If you are getting a Hurricane rental home ready for your first tenants, or even if you’ve been renting for a while, you may be contemplating if you should include appliances in your rental property. It’s a complicated question because there is no clear yes or no answer to it. Deciding to include appliances in your rental home should depend on your location, your target renter, and the feasibility of doing so. By examining these things and considering the benefits and drawbacks of putting appliances in your rental, you can more easily decide if this is right for you.
Consider the Competition
When deciding whether or not to include appliances in your rental home, it’s best to examine how your rental property compares to others in your neighborhood. If comparable rental properties near yours all include appliances and yours doesn’t, that will put you at a major disadvantage. This is particularly true if those properties are renting at your desired rate. Then again, if the majority of rentals in your area do not provide appliances, there is considerably less reason to do so. By examining your local rental market, you can make the proper judgment on whether appliances make sense for your rental home.
Consider Tenant Appeal
Although rental property owners are not necessitated by law to include appliances in their rental homes, there are countless good reasons to do so anyway. Perhaps the most critical reason to include appliances in your rental is to increase their attractiveness for your target renters. For instance, assume your rental is situated in a college town, adjacent to an urban center, or a popular retirement spot. Therefore, there are most likely high quantities of young adults or retirees looking to rent in your area.
For college students, young professionals, and often retired adults, having appliances included in a rental might be not just attractive but also necessary. Young adult renters are far less likely to own or to be able to own appliances, so they usually need a rental home that includes them. Older adults may be trying to downsize after retirement and do not want to deal with the hassle of appliance ownership and maintenance. Either way, by including appliances in your rental homes, you can better appeal to these renter demographics.
Consider the Benefits
Apart from tenant appeal, there are many other explanations why including appliances in your rental property could sound right for you. For instance, rental property owners who offer appliances can often require a higher rent than those who don’t. Not only can you recoup the cost of the appliances over the long term, but once those appliances are paid for, that extra rent will continue to give your earnings a nice boost.
Another significant benefit of including appliances in your rental home is that it greatly reduces the chance of wall and floor damage during move-in and move-out. Relocating big appliances in and out of a rental home is challenging, and except if performed by experienced professionals, it poses the risk of causing damage to floors, walls, and even doors and trim. By retaining the appliances in place, you prevent this possible damage and make the move-in and move-out process much convenient for both you and your tenant.
Potential Drawbacks
For sure, including appliances isn’t recommended for all. Most landlords don’t want the responsibility of maintenance and repair for appliances, which may be understandable in certain instances. For others, the cost of buying appliances may be costly. This is especially the case if you are having cash flow issues or your budget is tight. In such cases, it can actually be impractical to supply good quality appliances to tenants; therefore, it is preferable to let tenants obtain their own.
Although it’s clear that the choice to provide appliances in your rental home or not depends on many things, basically, it is your responsibility to make the right decision for your properties. At times, it can be helpful to have an expert Hurricane property manager on your side to help you make decisions like these. If you want more advice and guidance on how to make your rental property as profitable as it can be, give Real Property Management Southern Utah a call! Our experts can help you set up a rental house that tenants will love while working to keep your monthly expenses as low as possible.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
