The great thing about multifamily properties is that there are several ways to increase revenues available to you. You are not limited to the rent that you charge per unit. There are some relatively standard things you can add to create additional income streams as well as some rather ingenious items. Below is a list of possibilities for your consideration.
If you have additional land that your apartment building sits on, you could consider several different things to put on that land depending on the size of the property and perhaps zoning laws in your area.
Mini storage units are one such possibility for undeveloped land. Or perhaps you could lease the land to a cell phone company to build a cell tower there. A car wash could be another possibility. Undeveloped land offers you many possibilities so you can be creative in your considerations.
You do not have to think “big” when it comes to adding other forms of revenue streams. Simple things like offering cable television or telephone service are very basic items that would be well received. In addition, you could have an exercise room and vending machines on the premises.
Daycare facilities are in high demand and having a childcare facility on your multifamily property would be extremely attractive to tenants who have preschool aged children.
You could also charge extra for units that have a washer and dryer in them.
You could offer a variety of premium services to your tenants. See if you can negotiate a bulk rate on housecleaning services and offer that. Another very popular item would be to offer internet access in all of the apartments.
Not everything that generates income has to be a service or amenity. You can assess late fees. You can offer payment plans for people. You let them pay you when they get paid. Give tenants who have a history of paying on time the option of either paying the actual rent at the first of the month or paying it every two weeks.
For example, let us say the rent is $446 month. Your tenant can pay the full $446 on the first or $240 twice a month. This gives you a $34 increase per door per month. Not only do you get a boost in revenue but you help your tenant out as well.
An area where multifamily property owners fail to take under consideration is the “economic occupancy” rate. You might have 90% physical occupancy but only 85% economic occupancy. The economic occupancy is the rate of occupants that actually pay their rent. You need to evict the non-payers and get your economic occupancy on par with your actual physical occupancy.
These are just a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing and help you to access additional revenue sources for your multifamily property. These additional sources of income are yet another wonderful advantage of owning multifamily properties.
Lance Edwards is living proof of his mantra that you don’t have to “graduate” from single family to multifamily – you can start with multifamily; using none of your own money and not dealing with tenants and toilets. For FREE information, visit ApartmentWealthMachine.com.