All but #1 are good ideas, unless you like banging your head against a wall. Some other ideas are:
Separately meter all units so tenants pay their own utilities
Have a bullet proof lease. If a tenant calls for a toilet repair and something unnatural is in there, then they pay $45, for example, for the service call to remove it. Same w/ garbage disposals, etc. The better your lease the less repair expenses.
Start the eviction process on Day 5 if you have not received your rent. Keeping non-paying tenants on board will kill your bottom line.
Write an automatic annual rent increase into your leases. Condition your tenants to expect it and you get less grief from them.
If you are paying for the gas/elec, call the utility company and get on a balanced payment program. At least you can budget that way.
If you are paying the power bills and don’t want to individually meter all of the units, I’d recommend installing a power management system. They have shaved 20% off of my kWh usage, so the savings were fairly substantial to me. They donâ??t cost that much either. They usually pay for themselves within the first year (100% ROI is nice), and that extra NOI will boost your property value by ten times what you paid for the unit. I know of a company that even finances them over 5 years, which gives a little leverage. Feel free to email me if you decide to go that route and Iâ??ll give you more info.
Sailor is correct …Vending is a big $$, but aside from the standard candy and soda, think tampons, pads, inexpensive neck ties, womens hose. All depends on the type of property.
ATMs are decent.
Billboards are great but look into doing it yourself as the big boys have really cut the rents they pay.
POD units are good if you have staorage room but think about cargo containers and moblie homes for storage and divide them.
Be agressive on your rents. Bill Lemon, an Ohio developer and commercial appraisor told me when I first started in CR, if he doesn’t have a 10% vacancy his rents aren’t high enough. Do the math, 10% vacancy is less value than higher rents. This is hard to do on small units.
Again Sailor is right on with tenant relations. A coupon for a turkey at Thanksgiving, poinsetta at Xmas and Lilies at Easter ( or what ever your tenants religious holidays are) go a LONG way. The coffee and donuts are great. Help them solve a problem not create a bigger one.
It’s difficult w/out knowing what kind of commercial use you have, but consider:
Vending machines (think they are available @ Sam’s Club). You want to operate these yourself; otherwise you can end up supporting some unsavory characters.
Develop a consistent & timely rent collection procedure. Set up automatic deposits, if possible. I usually serve Pay or Quit notices the next morning if rents are not rec’d by 5 pm on the due date. Make it easy for tenants to remember they owe you money.
Install programmable thermostats & other energy-savers. These help tenants $ave, which means they have more money to pay rent.
Institute a tenant-relations program. Happy tenants do not give as much grief or move as much as unhappy ones. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I just respond quickly to problems, do a little extra to make things nice (e.g., plantings or pretty paint, which costs the same as ugly paint, space heaters in the winter & emergency fans in the summer), give boxes of chocolates for Christmas, provide school supplies for kids in the fall & a gift at Christmas. Tenants don’t have to like you, but I think it makes a difference when they know you care about more than money.
Re-evaluate your trash collection & recycling services. Something different could be better & cheaper; it was for me.
Institute a reward program for early rent payment. That actually works better for me than late fees. I use low-value gift cards for Early Birds.
Even when you have to be firm, remember to SMILE when dealing with tenants, & remember that a lot of problems can be solved over a cup of coffee & doughnuts.
Maintain excellent relations w/vendors & local gov’t employees. One of my local inspectors is partial to milk chocolate & another to still-warm chocolate chip cookies, though the rest of the office prefers brownie cookies. No, I can’t bribe anyone w/chocolate, but no county official ever hides from me, & I often get how-to tips that serve me well. Plumbers w/even come out on Sundays here if they are primed w/a box of chocolates for Christmas & a simple hand-written thank-you note for good service. When one subcontractor had a heart attack & by-pass surgery I had the hospital gift shop take a card & pretty plant to his room, he refused to bill me for the next big job. I think it is a shame that it takes so little appreciation to brighten someone else’s day, but it’s definitely win-win.