What are tenants who are looking for rental properties putting value on? The question I got asked the other day was if a secure complex put a higher price on a property because it's got pedestrian security gates and secure car parking.
Interestingly enough, it's not something that tenants call up and must have. Maybe in the higher price range, so if there was an apartment that was, I don't know, $650 a week, those clients would probably be wanting to have that secure car bay. But generally the answer is no. So what tenants are putting value on at the moment are:
Extra car bays - 2 +
Air conditioning
Renovated kitchen or bathroom - not necessarily both
The other thing to remember is that properties don't always get a high price for having these things. It's really important to understand the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is that sometimes having those items just means that the property leases quicker. Now, that's actually more important in my opinion than the price. And if you were to work out over 12 months a property that's rented out at $20 less per week, but is leased within five days instead of five weeks, it's obviously a lot better to take that lower rent, and to have someone moving in a lot quicker.
I always encourage all our clients to look at the big picture, which is over 12 months, and how much rent you would get over 12 months on option one or option two. And that always helps decide whether you should take an application.
Things like views, some people might put value on it, other people don't. A lot of these things add value from a capital expense. So if you were selling, there would be a value put on it, but from a rental point of view, it's a very simple decision for tenants. They either like having a view or there's no value for them. So if there's no value for them, they're not going to pay the extra for it. So just keep that in mind as well and always get a your local area expert to let you know what is hot for tenants in your market.
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