How to Conduct a Home Rental Market Analysis

Today’s blog will explain how to conduct a rental market analysis on your home. This is a useful tool when you’re trying to determine how much rent to ask or if you’re wondering what kind of rent you can collect if you turn a property into a rental. A market analysis will tell you if you’re getting what the market can support for your property.

The process is the same as when you’re selling a home. You have to take a sample. Do a little research to find out what properties are renting for in your neighborhood. When you’re comparing prices, you have to compare in the same neighborhood. It doesn’t help you to look at what homes are renting for across town or in other states. Take a look at your location and then, look at the number of bedrooms. From there, move on to comparing the number of bathrooms and then the square footage. When you use a local online site, you can filter your search and narrow results down to your community and then the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and the size of the house. These are the things people look at before anything else. With this information, you will get a good feel for what your neighbors are earning in rental income.

The more comparisons you can find, the better your data for an analysis. If you don’t want to do it yourself, consider calling us. This is something we do all the time. We are more than happy to come out and do a rental market analysis for you. If you’re wondering what your property is worth, contact us at Advanced Solutions Property Management, and we’ll help you with your market analysis.

Salt-Lake-City

2015 Salt Lake City Rental Market Forecast Investor’s Guide

Today, we’re talking about the rental market forecast for 2015 in the Salt Lake City valley. Anyone who lives in the area simply needs to look around and it’s easy to notice all of the cranes. Those cranes are constructing a number of multi-unit buildings. That’s good if you’re looking for a rental but not so good if you own rentals.

Multi-Unit Landlords

Ultimately, the additional inventory that this new construction produces might have the potential to drive down the price you can get on the units in your own building. Investors need to take that into account. If you have a smaller building with 10 or 12 units, make sure you concentrate on making your building appealing to potential tenants. Take good care of the property’s exterior and make sure the inside is updated and looks good. When you have a vacant unit, you’re going to have some competition for tenants. Make sure people will want to live in your property. Keep it well maintained and provide a lot of amenities such as a playground or a pool.

Single Family Homes

In the single family market, we don’t anticipate seeing any big changes throughout 2015. In Salt Lake City, there is always a strong demand for single family houses, especially those that are in good shape. Take care of the inside of the home, and when it’s vacant you’ll be able to rent it out at a good price without a problem.

This is a brief overview of this year’s rental market. If you’d like some more in depth analysis, please contact us at Advanced Solutions Property Management, and we’d be happy to tell you more.

Should My Rental Lease Include a Pet Policy?


Today we’re talking about pet policies and how you should protect your property from the damage and liability that can come with pets. Many landlords ask us if they should allow pets and our answer is always: Yes. A lot of people have animals and a large percentage of renters looking for homes want to be able to move into a property that allows pets. If you say you won’t allow dogs and cats, you’re eliminating a large portion of your potential tenant pool.

Pet Leases

Allowing pets will give you more tenants to choose from, but you must manage that pet relationship. Use a pet lease that sets out all the requirements of the tenant and the pet. State clearly what is allowed and what is not allowed. This is your opportunity to list the size of the pet and the breed.

Pet Deposits

It’s always necessary to collect a pet deposit in addition to the regular security deposit. A lot of people grumble about this requirement, but it’s necessary. It protects your property and guarantees that your tenant and the tenant’s pet will behave. At ASPM, we usually make the deposit half refundable. At the end of the lease, we keep half of that deposit to use for a deep cleaning. Even if the place is left spotless, we want to really clean the carpets and the surfaces to eliminate all the pet odors. The other half of the pet deposit is given back to the tenant if there is no damage left behind from the pet.

Pet Photos

Should my Rental Lease Include a Pet Policy

Another thing we recommend is to take a picture of the pet during your walk through with the tenant. This provides you with proof that the animal is the size and breed that the tenant told you it was. A lot of times, landlords will be surprised to see a 200-pound dog in an apartment. Having documentation that demonstrates what the pet looks like, you can guard against tenants changing pets.

Pets are a good way to increase the tenant population as well as rental income. You can charge tenants an extra $50 for pet rent, and that provides an additional source of income.

If you have any questions about pets and how to develop a pet policy, please contact us at Advanced Solutions Property Management.

How Much Rent Can I Get for My Rental?

Our topic today is rent levels and what you can expect to get for your rental property in Salt Lake City. This is important information for investors and owners to have before they buy and before they list a property on the rental market.

Location

Rental prices are just like any other real estate or commercial business on the street – location matters. When a property owner calls me and asks how much they can charge for rent, the first question I ask is about the property’s location. It will have a huge impact on how you price your rental.

Size

Next, your price will depend on how many bedrooms you have. The number of bathrooms is also important, but tenants are going to look for enough bedrooms to fit their families. Square footage and bedrooms are almost as important as location.

Condition

Finally, the condition of the property affects how much you can charge in rent. Tenants are going to look for clean, functional kitchens and they’ll expect to see a few updates. As a house gets older, there’s a lot of wear and tear that it incurs. That drives your rent down. Many owners don’t like to spend money making updates and improvements to the property, but it’s worth it in the long term. A house that looks worn and old is going to rent for a lot less than a house that’s modern and clean. If you don’t upgrade from time to time, you’ll lose rental income.

How Much Rent can I get for My Salt Lake City Rental


Take a look at what your neighbors are charging for rent. If you’re getting less than they are for a property that’s the same size and in the same location, it’s because of the home’s condition, and you need to put some money into it.

If you want to talk about what you can expect for your particular property, please contact us at Advanced Solutions Property Management and we’d be happy to tell you more about current rent levels in your area.

What To Expect With Maintenance Costs Related To Property Rentals

Today, we are talking about maintenance costs related to property rentals. When owners ask what to expect, we always recommend they plan on five to 10 percent of their annual rental income going towards maintenance. This usually covers scheduled maintenance as well as unscheduled maintenance.

Property Age

Obviously, the newer your property, the less you have to worry about when it comes to maintenance expenses. Older properties are likely to need more frequent repairs.

Scheduled Maintenance

It’s very important to take care of preventative maintenance items. You don’t want to put off any regularly scheduled maintenance. Take care of changing the air filters regularly, repaint the walls when it’s necessary and have all of your systems serviced annually. This is especially important with your major systems such as the HVAC and plumbing. That’s where your biggest costs are found, so if those things stay in good shape, you’ll save money. But if you let those things go, the problems just get larger and more expensive over time. You’ll also have a harder time renting the property, so everything snowballs. Make your scheduled repairs and replacements on time.

Vendor Relationships

Property managers will have access to reliable maintenance personnel and highly qualified vendors they can trust. It’s a huge resource to have this pool of people that you can rely on to do good work at your property. They will give you an honest estimate and provide excellent work. This is a great example of why you should use a professional property manager. When you’re managing your own property, the contractors you use often come and go. Property managers develop relationships and that ends up benefitting you and your property.

If you have any questions about maintenance and how to prepare for their costs, please contact us at Advanced Solutions Property Management.

What is the Cost of Property Management?

Many landlords want to know how much it costs to hire a professional property manager in the Salt Lake City area. Generally, property management costs will run between eight and 10 percent of your monthly rental receipts. That means if you’re charging $1,000 in rent for your property, the cost of a good manager will be about $100.

Outside of the general management is the leasing process. Some property managers will charge an additional fee, which is called a leasing fee. That’s an upfront fee that you pay in order to get a tenant placed in your property. At ASPM, we don’t charge a leasing fee. We don’t think it’s fair that property owners would pay a professional to put a bad tenant in place and then have to evict the bad tenant and get paid again to put another tenant in place. Leasing fees seem counterproductive to us, so we don’t charge them to our owners. However, many companies do charge those fees, so make sure you’re comfortable paying them and be prepared for that extra cost.

As we always tell our owners, the cost of professional property management in Salt Lake City will be far outweighed by the increase in income and the decrease in vacancy over time. Really, you hire a property manager for the same reasons you hire a professional accountant or lawyer. They know the industry and they can help you increase your overall income. Don’t spend too much time worrying about what you’re going to pay in management fees every month. Instead, look at your bottom line and what you’ll get in return for what you’re paying.

Professional investors never manage their own properties. They turn them over to property managers because they know that’s how they’ll increase their rental income and the return on their investment.

If you have any questions about the fee structures for property managers, please contact us at Advanced Solutions Property Management.