. Here, you need to keep an eye out for missing shingles or those that are curled, cracked or torn. Next, keep an eye out for any signs of discoloration seeing how it may be an indicator of mold. Finally, it might be worth your while to engage in a roof painting project, seeing how it may boost your home’s visual value and significantly rejuvenate it.

1. Evaluate Your Furniture and Appliances

Next thing you should keep in mind is that your furniture and appliances will get broken/worn down over the course of years and might need a replacement. Here, you are looking out for two things, functionality and visuals. If the first one is in check, you may spare yourself from an expensive investment and try to give them a bit of a visual facelift.

1. Make It Shine

Finally, marks of the person or a family who lived there might still be all over the place, which is why you want the house scrubbed until it shines. Seeing how this is something you won’t have to do until you look for your next tenant, it might be worth your while to get some commercial cleaners to take a look at the place. If not, get your supply of baking soda, vinegar and bleach. Purchase all the cleaning products you need. Put your rubber gloves on and get to work.

In Conclusion

By following these five tips, you can significantly increase the value of your rental home in few inexpensive steps. Keep in mind, however, that being a landlord is a business, which means that every investment that you make needs to have a positive return in order to be justified. Aside from this, you also may want to give your future tenant a simple background check. Anyone can look good for a 10-minute interview with their future landlord and you need to know exactly who you are letting inside of your home.