"Take as much as the market will allow"? That's inhumane. Our rent markets are ridiculous. People like you price people out of their homes. I go as low as our maintenance needs will allow. And the owners of the complex I manage don't disagree.

Depends can your current residents afford a $100-400 rental increase? By doing a large rental increase result in tenants giving notice, more evictions or just turning in keys with no notice? Does your apartment community offer the amenities and location that your comps offer to sustain high jumps? At the end of the day are you and the owners ready to have high turn over if you do a drastic rental increase on good paying tenants? If you answered no to any of these questions find a happy medium to reflect an increase and bring all new incoming tenants in at Market to reflect the type of property you are and to stay in line with NOI that shows gain. Trust me taking someone from $975 base to $1300 base results in turn over big time and can be stressful for all involved.

Keeping in mind if the apartment vacates you have vacant loss time , advertising cost and turn cost.

It’s all about the market, but there does come a point where you’ll turn over too much of the building. This is where understanding the objectives of the owner will come into play.

Anywhere from 2% - 6% is typically standard. You want to be at market, or slightly above if your product can support it. Check your comps, follow their lead. Due to fair housing, I wouldn’t phrase it as flat dollar amounts unless everyone is paying the exact same rent amount. A $1,000 per month increase to someone paying $1,800 per month is a very different increase than someone already paying $3,500 per month, where as a 6% increase across the board is treating each resident the same.

In order for them to get an apartment, they MUST make 3/4 times the rent. Some are barely making it. When we increase the rent, they no longer make 3/4 x the rent. Some people don’t get that pay increase from their employer. How do we expect them to afford to live