Duplex Chick

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The spring housing market begins one week from today.

If you’re thinking about selling, that’s important information. However, it’s equally important if you’re a landlord facing a spring vacancy.

Why?

Many of your usual prospective tenants are going to be looking for houses in order to beat the April 30 first time homebuyer tax credit deadline, resulting in more landlords competing for fewer prospective tenants.

What’s more, many homeowners unable to sell their property for what it’s worth have turned them in to rentals, meaning there’s far more competition out there than ever for rental dollars.

Here are ten ways you as a landlord can compete:

1. Get your vacant unit so clean that your mother would stay there.

2. Give every room a fresh coat of paint.

3. If the kitchen cabinets lend themselves to it, apply a fresh coat of paint and updated hardware. You’d be surprised how inexpensive hinges, knobs and drawer pulls can be. Replacing them can immediately give a kitchen a face lift.

4. If your kitchen counters are dated, replace them. You don’t have to put in granite, but many of the larger home improvement chains offer relatively inexpensive laminate counter tops with a similar look and feel to high end stone.

5. Replace switch plates. At pennies a piece, the return on the investment here is significant. Filthy switch plates imply a history of grime. Painted-over switch plates send a message of laziness.

6. Paint the front door. It’s tough to paint in the winter, I know. But you could remove the door, taking it to the warm basement long enough to get it painted and dry. It may be possible to cover the opening with plastic while you’re waiting.

7. Shovel the sidewalks. Fallen on ice yet this year? Enough said.

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One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned as a landlord is to make sure that the amount I charge for a security or damage deposit is a different amount than the monthly rent. This helps tenants understand that it is, in fact, for something other than the rent.

I can’t even count the number of times tenants have given me proper notice, then not paid the last month’s rent. When I approach them for it, the answer is always the same, “just take it out of my security deposit.”

That would be fine if I knew with certainty that the place will be left clean and in impeccable condition. Most of the time, it’s not. And if I’ve allowed the security deposit to be used in lieu of rent, I’m forced to pay for any repairs for damages caused by the tenant out of pocket. In order to be reimbursed, I then need to pursue the matter in court.

Simply making the amount different than the rent, along with offering a clear explanation that it may not be used for rent, helps prevent this misunderstanding.