I have always found it interesting how you can spin the same situation two different ways for totally different outcomes. It’s all in the presentation.
To illustrate, I’ll give you an example of how a friend of mine turned a potential $500 cost on her newly aquired rental property into a very low-cost opportunity. The rental property came with ever-so chic 80′s wallpaper and stencilling that begged for a makeover and updating. Knowing this would be a necessary expenditure in order to market and rent her property she had budgeted several hundred dollars for her contractor to complete the task.
Skip ahead to a potential renter who calls and is looking for an apartment and would like to move in pretty quickly. This person happens to be a professional painter who finds painting relaxing and enjoyable. My friend reasons it would potentially be much less hassle to have the tenant move in, start collecting rent and give them a $500 discount on rent to complete the updating themselves. That is reasonable, but has she really come out ahead? She is still paying $500 for the same renovation.
What if she were to spin it, however, and present the situation in a different light? She would tell her potential tenant that yes, she would be be able to accomodate his request of an earlier move-in, and she would honestly explain that in order to do so the contractor would not have enough time to paint the apartment. If the tenant would be willing to paint the apartment himself, she would be happy to cover the cost of the paint.
The tenant is happy that he is able to move in sooner, the apartment gets the update it so desires and my friend has saved $500 in wallpaper removal and painting costs. A true win-win outcome.
