How Well Do You Know Your Rental Neighborhood?

You know the neighborhood when you buy. But do you really know it now that you own and manage the property?

In this Shorty episode of the Your Landlord Resource Podcast, Kevin and Stacie take a topic they first introduced in Episode 23 and go deeper — moving beyond marketing copy to explore what it truly means to understand the neighborhood surrounding your rental property.

From discovery walks and walk scores to fair housing guardrails and tenant retention, this conversation is packed with practical insights that help self-managing landlords become more confident, more informed, and more competitive in their local rental market.

LINKS & REFERENCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Episode 23 – Tips On Marketing Your Rental Property, Part 1

Blog Post: Know Your Rental Neighborhood

Find Your Walk Score

EPA National Walkability Index

Public Crime Data: SpotCrime

Fair Housing Institute – Fair Housing Certification Courses (Use Code: YLR26 for 20% off first order)

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Transcript

Introduction & Welcome

Stacie 0:00

We know a lot about the surrounding area, and during showings, we like to have conversations about a potential tenant's interests. That conversation might be how they like to play basketball or tennis. And because we know that literally one block over, they recently renovated the park space and now they have a brand-new sport court for basketball, tennis, and even the newest obsession, pickleball. Us knowing this information helps us to stand out from other landlords or property managers who just want to open the place up and let people walk through it on their own.

Speaker 0:44

Welcome to Your Landlord Resource podcast. Many moons ago, when I started as a landlord, I was as green as it gets. I may have had my real estate license, but I lacked confidence and the hands-on experience needed when it came to dealing with tenants, leases, maintenance, and bookkeeping. After many failed attempts, fast-forward to today, Kevin and I have doubled our doors and created an organized, professionally operated rental property business. Want to go from overwhelmed to confident? If you're an ambitious landlord or maybe one in the making, join us as we provide strategies and teach actionable steps to help you reach your goals and the lifestyle you desire, all while building a streamlined and profitable rental property business. This is Your Landlord Resource Podcast.

Banter

Stacie 1:34

Hey there, landlords. Thanks so much for tuning in. This is your host, Stacie Casella, and I'm here with my co-host, and my hubby, love of my life, Kevin Kilroy.

Kevin 1:45

Thank you for that introduction. I love it. Um, I am the love of your life when you're not irritated with me though, right?

Stacie 1:53

Yeah, pretty, pretty much, yeah.

Episode Overview

Stacie 1:57

All right, you guys, so you're listening to the Your Landlord Resource Podcast, and today we are talking about having a really solid understanding of the neighborhood that your rental property is located in. Now, some of you may have lived in your rental previously, and if that's the case, you likely have a pretty in-depth knowledge of that area already. But something to consider is how different demographics have different needs. So roommates who are in their mid-20s, they're gonna want something completely different from the community than, say, a family with three kids that are under 10 or, like, from an elderly couple who has chosen to move closer to their child. And for those of you who may not be familiar with your rental proper neighborhood at all, we have a lot for you to consider that may really help you when you are marketing your rental property next time.

Location, Location, Location — But Make It Useful

Kevin 2:58

Yeah. You know how the classic real estate mantra is location, location, location? Maybe you thought about this when you went to buy the property, but you likely have not revisited it now that you've owned the property and managed it for a while. Today we are going beyond the four walls of your unit and teaching you how to be an expert on the neighborhood around it. Not only just for marketing, as Stacie mentioned, but for pricing, tenant relationships, and just being a more engaged landlord overall. Now, we have gone over this before in episode 23- When we did a two-part series on marketing. If you want to go check that out, you can go to yourlandlordresource.com/episode23, and as always, we will link that in the show notes. But the bottom line, today we are going deeper and looking at neighborhood knowledge through a wide lens than just writing a listing ad.

Stacie 4:02

So

Tenants Rent a Lifestyle, Not Just a Unit

Stacie 4:04

tenants don't just rent a unit; they rent a lifestyle. They're choosing where their kids are gonna go to school and where they walk the dog and where they commute from every morning. They're looking for a unit that fits into their interests. Now, for our Midtown Sacramento six-plex, many of our tenants like how close it is to all the cool restaurants and the bar scene, so they can meet up with their friends after work. And they like how walkable it is. Many of our tenants walk to work because most of the major employers and government offices are less than a mile away from us.

The Sacramento 6-Plex: Our Competitive Edge

Stacie 4:45

Because our units are not large and spacious, and they certainly are priced at the higher end for our rental category, you know, but we do have a competitive edge. We know a lot about the surrounding area, and during showings, we like to have conversations about a potential tenant's interests. That conversation might be how they like to play basketball or tennis. And because we know that literally one block over, they recently renovated the park space and now they have a brand-new sport court for basketball, tennis, and even the newest obsession, pickleball. Us knowing this information helps us to stand out from other landlords or property managers who just want to open the place up and let people walk through it on their own. Don't get me wrong, we don't follow people around,, but we do take interest in them to learn more about their needs, and people remember that.

Kevin 5:47

And

The Art of the Showing

Kevin 5:48

the funny thing is, Jim knows the area even better than we do. One tenant recently mentioned that they were a runner, and he had them all set up at a local training team after moving in. People remember that stuff, and when they feel welcome and connected to the landlord, they will be willing to overlook the square footage that might be a little smaller than the other unit they just saw an hour earlier. Just the other day, Jim did a showing for us, and there were two best friends looking to move in together. They mentioned they wanted to go grab a beer and talk it over, and Jim told them of a couple of options of places to go. And they appreciated that so much that when Stacie contacted them after the showing to see how it went, they mentioned how nice Jim was.

Stacie 6:35

And this was many hours later, if not the next day. So he made a very good impression on them.

Kevin 6:42

So what I'm understanding is Jim should be doing all of our showings.

Stacie 6:46

Yeah. Well, the funny thing is about that is he spends quite a bit of time in the area, plus he does all of the work, so, you know, he can truly speak for how well that building is maintained.

Fair Housing: What You Can and Cannot Say About the Neighborhood

Stacie 7:00

I will say that where he is not Fair Housing certified, he has been schooled in Fair Housing on what he can and cannot say. Because often prospects will ask, "What's the neighborhood like?" And when you have a specific, factual, observable answer, it keeps your responses professional and compliant. He knows to stick to discussing what you can see and measure. Things like walkability, public transit, parks, commute times, and nearby employers are all things that are factual, right? You never wanna characterize the neighborhood in terms of who lives there. Like, you absolutely cannot say, "It's a family-oriented neighborhood," or how great it is having the Catholic Church so close by, or, "Hey, as long as you speak Chinese or Mandarin, you're gonna do fine living here. And, you know, maybe some of those things are true, but you cannot discuss anything that may imply that you are looking to rent to someone who falls in a specific category. Your rental is open to anyone who qualifies, and that's the bottom line. And with all of that said, if you have not done so already, as a self-managing landlord, you really should take an hour or two to complete a Fair Housing certification course. You know, as Realtors, we're required to get recertified every four years, and each time that we do that, we learn something new. So we do recommend that you go to thefairhousinginstitute.com and check out their courses that they offer. I believe we have a code which is YLR26. That's gonna get you 20% off your first course. Now, we get nothing in return from that, we simply work with them so that you guys have a trusted source to turn to and to learn from. And we'll link all of that in the show notes so you can refer to it later.

Kevin 9:02

Yep. We've even taken courses from them, one was regarding emotional support animals, and it was really pretty informative. So

The Discovery Walk: Making It an Ongoing Habit: Neighborhoods Change

Kevin 9:13

we have mentioned this before, but if you are not someone who has previously lived in the neighborhood of your rental, one thing that we do is walk the neighborhood. You know, you can drive around and see stuff, but when you're on foot, you're obviously moving slower and able to notice a lot more. In a car, you have other cars around you that you have to be mindful of, and you may miss out on seeing something relevant. We've told this story a couple times, but here it is again. A couple of times we had to spend the night up in Sacramento because projects we were working on took a couple of days. And with early morning meetings at the property, it's just easier for us to stay, than drive the three hours round trip to home and back. One time we had to stay late at the property, and while we were there, we kind of walked around the neighborhood to stretch our legs, and this is when we found a dog park, a couple of restaurants we weren't aware of that had just gone in. And when we left for the evening, we walked to the hotel that was only about a mile away and found at night that Midtown just came alive. There were a ton of restaurants and bars with people hanging out outside. There was something going on at the Sacramento Kings Arena. I don't know, it was a concert or something. And there were just a lot of people out and about for the middle of the week. You see, we are usually there late morning to early afternoon when everyone's at work and really none of the restaurants are open. And we do this because we have quite a commute home, right? But we now make a point of doing discovery walks in about a four-block radius. And we try to do this on different days at different times. Because the neighborhood has a different energy depending on the day and time.

Stacie 11:03

Yeah. All completely different experiences for the exact same neighborhood.

Kevin 11:08

I mean, just the other day, what, I guess it's last Saturday, we left late, like around 7:00 PM, and it was actually so cool to see all the food trucks at the park just down the street, and they had new California poppy light poles they added to the kids' play area. Then a couple blocks later, it's completely dead. No one around at all.

Stacie 11:29

Right. And the thing is, we don't just do this one time before a showing.. This is an ongoing habit because neighborhoods change. You know, new businesses open, infrastructure improves, or, maybe it deteriorates. When you stay up on knowing this stuff, you have a real advantage. Ask yourself, when was the last time that you spent time in your rental property neighborhood with fresh eyes? Not just going to the property to work on it. If it's been a while, then here's what you want to look out for, and I'm gonna frame this like neighborhood intel. Each one feeds both your marketing and your landlord awareness.

Category 1: Walk Score, Bike Score & Transit — and Their Limitations

Stacie 12:13

First, you want to know your walk, bike, and transit scores. If you're in the city, your walk score may be more important here. If your property is in urban or suburban setting, transit may be more important. Now, depending on the safety and the location of your rental, there are a couple of options to find out more about how your location measures up here. You can go to walkscore.com, and we'll post a link in the show notes, and you enter your address. It's a free site, and it will rate your location out of 100 on how walkable or bikeable the area is, or if it has easy access to public transit. Now, the one thing that I want to mention is that walkscore.com has been known to not be great for accounting for safety in their scores. And when I say safety, I mean they can send you down a dirt levee or on a sidewalk next to a four-lane road with cars going up to 40 miles an hour. It does not account for if the sidewalks are level or if they're all broken and cracked from tree roots, which, you know, that could make it hard to push a stroller or for a young child to ride their little bike to school on. So with all that said, use that free app with caution. Now, the EPA does have a National Walkability Index on their site that does account for businesses in the area and transit and provides a more robust research-driven look at the neighborhood walkability. So while it's still the best tool for an instant general check,, it should be validated with satellite maps or on-the-ground experience for safety and comfort. So don't just tell someone that they can walk to work a mile away when it means that they have to walk through a rough or an unsafe neighborhood.

Category 2: Entertainment, Leisure & Lifestyle

Kevin 14:11

Okay, the next thing to know about is what entertainment or leisure and lifestyle locations are nearby. So we're talking restaurants, coffee shops, bars, parks, trails, farmer's markets, seasonal events. Uh, let's see, movie theaters, museums, pools, sports courts, golf. You know, all those type of things. You don't just want to list them in your marketing, you want to experience them. Go to the ballpark or basketball arena so you can get excited to tell someone about how easy the parking was or how great the food was, or who you got to see play. Try different restaurants in the area. Remember how we said that Jim was able to recommend a couple of places for those guys to go grab a beer? Try to follow the neighborhood on Nextdoor so you can learn what's going on. When a new restaurant goes in or what business just left and is being replaced by a full function gym. You can also be involved with the local chamber of commerce and maybe the Realtor who sold you the property. Both of those actually know all the ins and outs of the city where your rental is located.

Stacie 15:23

I think the issue with Nextdoor is I believe you can only have one property per email. So if you follow your own personal neighborhood on the app, you would have to log out and then log back in with a different email to access the rental property neighborhood. But Nextdoor is great because it's free and it's constantly updated as long as you can handle all of that complaining. I don't think I've ever read more about dog poop etiquette anywhere. Okay

Category 3: Schools & Family Amenities

Stacie 15:55

the next one is important if you feel your demographic is more family-oriented, and that is knowing about the local schools and family amenities. You should know the quality of the school district and how the schools are rated. What is the walking distance to the schools from your rental, and is the route safe for young elementary age students to walk to? Know and understand about local daycare facilities, community centers, playgrounds, and parks. And even if your tenants do not tend to be families, these are all things that you should know anyway. We never thought much about it until we had a single dad move in with his daughter, and he wanted to know all about these things, and honestly, we had no idea.

Kevin 16:45

Yeah, and that was many years ago, I mean, well before I was even in the picture.

Stacie 16:50

Right. That's true. But it was a question that I had never considered, and it really did open my eyes that truly anyone can live in our units, not just single professionals.

Kevin 17:01

Well, he was a single professional. He just happened to have a young daughter who lived with him.

Stacie 17:07

Yeah, true.

Category 4: Transportation, Commute & Parking

Kevin 17:09

All right. Let's talk now about transportation and commutes. No matter where your rental is located, you need to know where public transportation lines and stops are. How close is the freeway access, and what is the realistic commute times to major cities or employment centers? And while we're on the subject, know about parking, and please be honest about its availability. If off-street parking isn't an option, know where the nearest garage is and what it costs. And maybe you can even work with the owner of the garage and get a discounted parking spot that you can sublet to your tenants. Being honest will gain a lot of respect if the tenant moves in. And parking is the one thing most people in Sacramento ask us about. Because we only offer street parking-, the best we can do is let them know of the parking restrictions and that we rarely really have a problem parking.

Stacie 18:10

And where we have not done this, one thing to consider is with hybrid and remote work still shaping where people choose to live, proximity to co-working spaces or coffee shops that have really good Wi-Fi have become a genuine selling point worth knowing about. Okay.

Category 5: Major Employers & Economic Anchors

Stacie 18:32

The next thing you should have a general understanding about is the major employers that are in the area and who the economic anchors are near your rental property. You want to think about places like hospitals, universities, government buildings, tech campuses. Military bases are another big one. Distribution centers like, you know, Amazon, places like that. Those are all good places to know about. And when writing your marketing ad, use specific language in your listing. So you want to say something like, "12 minutes from XYZ Medical Center," or, "One stop on the light rail to downtown." Be specific to make your rental property more memorable. Knowing your major nearby employers also tells you about your renter demand stability, and this could give you a target tenant profile to market towards. Knowing where stores are located is important, too. When we do showings, we let them know that, yes, we are one mile from the capital. We're one block west from a park. Three blocks north is where all the fun bars and restaurants are. But we also let them know that by walking three minutes south, there's a shopping center with a major grocery store, there's a Starbucks, UPS Store, a dry cleaner, and a couple of small takeout eateries as well.

Kevin 20:05

Right. It just depends on where your rental is located. So do your best to note common places of interest like those. Now, I want to talk briefly about safety and neighborhood stability. Crime data is publicly available through local police department websites and free tools like SpotCrime. But you should know what's out there and not to characterize the area subjectively, but so you can direct tenants to factual public resources when they ask. Know and understand observable indicators of neighborhood health, like well-maintained properties, active sidewalks, thriving local businesses, and community pride

Category 6: Safety & Neighborhood Stability

Kevin 20:51

markers. And these would be things like tangible, visible signs that make residents feel a sense of ownership, of connection, and a shared identity with their surroundings. Things like clean, well-kept cars and manicured lawns. And I want to give you another Fair Housing reminder. Describe what you can observe factually. Never characterize a neighborhood based on who lives there. Like, don't say the area is mostly old people and they aren't able to take care of their property as well as we would like.

Stacie 21:27

Yeah. Definitely

Beyond Marketing: Rent Pricing & Onboarding

Stacie 21:29

do not say anything like that. All right, so beyond marketing, there are some advantages to having better neighborhood knowledge, and one of those is rent pricing. If you're aware of something new coming to the area, like a new transit line or a major employer that is relocating nearby you, it may support a stronger rental rate. Conversely, a major anchor closing is a signal as well, and that might be your sign that you're not gonna be able to get as much rent as before. Tenant onboarding is another one. You don't have to overload your prospects with all this information during a showing. Save some of that information for when the tenant moves in. So if you send out a welcome email, maybe you can just throw in a few of the local sites that they might wanna check out. Or if you go and you meet them personally on move-in day You know, maybe give them a short rundown of your favorite spots. One thing that we like to do is if someone mentions that they like a specific coffee or a tea spot or a food, like if someone shows up and they're holding a Starbucks cup, when they move in or for a holiday or maybe their birthday, we'll send them a small gift card for them to enjoy or even to try a new spot. It's all positive stuff, and that goodwill starts a relationship off and keeps it going. And that's gonna lead

Tenant Retention

Stacie 23:00

me to long-term tenant retention. Tenants who feel that their landlord is genuinely invested in the community, not just the cash flow, they tend to stay longer. It signals that you care about where they live, not just whether the rent clears or not. Now, I'm not saying you need to go hang out with them or send them emails whenever a new restaurant comes in, but check in periodically. You know, we tend to find that this happens naturally when we contact them about upcoming inspections.

Kevin 23:33

Yeah,

Staying Current: Notifying Tenants About Neighborhood Changes

Kevin 23:34

but you should let them know when, say, a new home is being built next door or if there is road construction that is starting up. Like when that nightclub was going in around the corner from our place in Sacramento, we as the owners got the notice about the permit being pulled. So we passed that information on to the tenants, so they'd be aware that there might be more noise later at night and less parking when the nightclub was operating. There was nothing anyone could do about it, but I know several tenants emailed us back thanking us for just letting them know.

Be a Tourist, Explore and Speak with Locals

Kevin 24:09

All right, a couple of last tips for you. When you do your discovery walks, be a tourist for the day. Grab a coffee or eat somewhere local. Talk to people like neighbors, business owners, or the person at the counter at the coffee shop. Locals know way more than a website or a Google search can tell you.

Stacie 24:28

Yeah, those are good tips. You know, 'cause it's funny, that Saturday when we were up working at the six-plex, I went over to the deli across the street to pick up some lunch, and in line in front of me was an older man who asked the cashier, who also happened to be the owner, "How long have you guys been here?" And she said, "20 years." He said he had lived in the area for 10 years and never knew they were there. So don't be like that guy. Get out there and discover the area where your rental property lives, and you won't regret it. Just one hour here and there each time you visit the property. Go with genuinely fresh eyes. No agenda, just explore and see what you can find that you didn't know was there before. Alright,

Closing

Stacie 25:16

you guys, we're gonna wrap this episode up. If you enjoyed this episode, would you do us a favor and leave us a kind review of the podcast? Reviews will help others find out that we're here and that we're the real deal. If you want to hear more, please follow or subscribe to the podcast so every week the episodes are downloaded right to your favorite podcast platform. We have newsletters, free guides, and a private Facebook landlord page. If you want to learn more, just check out the show notes for this or any of our episodes. Thanks again for sharing your time with us. We truly appreciate it. And until next time, you've got this, landlords.