Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2014 · 240 posts · 94 votes
Hypothetically if you have a tenant that has been in your building for 20 years and does a lot to keep it in good shape but is paying $200 under market rate, would you get a new tenant by raising the rent or keep the existing tenant?
Rental Property Investor · Providence, RI · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 594 votes
8y
Keep them. 100%. Small infrequent increases will gradually get you caught up without alienating the tenants. 9 out of 10 won’t mind so long as they see continued maintenance on the property.
Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2017 · 62 posts · 38 votes
8y
I certainly would agree there is great value in keeping good tenets. Over the years we have almost always taken the "keep good ones" approach and try to incrementally move up the rent $15-25 at a time to get them closer to market. Especially if they have been there a long time. If you consider the fact that most likely after a long term resident leaves you have to invest some money to freshen the place back up and likely have a month or so of vacancy, which very quickly can offset any gains you may experience.