[quote=ltsdd]These rentals are 70’s east mira mesa 4/2 tract homes. The current rents are from $1900 to $2050. Similar homes (there aren’t many) are listed on CL for at least $500 more per month.

The tenants are all blue-collar kind of folks and the way I have looked at it is that they need an extra $$ more than I do (I know that’s a no-no way to think as a landlord/business). Ultimately, it’s a problem that I created by failing to raise rents for so many years and thus the big gap.

Thanks for the feedback. I wasn’t thinking of raising rents this year, was about to send out the renewals before posting here, but I think I will raise it by a small amount of $50/mo every year here on out.[/quote]

Here’s my take on this….If you’re going to raise rents, you might as well raise it by a bigger amount say $200/month versus $50.

Regardless of whether you raise rents by $50 or $200, tenants aren’t going to be happy either way. They are going to be mad, they are going to want to move..even the ones that don’t outwardly complain… (imagine if you were in their shoes, you would probably react the same way). So since the amount of hassle/complaining you’re going to hear and have to bear is going to be roughly the same regardless of whether it’s $50 or $200, so you might as well raise it by a bigger amount anyway.

That way, you have a lot more room for negotiation. For example, say you raise rents by $200/month….They will most likely be unhappy, and you can remind them it’s still $300 below market….And they might still be unhappy…Then you can say, well even though at +$200/month, it’s still a great deal, I’ll give you a break and only raise it by $100/month since you’ve been such a good tenant and as long as you promise to continue being a good tenant…..And you can give them a sob story about how your operating costs are going up. Your property tax is going up, etc,etc,etc.

Leave the table making them feel they won something, even though fundamentally you still come out ahead…(Damn, I’ve been car shopping way too long…)