When you want to decorate a rental apartment, you’ll always try to do it at a minimal cost, since your goal is to get a return on your investment as soon as you possibly can.
However, just because you’re trying to save some money on remodeling, it doesn’t mean that you can’t turn your rental apartment into an alluring one, where any potential tenant would love to settle down.
Here are some tips for making your rental property more attractive to tenants and for increasing your income without wasting money in the process.
Do some painting
When it comes to DIY projects which can not only save your money, but actually make you some, painting is probably the best one. It’s very easy to repaint your home or some of your furniture, and it will add a lot to your rental home’s appeal.
After all, when you enter anybody’s home, if the wall paint is chipped, stained or visibly darker around the edges, it’s definitely something you’ll notice first, and it might ruin your impression of the entire place. If you want to rent your home at a good price, this is something you want to avoid.
When choosing colors, perhaps it would be best to go with neutral tones. Even if you’d like a bright red or green accent wall in your home, bear in mind at all times that you’re not the one who’ll live there, and not everybody will be as thrilled with the bold colors as you are.
Neutral tones will appeal to a wider range of people and they will give you more freedom in choosing the colors and the style of the furniture, which might mean a lot to your tenants.
Deal with your worn-out flooring
As replacing old and damaged flooring with brand new one is usually out of the question when in between tenants, you have to get creative with how you tackle this problem.
And don’t think for a moment that it isn’t something your potential tenants will notice, because they definitely will. If you consider new flooring an unnecessary investment, perhaps you could polish them and repaint them to give them a new shine. Another great solution is to simply hide the unappealing flooring with some hand-made lush floor rugs made of eco-friendly materials.
They are easy to maintain, durable and stain-resistant, which makes them a perfect choice for a rental home. The best thing is that they come in a variety of styles and colors to complement any space and match the overall appearance of your home.
In case you prefer natural materials, you can now find carpets made of cotton, wool or jute to put in every room of your rental home and cover the bad flooring with something that will look much nicer.
Replace your outdated fixtures
Some new door handles or a shiny new faucet in your bathroom won’t do too much damage to your budget, but they could help you rent your home more easily and get a better price for it.
In other words, you’ll have to lower the rent if your faucets are dripping or if water is running inside your toilet, but also if your light switches aren’t working or have been cracked or smashed due to carelessness of some previous tenants.
Therefore, if you see that there is some chipping or peeling on any of your cabinet finishes, that not all your lighting fixtures are functional or that the towel hangers in your bathroom are worn out, fix as much of the damage as you can.
Also, check all your blinds for broken or torn out slats, purchase one or two new lighting fixtures if need be and install new door handles where necessary. Whatever you can do on your own will save you money, but don’t be too frugal when it comes to plumbing and electrical work, since those are best done by licensed professionals.
These simple fixes won’t throw you off your balance financially, but they will give your rental property a more modern and well-maintained appearance.
Clean it properly
This may seem like something that’s implied and that you’ll do anyway, but it still cannot be stressed enough. Of course, you can clean the whole place yourself, but make sure you do it meticulously, to cover every little corner, to wipe underneath and around your furniture and to make everything spotless.
Wash all your curtains, sofa throws, rugs, but also all of your furniture. For this job, it might be better if you hired a cleaner or a cleaning crew to spend a day at your rental place and find every nook and hidden spot to wash, polish and clean until everything’s perfect.
Make sure that there aren’t any personal items left by either you or your previous tenants. When looking for a new apartment, nobody wants to think of it as somebody else’s home. They want a clean space where they can envision themselves and their own personal belongings, a place they can turn into their own.
Even without too many investments, you can make your rental home an inviting and delightful place any tenant would be happy to live in. With some creativity, a bit of time and effort, you’ll be making profit before you know it.
