Profitability is important. Especially for HMO schemes, it’s important to maintain your ability to be making a profit from the properties you own. This may mean enticing more people to live in the house, and/or improving the quality of the property itself and ensuring the tenants are happy staying.
These suggestions featured below will either increase the amount of money you make from the house, or make sure you maintain a steady level of tenants (paying rent). Some of these suggestions may include additions that require funds, this money can be seen as an investment, but remember to monitor and recoup any money you spend on the property.
Try trailing shorter/longer tenancies. This may be something that people are interested in. There are lots of reasons why someone will not want to commit to living in the same house for a year (and signing a year long contract). These may be abated by offering shorter contracts. Another comment on this is that often once tenants have decided that they are comfortable and enjoy living in a property, there is a chance of a resign, meaning the shorter tenancy may actually be easier to maintain long term. Conversely, the idea of someone signing on for more than a year means that you don’t have to focus on finding someone for the room for a very long time, meaning you can put your energy into something else. This will make sure your rooms are always filling and that the house is making money.
We then move towards suggestions that require house renovation. By adding more rooms to a property you drastically alter the highest amount you could earn from the property itself. Obviously, property renovation is a large commitment, however it is often worth it if you have space in the property to do alterations (such as splitting rooms into multiple rooms). Making house alterations and renovating is a topic that I have loads of great books on, so go and have a look at some of them! This will make the house more desirable and keep tenants involved, as well as being more likely to draw in new tenants.
In a similar vein, more Bathrooms often make a house much more appealing. Many tenants will look for on-suite rooms, or homes with as many bathrooms in as possible. It’s a simple equation to those looking for somewhere to live, the more bathrooms the less the impact of someone with bad habits (or the higher the likelihood you can have a long bath or shower!). Whatever the reason, this is certainly something that draws in tenants, and can be a positive investment with positive long term rewards. Similarly to the previous point, adding more bathrooms will make the house more desirable and keep tenants involved, as well as making the property more appealing to new tenants.
Adjusting the ‘living space’ or the ‘working space’ will defiantly affect the desirability of the property. Make sure if there are separate rooms that they come with a desk. Make the shared spaces clean, and somewhere that you’d want to spend time, whilst making them neutral (no bright pink wallpaper). This can be as simple as a houseplant, something that tenants can look after, or a feature that may make the property feel slightly more ‘lived in’. This will make sure tenants are happy in the house and make them want to stay, meaning the rent payments will stay as a steady stream.
Finally, if you have people living in the property, try asking them what they’d love to have and work from there. A light stand or two may not break your budget, but as an addition will add a lot to a property. Obviously, if the requests are for swimming pools or helicopter landing pads, you may have to respectfully suggest that these aren’t possible alterations! Whatever the alterations, these suggestions will help maintain a positive relationship with tenants and make sure they stay.
Whatever the case, HMO is a great way of making a profit from property, and I would recommend HMO investment to everyone interested in a substantial income from a property source.
Nick Fox started his property investment career 10 years ago and his portfolio has grown to one of the largest in the UK. Nick now mainly focuses on HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) and works to help others achieve property success too. Visit here to find out how he can help you.
Trackback from your site.