Since 2006, my workforce and I’ve delivered nearly 500 Las Vegas funding properties (> $130 million). The properties had an annual appreciation of 15% and annual hire development of seven% (2013 by means of December 2023), and our common emptiness charge stayed beneath 2%, together with throughout two main financial turmoils:
- 2008 housing crash: Zero decline in hire and nil vacancies.
- COVID pandemic eviction moratorium: No affect.
So why did our purchasers’ properties carry out when most others didn’t?
The Key to Dependable Rental Revenue
Revenue reliability isn’t a operate of the property however of the tenant who occupies it. To maximise your rental earnings, your property have to be repeatedly occupied by a dependable tenant.
A dependable tenant is somebody who:
- Pays all of the hire on time.
- Takes care of the property.
- Stays for a few years.
Earlier than I discuss earnings reliability, I’ll discuss tenant segments.
Not All Tenant Segments Are the Identical
Folks are likely to assume that the complete inhabitants of people that hire is homogeneous and that all of them have comparable behavioral traits. This isn’t true.
For instance, in Las Vegas, there are three main tenant segments. I listed some traits of the three segments within the desk. The section’s names replicate their total traits.

As you may see, every section’s behaviors are completely different. And it’s not simply behaviors; each section has particular housing necessities. Persons are unlikely to hire any property that doesn’t meet all their housing necessities. The corollary can also be true.
When you choose a property, all features, together with the tenant section, are set in stone. What if the section the property attracts has a dependable tenant ratio of 1 dependable particular person in 50 folks? The percentages of ever having a dependable tenant are low. The result’s that your precise rental earnings is more likely to be a lot decrease than your calculated earnings.
Each property matches the housing necessities of a single-tenant section. And there’s nothing you are able to do to change the tenant section the property attracts.
So, what occurs when you choose a property? This chart explains it:

If you wish to have a dependable earnings, begin by selecting a tenant section with a excessive proportion of dependable folks. Then, buy properties that match this section’s housing necessities, as illustrated within the chart. As soon as you choose a property this fashion, it’s going to probably be occupied by a dependable tenant.

Interviewing for Revenue Reliability
How do you discover a section with a excessive proportion of dependable folks?
Property managers work with tenants on daily basis, making them a wealthy supply of data. You’ll be able to make the most of their experience by asking them questions in a fashion they perceive and inside their subject of data. From their solutions, you may derive the knowledge you want.
Under are pattern questions and the concepts behind them.
What sorts of properties would you purchase in case your purpose was tenants who keep for a few years?
The aim of this query is to know which properties entice tenants who keep a few years. You’re additionally on the lookout for the property sort and configuration.
The place are these properties positioned?
You’re trying to find a geographical space to focus your search.
What’s the hire vary that draws these tenants?
As soon as you establish the hire vary, you may estimate the gross month-to-month earnings vary of the renters. Usually, folks spend about one-third of their gross month-to-month earnings on hire.
What sorts of jobs have they got, and the place do they work?
By combining the earnings vary data with the industries by which the section works, you may decide whether or not these corporations are presently thriving and more likely to proceed to take action sooner or later.
For instance, through the fracking growth, folks bought rental properties close to giant fracking fields, solely to seek out themselves with vacant properties when fracking died down. Equally, if the vast majority of the section works at an auto plant scheduled to shut in 5 years, you must think about investing in a special metropolis.
Please inform me concerning the typical tenant who occupies these properties.
What you have been on the lookout for is the demographic. For instance, we goal younger households with elementary school-aged youngsters. This demographic has a mean keep of over 5 years. This additionally drives the property sort and configuration.
For instance, in Las Vegas, this demographic nearly completely rents single-family properties with a two-car storage, three bedrooms, and two or extra baths.
As a bunch, how reliably have they paid the hire? How usually do you’ve evictions with this group?
It’s not how a lot cash you make on paper. What issues is how a lot you truly obtain.
This checklist of questions isn’t complete, nevertheless it ought to present a great place to begin.
Remaining Ideas
The key to a dependable rental earnings is shopping for properties that entice folks from a tenant section with a excessive focus of dependable folks. And in the event you work with a great property supervisor, the percentages are excessive that you’ll have a dependable earnings.
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Be aware By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the writer and don’t essentially characterize the opinions of BiggerPockets.