Inexpensive Ways to Make Your Home More Appealing to Tenants in 2022

Renting a home is a both a matter of housing a family and a business transaction. During tenant turnover, you are looking to both get the best value for the property you are renting and invite a new, stable family to turn that house into their family residence. This means that the best connections and tenant partnerships occur when a home is appealing to those who apply to become your tenants. You want a family who falls in love with the house, who will be compelled to care for it as you might care for it if you were there every day. You want tenants who are motivated to pay market value or higher for the amenities and location because they would love to live in the house.

To find and win these tenants, you need each rental home to glow with potential; to show its best face when tenants view the home on virtual tours or visit to walk the floors in person. You want the home to be the perfect backdrop for new family memories - but without spending all your reserve funds on superficial renovations. 

What are a few inexpensive ways to make your home more appealing to tenants in 2022? As an experienced property management team, we have more than a few tricks up our sleeves that we're here to share with you on how to make any property stand out without overspending on turnover.

1. Increase the Light Levels

Bring up the lights. Gloomy rooms are less appealing than rooms washed with diffused warm white clear enough to see every corner and detail. Even without furniture, a warm glow will make the room glow. So pull back heavy drapes and replace lightbulbs in every fixture. If that's not enough, consider ways to enhance the light like mirrors or even lamps to bring warm light to every corner of the house.

2. Repaint to Inspiring Neutral

Repainting is a typical part of rental home turnover - but are you repainting for neutral inspiration? Rental homes are painted neutral colors to welcome any tenant with any personal sense of style. However, a slight variation in shade and hue between your walls can make the home's architecture pop and even suggest which walls are just waiting for the perfect piece of art when your next tenants move in.

3. Detail Polish the Doors and Fixtures

Subtly hidden dirt can subtly lower a tenant's opinion of any house. Take a close look at the light switches, for example. Take a windex paper towel to them. Get a color change? That's one place hidden dirt is quietly making your rental home look shabbier than it is - and a commonly missed detail even for professional cleaning services.

Polish up those high-touch yet rarely cleaned surfaces like doors (doors can get really dirty), handles, knobs, control panels, and plate covers throughout the house.

4. Warm Wood with Oil Polish

If you have stained or varnished wood in the home's structure, polish it with oil. Wood-paneled walls, wood doors, window frames, and wood floors can all be oiled until the wood drinks the moisture and begins to glow. Give your wood infrastructure new life with every wipe of the cloth. A little olive oil or wood polish spray can make an incredible difference - especially for older homes with plenty of wood in the architectural design.

5. Hone Your Curb Appeal Appearance

Make sure your curb appeal is perfect before photographs or the arrival of applicants to tour the home. Try to remove every stray leaf from the lawn. Keep the bushes perfectly trimmed. Even consider bringing in a few potted plants to stage the front walk where ground-grown plants may not have the wow-factor you're looking for.

6. Little Decorations Go a Long Way

Then there are those little touches you can make inside the home without actually staging or furnishing the rental house between tenants. A few little decorations can go a long way. Hand towels in the kitchen and bathroom that match the color scheme can make a surprisingly strong impression. Place a bowl of flowers or an abstract sculpture in the center of the kitchen island. A vase of flower petals in the bathroom and decorative pulls on the ceiling fans in each bedroom can quietly bring an empty rental home to life and help tenants envision their future in the space even without example furniture to help.

7. Hang Fresh Window Treatments

Speaking of curtains, take a look at the windows of your rental home. Bare windows can make a home look vacant or unwelcoming, while bulky curtains are likely to be taken down. Instead, choose something sturdy, neutral, and clean that freshens the space without dominating. Mini blinds and opaque cloth blinds are both popular "default" window treatments that both help to make a rental home more appealing and can be trusted with tenants when you hand over the keys. Most tenants will hang curtains over blinds for the functionality bonus.

8. Invest in a High-Quality Digital Tour

What about your digital showing? In a post-COVID market, most renters now do most of their house-hunting online including a love of digital tours. 360 photography photo tours are now the leading way to get a feel for a home before starting the online application process. So if you make one new investment when sprucing up your rental home for new tenants, it should be a high-quality digital tour.

Before photographing, make sure the light is just right so that each shot is warm and inviting.

9. Show Off Smart Integration

Want to really show your tenants that your rental home has something special to offer? Show off smart home integration. A few smart speakers and a "house account" are easy and inexpensive to set up - and the rewards can multiply. No need to spring for a smart thermostat or Ring doorbell if that's not in the plans. Just a few cleverly placed and powered smart speakers can play soft music, answer trivia, and show off your selection of coordinated smart lightbulbs throughout the house to really wow new tenants on a modest turnover budget.

10. Make the House Smell Nice

Finally, the one trick that's been floating through real estate for years is the scent trick. Make a house smell like home, and tenants will feel like home when they walk through the door. Warm baking and vanilla extract are a popular choice, and you don't have to bake a pan of cookies to make it waft through the house. You can spritz a high-quality vanilla spray through the house or even lightly simmer a little vanilla extract and water on the stove before tours for that special final touch to help tenants fall in love with the house.

Work with a Property Management Service

Are you ready to take your tenant turnover to the next level without spending an arm & leg on trending renovations? Working with an experienced property management team like Americana Property Management can transform your turnover experience and help you get the best rental value for your location and market every time.

Contact us today to learn more about great turnover techniques and how working with a professional team can streamline your efforts, results, and costs in one smart decision.