The competition in the rental housing industry has been getting tougher and tougher for the past years. With the industry expected to continually grow in scale for the next years to come, it is no surprise why more big-shot investors are building large apartment buildings and condominiums.

However, as more of these large rental housing businesses start to mushroom, landlords who run smaller properties are left struggling to compete with these housing giants.

But what some small landlords don’t realize is that home hunters can enjoy a lot of advantages if they rent smaller units. If landlords can identify and highlight these advantages, it will surely give them a competitive edge.

Here are a few things small landlords can offer their potential tenants that most large complexes can’t:

Sense of privacy, security, and community

Living in multi-story buildings with narrow hallways and a dozen neighbors separated only by walls can be a bit overwhelming. It might even feel that you don’t have enough privacy despite having a unit of your own.

For young families, it might even feel unsafe for them because their children would constantly be exposed to other strangers in the building.

Because there are so many tenants, it’s also challenging to create a community with all of them or build strong neighborly bonds.

Your small apartment is more appealing to people who value privacy and safety in their living space because they have fewer neighbors with who they can easily get to know and build a friendly community with.

More affordable rent and fees

Because acquiring larger apartments required more capitalization, it’s understandable why they are usually all about the profit. Operating a large building also demands higher operating costs. Combining the two could only mean higher and consistently rising rental payments from tenants. They also tend to charge for pet rent, move-in and move-out expenses, and trash, water, and community fees.

Even though small apartments can still charge similar additional fees and can increase the rent as well, they are more likely more minimal compared to that of large rental estates.

You can also give room for negotiations unlike with large properties where tenants don’t have direct contact with property owners/investors who they can negotiate with.

Lower renewal fees

Tenants of large apartments tend to lose their motivation to take care of their unit because they know that their landlord doesn’t mind losing them. The latter can confidently charge for higher renewal fees while the tenant could only either give in and pay, or decide to leave and lose their home.

As a small landlord, you can be more caring to your tenants because you also don’t want to deal with a vacancy. In return, they will take care of your unit like it’s their permanent home.

The bottom line is, smaller rental housing can be more appealing to tenants if it can provide safe, private, and healthy homes where a positive relationship among tenants, landlords, and neighbors can be fostered.

COMPETE IN AN EVEN PLAYING FIELD

Now that you know the advantages that you can highlight when marketing your small units to home hunters who are also looking into renting from large apartments, you can still give yourself an added competitive edge by posting listings in online platforms like Padleads.com.

Padleads is a rental listing management website that can be utilized by any landlord or project manager regardless of the size of their real estate rental business. All property listings have a fair chance to be seen by potential tenants as long as it meets their criteria for their ideal home. Through Padleads, even small landlords are given the venue where they can thrive in this highly competitive industry.