Good news! CF and I found out late last week that our tenants have agreed to sign on for another full year. This is great news and ensures that we won’t have to go through the process of finding new tenants for at least another year.
Photo Credit: Jess and Colin (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessandcolin/2362586545/)
Offer another full year
As a tenant, when my initial year lease has ended, I have never been offered to renew for a full year. Since our goal is to keep this income as passive as possible, CF suggested that we offer the tenants two choices:
1. Sign another full year lease at the current monthly rent.
2. Go month to month, with the possibility of a rent increase at some point during the year.
Even though we had no intentions of raising the rent this year, the second option would have allowed us to increase the rent in the event of strata fee increases or other unforeseen costs. We are just as happy that they chose the first option though, as they really are great tenants. Just goes to show the importance of maintaining your rental property – happy tenants equals a steady stream of income!
Our lease is also up
Since we are also renting, in a different area of town, our rent is up at the end of next month as well. We’re already seeing places posted for September 1st and we attended a showing this evening. It was an older building but well taken care of. They are only asking $1250 for a two bedroom, which is very cheap in our area. There were a LOT of people there to see the apartment, so my hopes are not high but it was good to see what is out there. Kitchen storage was a bit tight, so maybe it’s for the best!
Over the next few months we will be keeping our eye on new possibilities for rent. A rental increase in our current building is almost guaranteed and we have found that moving around in the area usually saves us $100-$150/month each year. CF has lived in four separate apartments in a three block radius.
What do you think – would you move to save money?
