Took me 2 years to admit my tenant was right about the rent bump

Back in 2021 I had a small office building in a suburb of Cleveland and I was dead set against raising rents even though my costs were going up. Thought I was being the good guy landlord... tenant kept telling me I was leaving money on the table. Finally ran the numbers after my insurance jumped 12% and realized I was actually losing ground. Raised rents by 8% across the board in 2022 and nobody even blinked. Anybody else hold out on a rent adjustment and regret it later?

2 comments

2 Comments

blairstone3d ago

lol "thought I was being the good guy landlord" - that line hits. I did the same thing with my duplex in 2020. Kept the rent flat for two years thinking I was being fair, meanwhile my water bill went up like 15% and I had to replace a water heater that ate my whole profit margin for that year. Tenant was a nice older lady who actually told me "honey you're gonna go broke if you don't raise it." I finally bumped it 5% last year and she didn't even flinch. Just felt dumb for waiting so long when I could have been saving for repairs instead of scrambling lol

susan4243d ago

Oh man, I feel this in my bones - I kept a tenant's rent the same for FOUR years because she brought me cookies sometimes and I thought I was being noble. Then my furnace died in January and I was literally googling "can a landlord live in their car" haha.