It’s one thing to own an investment property, it’s another to maximise its profitability and make it a great long-term investment - Here are a few tips to help you maximise the cash flow from your Wellington investment property!
Make Proactive, Long-Term Repairs
It’s tempting to avoid, but repairs and upgrades can make your property more valuable and attractive to potential future renters, helping reduce turnover costs and increase the rental value of your investment. Plus preventative repairs can significantly help reduce the occurrence of damage down the road, helping make management easier for you long-term.
Limit Vacancies
When it comes down to it, keeping your tenants happy, paying rent and staying is the best way to reduce turnover costs and maximise the income from your investment. Tenants usually aren’t too hard to please, the key things to remember are to provide good communication in regards to their enquiries and requests, provide on-going maintenance to maintain the property’s condition, and we find being friendly, approachable and co-operative can go a long way in encouraging goodwill from the tenants.
We strongly advocate fixed term tenancies over periodic tenancies as this allows the planning for a tenancy ending and can mean you find a new tenant before the existing tenant leaves – this is great for cash flow.
Install Strategic Upgrades
Installing insulation and heat pumps may seem like a big cost now, but both upgrades can significantly increase the rental value of your investment property, and help attract a more lucrative tenant base to your property - Two of the most commonly asked questions are “does it have a heat pump” and “is it insulated”. Modernising the property with a fresh coat of paint (preferably a neutral colour like off-white), plus installing new door handles, light switches and cupboard handles is budget-friendly and surprisingly effective in attracting more tenants and helping increase the property’s rental value.
It goes without saying, a profitable investment makes a happy landlord, hopefully these tips will help give you ideas on how to increase the rental income and maximise the profitability of your Wellington investment property.