I have a duplex with a decent size yard. It does not grow fast since it is not watered or fertilized. Mostly weeds I guess. Question is do most duplex owners have the yard cut or do you have the tenant do their side? In showing the property no one asked. I am thinking of having someone cut it every other week but not sure if I will need to. Thoughts?
I have the tenants mow their own side for side by side duplexes. They each have their own yard that they must mow.
Mike
If you are showing the property and no one is renting it, I would look to the weed-infested yard as the reason.
QUALITY TENANTS LIKE TO RENT QUALITY PLACES. A lush, green, trimmed yard will help rent your property.
If the tenants can’t, or won’t, mow the grass I would build that fee into the rental contract.
Everyone likes a nice yard. Fertilize it. Water it. Cut it. Rent it.
Right now my handymen are cutting a neighbor’s yard because it is next door to one of our furnished rental homes. When people are paying $2100/month rent they don’t want to look at the neighbor’s trashy yard. The problem neighbor is not there (jail? vacation?) so we just do it. We also paint and repair her fence when it falls down and carry her junk into her backyard for her with her permission. She has learned to like the free service, and we can rent out our house. Win-win.
We lease a vacant lot ($1.00/year lease) from an absentee owner and cut and water it as well. It is also next door to a furnished duplex that I got cheap because of the horrible weed-patch next door. That problem got me a discount on the duplex price. Now my tenants have a big green yard in which to exercise their dogs. The duplex stays rented.
Everyone deserves a nice yard.
Furnishedowner
I’m surprised that no one asked about this. Prospective tenants seem to always ask about this. It depends on the tenant and the yard. If the yard is exceptionally difficult or large, you may want to hire a gardener and pass the expense on to the tenants. Some tenants like to work in the yard, and will take much better care of the yard than a gardener. Sometimes, It’s easier to overhaul a landscape by slowly paying a gardening or fertilizing service over a period of time. You can use a competent gardener and stretch the cost of a $2000 landscape over 20 months at $100 per month for planting, tree service, weed abatement and fertilizer service. In this case, I might say “the unit comes with a gardener” and make this a marketing feature. Or I might say “the rent is $1000, or $1050 if you would like a gardener.” Or I might say “the yard is the responsibility of the tenant, we can recommend a gardener if you are interested.” The lease agreement could have a clause which states that if the tenant does not take care of the yard, the landlord will hire a gardener and the tenant will pay for the gardener. The lease agreement should definitely specify whether the tenant is or is not responsible for the upkeep of the yard and landscaping.
Why not make the tenant responsible for it, but then you can offer to cut the grass for a decent amount each time? It would give you some extra income from the property plus you’d be able to check on your property too.
I have a few property owners that deal with me so they dont have to deal the letters from the hoa.You have to remember,you get what you pay for.Well you should any ways.There is a very big diffrance between a lawn jockey and a landscaper.In my experance with renters,they dont care about the property because they dont own the property.If you own more than one property you can more then likely get a deal from your contracter.