Pet Friendly Policies Can Help an Income Property’s Bottom-Line
We all know that pets can damage properties – but responsible pet-owners are often financially beneficial for your rental properties. Several important factors should be considered when making a decision on your pet policy.
- It varies by area, but people with pets usually account for the majority of potential renters. Since many owners don’t allow pets – your doing so may result in renting a property faster or for a higher rent amount. The resulting extra income from this will either go to your bottom-line or help to buffer you against any potential damages from a pet.
- Tenants with pets often stay longer than those without pets – thus minimizing vacancy costs and other costs (i.e. leasing costs, costs to make a property rent-ready after a tenant moves out) associated with a change in tenants.
- Other ways to minimize any additional financial risk with pets is to collect up-front non-refundable pet fees – and to potentially increase security deposits.
- We’re not lawyers – but also make sure that you have a well thought out policy to deal with pets – i.e. be careful on a pet’s breed so that you’re not dealing with “aggressive” breeds, be sure they’re licensed and have their shots, use a specific pet addendum with your lease).
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