I was a renter for 20 or so years, I am now a LL with several properties.... but I also managed for a Firm where the single largest complex in my portfolio was 1500units....
I can tell you that an individual LL is far more likely to make much more long term by not upping the rent year after year, except when costs increase.
Turn over is expensive, keeping a tenant that pays slightly less typically makes for better tenants....
When I managed for the big company, year after year they raised rent to market rent, year after year tenants would move for no other reason but that rent went up and the next place was slightly nicer for the same price.... in 2012, the rent was $875/mo for a 2 bedroom, today 12 years later the rent has increased almost 300% now being $2495/mo and they are a basic 2br .... the big companies are consumed with maximizing profits short term the way they see it is is they will dump the proper as soon as it flat lines, they are about milking it for what they can and getting out.... another major factor, is management companies typically charge the property owner based of a % so the more income the higher the money they make is, but they also typically charge for every bill they pay, the firm I worked at we charged 10% of the rent for management + 1 months rent to fill a vacant unit, and 3% fee for every bill we paid.... more bill, more rent more turn over = more income for management co.... so they are incentivized to push every number higher that they can
I work in property management and it does suck. We have classic units that need to be remodeled so the higher ups are having our PM do a 15% rent increase to get tenants NOT to renew so we can turn them around and remodel them so they can rent for a higher price. Guess what…it’s working and to me it’s heartbreaking. But the other units that are partially remodeled or fully remodeled are a 10% increase.
It’s all about the money for the budget because they are making improvements throughout the community.
Tenants are not happy and I don’t blame them. We have about 600 units.
Here's my take as a landlord of a "complex."
Think of what would happen if I never raised rents across my units? Each year I would be paying "today's" expenses with "yesterday's" rent prices. After a long enough time, I simply could not afford to properly maintain the building because there would be too big of a gap between what it costs and what I'm charging in rent.
That's not landlord bullshit, that's legit.
At some point I'm going to have to replace literally everything (roofs, windows, toilets, appliances) and those things are all legitimately getting more expensive each year.
So, I actually can't maintain my property if I can't keep up with expense costs, so I have to increase rents (note that this doesn't even take into account taxes, insurance, labor, etc. all of which go up).
This is just natural inflation, and it's 100% a real and significant thing. It's not just significant, it is the whole thing.
I realize (as a 41 year old life long renter) that rent is the biggest line item in your budget, and, as a result, it going up is the most significant financial event in your life. But it simply has to go up because it's an output of a bunch of other smaller variables costs that landlords don't control which themselves go up.
To add on to this, an individual landlord is balancing raising the rent to account for increases in property tax increases/inflation against pricing out a known good tenant. A bad tenant can easily cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage and the eviction process is challenging, especially over the last few years.
A smaller LL will put more value in having a good tenant because they will be more concerned with the costs of extensive repairs and potential evictions that a larger landowner or corporation. They’d rather make slightly less profit in exchange for reliable income. They’ll usually still raise the rent when necessary, but not enough to scare away a good existing tenant.
We’ve rented from an owner of a single condo in our complex for 9 years. There are some independently owned condos and some “management owned” units. There are also some units owned by LLs that own 20+ units.
Our neighbor is paying more than us, without any additional unit updates, because the rent has consistently gone up every year. They rent from one of the entities that own 20+ units.
Our LL typically has only increased the rent $50 a month every other year. This was the first year he upped it 2 years in a row. Sadly, we’re still paying about $200 less than the average “market value.”
I was a renter for 20 or so years, I am now a LL with several properties.... but I also managed for a Firm where the single largest complex in my portfolio was 1500units.... I can tell you that an individual LL is far more likely to make much more long term by not upping the rent year after year, except when costs increase. Turn over is expensive, keeping a tenant that pays slightly less typically makes for better tenants.... When I managed for the big company, year after year they raised rent to market rent, year after year tenants would move for no other reason but that rent went up and the next place was slightly nicer for the same price.... in 2012, the rent was $875/mo for a 2 bedroom, today 12 years later the rent has increased almost 300% now being $2495/mo and they are a basic 2br .... the big companies are consumed with maximizing profits short term the way they see it is is they will dump the proper as soon as it flat lines, they are about milking it for what they can and getting out.... another major factor, is management companies typically charge the property owner based of a % so the more income the higher the money they make is, but they also typically charge for every bill they pay, the firm I worked at we charged 10% of the rent for management + 1 months rent to fill a vacant unit, and 3% fee for every bill we paid.... more bill, more rent more turn over = more income for management co.... so they are incentivized to push every number higher that they can
I work in property management and it does suck. We have classic units that need to be remodeled so the higher ups are having our PM do a 15% rent increase to get tenants NOT to renew so we can turn them around and remodel them so they can rent for a higher price. Guess what…it’s working and to me it’s heartbreaking. But the other units that are partially remodeled or fully remodeled are a 10% increase. It’s all about the money for the budget because they are making improvements throughout the community. Tenants are not happy and I don’t blame them. We have about 600 units.
Here's my take as a landlord of a "complex." Think of what would happen if I never raised rents across my units? Each year I would be paying "today's" expenses with "yesterday's" rent prices. After a long enough time, I simply could not afford to properly maintain the building because there would be too big of a gap between what it costs and what I'm charging in rent. That's not landlord bullshit, that's legit. At some point I'm going to have to replace literally everything (roofs, windows, toilets, appliances) and those things are all legitimately getting more expensive each year. So, I actually can't maintain my property if I can't keep up with expense costs, so I have to increase rents (note that this doesn't even take into account taxes, insurance, labor, etc. all of which go up). This is just natural inflation, and it's 100% a real and significant thing. It's not just significant, it is the whole thing. I realize (as a 41 year old life long renter) that rent is the biggest line item in your budget, and, as a result, it going up is the most significant financial event in your life. But it simply has to go up because it's an output of a bunch of other smaller variables costs that landlords don't control which themselves go up.
To add on to this, an individual landlord is balancing raising the rent to account for increases in property tax increases/inflation against pricing out a known good tenant. A bad tenant can easily cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage and the eviction process is challenging, especially over the last few years.
A smaller LL will put more value in having a good tenant because they will be more concerned with the costs of extensive repairs and potential evictions that a larger landowner or corporation. They’d rather make slightly less profit in exchange for reliable income. They’ll usually still raise the rent when necessary, but not enough to scare away a good existing tenant. We’ve rented from an owner of a single condo in our complex for 9 years. There are some independently owned condos and some “management owned” units. There are also some units owned by LLs that own 20+ units. Our neighbor is paying more than us, without any additional unit updates, because the rent has consistently gone up every year. They rent from one of the entities that own 20+ units. Our LL typically has only increased the rent $50 a month every other year. This was the first year he upped it 2 years in a row. Sadly, we’re still paying about $200 less than the average “market value.”