Guidence in setting up Appartment rentals.

First off I want to be clear that this is not an advertisement, the units we are setting up are not ready yet, nor do I intent to post a landmark except for in the Properties forum when the time comes. I am simply looking for feedback and guidance as we prepare our building for tenants.

My partner and I are setting up an apartment building to rent, the building is up and we are in the progress of renovating it, adding walls where we want them and removing others, ect. We plan to have 7 units in the build of 3 types, 2 one room apartments with 125 Prims for 125L$ a week, 4 one bedroom apartments with 125 Prims for 150L$ and one large 3 bedroom "Penthouse" with 250 Prims for 300L$. Our building has water views, and access to the beach, and is in a nicely built area, the only flaw being the neighbors ban lines on the stairs side.

Now first question is how are out Prim and Rates compared to the current market?

Second, we will be using HippoRent to manage and keep track of the units, can we accurately monitor the prim count of our renters even if there is multiple occupants per unit? Say a couple in a one bedroom or a larger "Family" or group in the Penthouse?

Third, How important are locking doors? And if they are very important if we used the HippoDoor system can more than one door be be linked to a single rental box?

Lastly, has there been any ingenious advances to allow apartments to have their own audio and/or video stream? I have seen a so called "Portable" device on SLX not sure how or if it works though.

Thank you in advance.

Mortus,

This can be kind of a delicate subject around here, because these forums are jam packed with landlords. I can just imagine the legions of property owners bristling at this and just not answering. You're really a lot better off just shopping on your own. 30 minutes of exploring in-world will give you a wealth of knowledge. Feel free to look around at my properties; there aren't any major proprietary secrets going on.

Anyway, my first reaction to your plan is to be a little perplexed, since the cheapest prims cost (when you own 1 whole region) is 0.9 L per prim per week. So you're charging your tenants basically a tiny fraction more than what it costs you, ignoring the prims it took to build and landscape the property, ignoring the cost of purchasing the property, ignoring any advertising budget. If you're just wanting to make a small income to supplement your SL fun and pour your own money into it when needed, you're perfectly entitled to do that. But don't expect to find very many business models in SL to compare that to, and don't expect landlords to be ecstatic to come help you set this up.

I'm sure others will have answers for some of your other questions, but about the doors, I'd say providing locking doors is essential. Even the tenants who don't use them seem to feel entitled by having the ability to do so.

I'd of course rather not wish people well in undercuting the rental market, but good luck with the project anyway.

--Avion

This in it's self has answered question #1, though I would like to point out that a simple "Yes, they are too low." would have sufficed quite well. Please do not assume that because we want to use our land for rentals that we are looking to undercut or act maliciously in the market.

I can't know what answer will suffice. A reasonable person would at least figure out some numbers that would turn a profit, and then maybe ask how that compared to the market. Offering up undercut guaranteed-loss rates up front are at best perplexing, and at worst, piss everyone off.

Trying to help people is often a lose-lose situation. I'm sorry I even tried.

Honestly as a small time landlord, 1/2 a sim, I have to say you are cutting your own throat at those rates, roughly $1/prim/week, the market price for big boys is around $2/prim/week. I started at $1.50 and levelled out at $1.70 as my land filled. Not profitable for me but covers my inworld spending and isn't too much of a job.
Diversity is good in sizes till you work out what sells, I ended up 50/50 Residential / Commercial. Advertising is your biggest hurdle and expense. Also if you do commercial you need traffic & sales to keep shop keepers staying, cheap rates aren't enough. You need to make notecards with your rental covenants spelt out and be available to aid your new tennats who could be complete noobs and not even speak english.
Locking doors, Tinting windows, LandRadios, Security and Communal facilities are important to tennants, as well as privacy from other tennants.
The grid is a wash with empty land rentals and shops at the moment and will be for a while unless there is a big influx of new people with a spending culture.
Also apartments can be a pain to try and workout prim counts of tennants, put them on sperate parcels is much simpler for you and them. You need to make sure people chatting in text chat and voice aren't heard in the appartments above and below as walls don't stop sound. Hipporent is a good system but make sure you get the web addon system to manage it. If you want to count multiple tennants on the same parcel, it may do it, but never tried it.
You can only try, but be prepared and flexible to change your stradegy if it's not working.

I don't understand apartment buildings in SL.How do you keep tenants out of each other's chat range?

20m thick walls, floors and ceilings?

I rented an apartment once. After someone nearby saying "Hey! Take it to IM" I figured out how to live in one

For my 2 cents, I thought Avion's response to Mortus was comprehensive and respectful. Funny, people are always complaining that forum members cack all over their posts with flippant and rude responses and when someone does it right there is STILL whining going on.

/me hands out chill pills to the whiners

hell ill rent a couple of them at that price

Mort,

Here's what I've learned in several months of being an SL landlord.

1. Your proposed rates are too low, as others have been telling you. Somewhere around L$2 to L$2.50 per prim is probably more in line with a price that will keep you afloat, if not make you rich.

2. Rentals work better if each unit is on its own parcel. This allows tenants to have media rights, and set the music and video in their home the way they want. Multi-unit apartment buildings are less desirable.

3. Renters want locking doors, tinting windows, security systems, and some sort of internet radio/media center.

4. You can get away with renting fewer prims if you also provide furnished homes. The furniture may be low prim, but should feature nice poses. And there should be a sex bed in the bedroom.

5. Units should be out of chat range of other units. This is one reason why skybox builds are very popular.

6. Local teleporters can save you prims. I find them more convenient than stairs, but your tenants' tastes may differ.

7. You can charge more for a place if it has a nice view.

8. If your build has some sort of community amenities, or better yet, some actual community activities, it can increase your tenants' satisfaction...and they will stay longer.

9. HippoRent is a good system, except that it is lousy for keeping track of prims. I haven't found anything better than going around once a week and personally checking About Land on all my parcels.

10. Advertise, advertise, advertise! This will be an ongoing cost, so budget for it. Try as many different advertising channels as you can find (and afford). Keep track of which ones give the best results.

11. Make your tenants happy. A tenant in residence costs much less than one you have to advertise for and attract. Also, one unhappy ex-tenant can mean the loss of five or ten potential tenants down the road.

Brann, look at the part I quoted, in my response to Avion. That was hardly respectful, though he/she did have some good answers. I will not stand for others assuming I am unfair to them or their market simply because I do not know what I am doing yet. My purpose in posting was to get guidance to get me on track with the mark, the tone Avion took makes it seem as if I am trying to attack market rates. With no disrespect to you, please read post all they way though, or at least what is quoted before taking your own shots.

As to others, thanks for your great responses.

Man, I am now seriously running out of chill pills

I don't think there was anything wrong with Avion's response. You asked how your rates compare to the market, and you got the answer that they are way lower. I think Avion was pretty considerate in providing a generally amiable paragraph of response, followed up with a "good luck" in the face of someone intending to compete at half the going rate. There was no assumption you were being unfair, because it is clear you are new to that particular market, but however overt or naive your approach, you are hardly going to get potential competitors falling over themselves to give you an ABC of the rental game.


Also, by suggesting that someone "reads the post all the way through", you are being disrespectful of their opinion, however much you stress you aren't.

You...sit in that corner!

You!...In the other corner.

Time out for both of you.

Lindal Kidd, if that (my pet hate) emoticon was in any way aimed at me, consider yourself at the receiving end of a very hard stare indeed. And some.

Lindal to the rescue!

I took it as a gentle play nice and everything can only get better for everyone.
My 1L's worth.

haha, Max reserves that icy glare only for the wickedest of Lindals.

Morgaine, the only one particularly miffed here today is the OP, for suspecting sarcasm where none was intended. An unfortunate but very common misunderstanding in a text-based environment.

Waves hello, I concur Bran.

Max, that was a rolleyes emoticon. It indicates exasperation, not a pet hate. Or did you mean that one of your pet hates is emoticons, or the rolleyes emoticon? As a Mom, I find it very familiar.

And it wasn't aimed at you, or not directly. Mostly at the OP, and a little bit at Avion, and the others who are bickering about whether the OP was or was not dissed. Like little kids fighting in the back seat...

I'll tell you all what. If you'll stop fighting, I'll stop throwing emoticons at you and pass out some brownies instead.

The rolleyes emoticon is one of my pet hates.

I actually thought I was doing a good job of clarifying matters. I'm a waffler not a fighter.

OK.

This is for wafflers...

Good thing Max shares

Thank you for the information in Post #10, Lindal.

Most of these could have been learned had one studied the market before deciding to be a landlord out of seeming thin air. Avion and Lindal were far nicer than I was going to be, so I bit my tongue on this one. But honestly, you can only teach so much business sense.

I think we landlords should just congratulate ourselves on how civil we can be with the topic of undercutting and competition, in comparison to threads from the merchant community in response to BIABs, freebie reselling, and 10L furniture. How many brownies or waffles were available in those threads?