7 Ways to Lower Rental Property Expenses by Thousands Per Year

18:53David Greene:They specialize exclusively in real estate investors, understanding portfolios, risk at scale, and cash flow protection. One claim can erase years of returns. If you own a rental property, don't assume you're covered. Have NREG review your insurance with someone who gets investing at nreg.com slash bppod. That's n-r-e-i-g dot com slash bppod.

19:17Brandon Turner:Welcome back to the BiggerPockets podcast. I'm here with Dave Meyer talking about ways you can save money on your next investment property. And I'm jumping right into number four with one of my favorites, which is getting creative with saving on materials costs. This is something where you can save a ton of money as a property investor, because a lot of times what investors do, especially new investors, is they hire a general contractor. They get a labor and materials bid and then they just pay the contractor to go out and find all the supplies and do all the work. and you can lose thousands of dollars that you just end up paying to a general contractor when if you're only buying one property, you can source a lot of your materials on your own.

20:02Brandon Turner:The amount of amazing things I've found in places like Amazon for finishes, Facebook Marketplace for furniture if you're doing a furnished rental, there are huge discounts. And one of my secret sauces is when you're shopping for things like flooring, like tile, like carpet. A lot of these big box stores are just buying these things from warehouses. You can also go to these warehouses and get the same products for a little bit cheaper. And trust me, if you're saving 50 cents a square foot on flooring for an entire house, that's thousands of dollars on renovations and that can go directly back in your pocket.

20:43David Greene:Where do you see the biggest savings? What kind of finishes? is what are the most important things to shop around on?

20:49Brandon Turner:The biggest savings I get are on luxury vinyl plank flooring and on carpet. I get carpet at a great discount. How much? So when I carpet a house, I'm typically only carpeting bedrooms and I'm only doing that on flips. Guess what it costs me to carpet a three bedroom house total?

21:06David Greene:How big is the house?

21:07Brandon Turner:Call it a 1800 square foot house, but you're doing three bedrooms.

21:11David Greene:Just the bedrooms like 400 square feet. I'm going to guess like three bucks a foot. Right. Normally, I would guess like four, four and a half. But since you're bragging about it, I'm going to say three bucks a foot. So 1 ,200 bucks?

21:22Brandon Turner:Yeah, I'm paying less than$1 ,000 on that. So if you look at it for every house that I do, that's saving me three to 500 bucks, depending on the square footage. Doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're doing multiple houses, that adds up. And even if it's just one house, three to 500 bucks, why not?

21:37David Greene:Dude, totally. And it's like each of these things we're talking about today aren't going to be amazing things. But if you get$2 ,000 off closing costs, if you get$5 ,000 in seller credits, you get$250 off your insurance,$500 on your carpet, you're talking about$8, $10 ,000 on a single deal here just from doing a little bit of legwork. It's not even that much stuff. And we're just talking about saving maybe five figures on some of these deals.

22:04Brandon Turner:And when I walk properties that other investors have rehabbed, I often see everybody has the same light fixtures and finishes from like Lowe's or Home Depot. And so I started pricing those against places like Amazon or other big box warehouses. And I'm saving anywhere between 5 % and 20%, depending on what kind of light fixtures. and then my property looks different than everybody else's that's out there because most people are just walking into Lowe's and Home Depot.

22:37David Greene:You just see the same backsplash, the same pendant lights. It's the same countertops every time. And they're usually pretty nice. Like there's a reason people choose them. But I do think it goes a really long way, even if they're slightly different just to stand out. And if you could do that and save money, that's just like a double win.

22:54Brandon Turner:Yeah, that's another big savings point too, as you talked about countertops. Man, getting countertops directly from a countertop supplier will save you a ton of money than going to a third party. A ton.

23:04David Greene:I will also say, this isn't always the easiest thing to do, but if you're plugged in with other investors, you can also trade. There are some times I know people are getting rid of cabinets that you need to do. That's fair. I once traded a guy a working hot tub. I got the working hot tub for carpet that I was going to throw in a dumpster. You never know what people want. This guy wanted to get rid of his hot tub some insurance thing. And I just traded it to him. And it was great. And I've done that with cabinets as well. I've been getting rid of cabinets and gotten fixtures in exchange. People might want, if you're cleaning out a house and you have working appliances, trade it to someone or sell it to someone and reuse that money to go buy something else.

23:47David Greene:I see a lot of people just trashing out things that they can actually resell.

23:50Brandon Turner:That's a great point. You just jogged my memory. I bought cabinets at a secondhand store once because somebody was rehabbing their house. They had perfectly good solid wood cabinets. They got rid of them to a secondhand store. I picked them up and installed them and they looked fantastic. And they were better quality than me going to get something from Lowe's that's like half particle board now.

24:10David Greene:100%, like I'm redoing my kitchen in my primary. I'm gonna go buy nice appliances, right? But I have perfectly good appliances. They're just white and I want stainless steel ones and I can sell them or I can trade them to any, like these would be great in any rental property. So like figure out a way or trade it to your contractors might buy these kinds of things. Like they might be interested. I've sold tons of stuff to contractors in the past. Like these are great ways to just make money off of the stuff that literally would go in the trash.

24:37Brandon Turner:Almost every great hookup I found in parts and materials, almost all of them have come from contractors telling me about these locations or about these people.

24:45David Greene:Like contractors with flooring, right? Like oftentimes they'll know a project where they bought too much and maybe you only need 500 square feet of flooring and you could just go buy it from some person who doesn't even want it. These are like absolute ways to do this. So these are great, great ways. I just think you got to get creative. Like most people do this kind of comparison shopping in their own life, right? If you were furnishing your own home, you'd probably be doing these kinds of things. Do the same thing with your rental property. Do the same thing with your flip. If you spend a little bit of time on it, easy hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a deal.

25:19Brandon Turner:Couldn't agree more. Do a little bit of research, save yourself potentially a lot of money. And speaking of saving a lot of money, what do you have for number five, Dave?

25:26David Greene:Number five is similar. We're staying in the same theme of shopping around here, but this is getting multiple bids, not just when you're doing a renovation, but on every single time you talk to a contractor. I don't know about you, but I noticed the variance, the difference between the high end quotes and low end quotes that I get right now are absolutely insane. I am scraping asbestos. I got one quote, 4 ,500 bucks. Guess what the next quote was? What? Six grand? $23 ,000. Get out of here. No joke. They're not even f***ing around. These are real people putting things on paper. $23 ,000 to scrape 809 square feet.

26:12David Greene:Are you kidding me? But that's an extreme example, honestly. But I got two HVAC quotes the other day. One was 33 ,000. The other was 17 ,000. It's literally double. People are just throwing stuff out there. So I don't care if you've worked with someone for years, get multiple quotes on every single project.

26:35Brandon Turner:This is just a smart thing to do. One of the things I've learned as a seasoned investor is that contractors don't always bid a job as if they want to win the job. Sometimes they bid the job because they don't want it. And if they're going to do it, they want to get paid a lot of money for a ridiculous price. And that's because some contractors are just like other business owners. They have different superpowers. So you may have a contractor that has guys that do the kind of work that you need done. They do it fast. they do it efficiently and they get the materials cheap, they may give you a very good bid versus the very next contractor does not have the same connections or the same people to do that job as effectively.

27:23Brandon Turner:And you're going to get a much higher price because it's going to be much more of a pain for that contractor to get the job done. So they're going to price it astronomically. It doesn't mean that the contractors jerk. It just means they're built different than the other contractors. And You'll never know those things unless you get multiple bids.

27:42David Greene:Yeah. One of the things I've learned from our mutual friend, James Daynard, is that a lot of this also just depends on how busy they are. Someone might have a bunch of other projects, and so to take the time away from their other projects, they might need a charge. It's fair. Three grand more because they're like, I have other stuff going on. Meanwhile, you catch a company who's between jobs, they might be willing to lower their cost to fill a spot in their schedule. that doesn't mean they're bad people. It's just, this is supply and demand, right? Like their, their supply and demand waivers over time.

28:13David Greene:And you need to just be constantly in tune with what's going on. This can save you. So, I mean, this might be the biggest one of all of the ones that we've been talking about. It can just save you tens of thousands of dollars on a project.

28:25Brandon Turner:And I know a lot of people just generically say you never use the lowest bid. I would say you need to be careful when using the lowest bid, but you got to compare that to your other bids. Cause when you just the example that you used, why would you pay an extra$15 ,000 just because it wasn't your lowest bid? Like get multiple bids so you can have a good apples to apples comparison because they're not all bidding with the same things in mind. Each business is different. And also a lot of contractors become contractors because they were great at turning wrenches and that got them a lot of business.

29:01Brandon Turner:It doesn't necessarily mean they're a great business person. So they're not thinking all of the times like a business person who's trying to write up a bid in order to win the job. They're just thinking, how am I going to survive this week? And what's my most important thing to do? And they're focused on that more so than making sure you get the best bid. So you've got to get multiple bids to protect yourself.

29:22David Greene:100%. I know it's annoying. Like, it is annoying. You usually have to drive back and forth to a property, show people around, depending on the project. Get three bids per project. That's what I would say. three bids per trade per project minimum. And if you don't like them, keep going. Just keep going.

29:38Brandon Turner:One trick of the trade I learned to help you with the time management on this is to write up high level scopes of work. They don't have to be super detailed. Just line item, maybe room by room at a very high level of what the work is that needs to be done. And if you send that out with your request for the bid, it helps the contractor understand what's the size of the prize before they go out there. That way, if they're too busy and they can't get to it, or if they're like, hey, I don't know that this job is worth my time, they can give you that information upfront and save you the headache of having to go out there and wait for bids to turn around.

30:13Brandon Turner:So the scope of work hack has saved me a ton of time and honestly saved the contractors a ton of time as well.

30:19David Greene:All right. So that's our number five tip for saving money in today's market, but we have two more for you when we get back from this quick break. Did you know your house gets bored when you leave. I can't actually prove that, but it probably misses out on the action, the footsteps, the late night fridge raids. Yeah, when you're gone, your place is basically on unpaid leave. It's sitting there in the dark thinking, I could be contributing right now. Your side room wants a side hustle. Even your Wi-Fi is like, we could be networking. You're on vacation, spending money like it's a sport, while your staircase at home is fully capable of sending your income upwards.

30:59David Greene:Here's the twist. You can go on a trip and actually earn money. Airbnb makes that possible with the co-host network. If you're away for a while or have a secondary property, you can hire a vetted local co-host with real hosting experience to handle it all. A co-host can handle guest communications. It can manage reservations and keep things running smoothly so you don't have to check your phone between beach days. That means less stress and more time enjoying your trip. You can relax knowing guests are taken care of and your place is in good hands. You travel, your house works, everyone wins. If you're ready to host but could use some help, find a co-host at airbnb.com slash host.

31:39David Greene:The rise of the tech-savvy investor is here. You don't need a huge team or tons of overhead to manage rental properties. Just the right tools. So I want to tell you about how I use RentReady to get ahead. For landlords who treat their time like capital and recognize the cost of sweat equity, this tool gives you everything you need to scale. Rent collection, tenant screening, maintenance accounting, so that you're organized come tax season and you can run numbers in preparation for future deals. And more. All in one platform via a mobile app or desktop. Modern landlords don't just own property.

32:07David Greene:They optimize it. RentReady will keep you organized, running leaner, and ready to grow. Start with RentReady. Visit rentready.com slash biggerpockets. That's rent-r-e-d-i dot com slash biggerpockets. And use code BP2025 to get RentReady's six-month plan for a dollar.

32:28David Greene:When I bought my first rental, I thought collecting rent would be the hard part. Nope. The admin crushed me. Every night was receipts, tax forms, and checking who was late on rent. I kept thinking, if this is one unit, how do people run 10? Baselane changed that. It's BiggerPockets' official banking platform that handles expense tracking, financial reporting, rent collection, and even tenant screening all in one place. It's the system I wish I had from day one. Sign up today at baselane.com slash biggerpockets and get a$100 bonus. Baseline is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank.

32:56David Greene:Banking services provided by ThreadBank. Member FDIC. There are two kinds of real estate investors. Those who have reviewed their insurance and those who think that they have. Most don't realize their coverage wasn't built for how they actually invest. Vacancy periods, rehabs, short-term rentals, or LLC-held properties. These gaps surface only when filing claims. That's why investors work with NREG. They specialize exclusively in real estate investors, understanding portfolios, risk at scale, and cash flow protection. One claim can erase years of returns. If you own a rental property, don't assume you're covered.

33:23David Greene:Have NREG review your insurance with someone who gets investing at nreg.com slash bppod. That's n-r-e-i-g.com slash bppod.

33:36David Greene:Welcome back to the BiggerPockets podcast. Henry and I are here going through seven top ways to save money in 2026. Henry, what's number six?

33:45Brandon Turner:Number six is cost-effective systems. Look, if you're going to operate property, you're going to need systems. There are tons of different software systems that do tons of different things. They all have different pricing models. And so you need to pay attention to what you're paying. It's like those commercials where somebody asks you, how many streaming services are you paying for? And they're like three and it's like 33.

34:10David Greene:I hate when people ask me that question because I know that I'm like, my wife and I are both paying for the same ones like seven times.

34:17Brandon Turner:Yes. I'm scared to look at how many streaming services I pay for, but we often do look at our bank account to determine like what different software systems that we're paying for. And then we try to either consolidate those into one system or determine if we truly still need them. I think a lot of investors waste a lot of money paying for subscriptions for things they don't use anymore. That service had a need at one point, you stopped using that product or service and didn't even realize you're still paying for it. But one thing I found most recently is now that AI's become more prevalent and software tools have become more and more advanced, there are tools now that are more effectively priced than two to three years ago when I started paying for systems.

35:00Brandon Turner:And in 2025, there was one tool and specifically that we purchased and it literally replaced about five different subscription services and saved me a ton of money. And it was so nice to be able to email and cancel those subscriptions. So I know this one seems a little pain in the butt slash convoluted, but I promise you, you are throwing money away on systems that you're not using anymore.

35:22David Greene:I think there are just ways to save money now. Software is definitely one of them because if you're a self-managing landlord, if you're a real estate investor, you're gonna need software platforms. Like there's a ton of different options out there and you're gonna need to find good ones. This is something that we have always been helping people with at BiggerPockets. If you're a pro member, we have been negotiating software discounts for people for a long time. You can get free access to RentReady,$350 value. You can get free access to Baselane. That's$240. But whatever it is, shop around. Find good systems that you feel like are sustainable for you, where you're not spending a ton of money and eating up your cash flow.

36:00David Greene:Because frankly, you don't need to, so you shouldn't be spending money on that.

36:04Brandon Turner:One of the things that I do to help with this is I have a spreadsheet that I literally add every product or service that I use onto this spreadsheet. And then that way, when I review it once a year or once every six months, I can see, oh, gosh, I haven't used that in ages and I can go and cancel it. So every time I add a new one, it goes onto this spreadsheet. it's the way I track. I mean, honestly, it's a bad idea, but it is also the way I track like the logins and passwords for all these things. But doing that keeps the visibility. You're going to get hacked tomorrow after this podcast comes out.

36:41Brandon Turner:I know. I mean, that doesn't exist anybody. But no, in all seriousness, having the spreadsheet, which I track where all my software tools are, make sure that I don't have an excuse not to be paying for things that we're not using anymore.

36:55David Greene:It took me like nine years before I started doing this, but it is a great option. All right, Henry, what is our last way of saving money? Number seven here. What do you got?

37:04Brandon Turner:This is actually something that I learned from a business partner of mine. It's just not something I thought about before or I didn't know that you could do. And it's just something I learned from hanging out with other investors. But it is contesting your property taxes.

37:18David Greene:Yep. I love doing this. It's a subjective thing. It's so subjective.

37:22Brandon Turner:They make it up. When you buy a property, especially if you're an investor and you're going to improve that property, at some point the city comes around and goes, hey, that property is cooler than it used to be, which means you should pay us more in taxes. Give us more money. And then all of a sudden you get a new assessment and your tax bill's gone up by a few hundred bucks, a thousand bucks, sometimes a couple thousand bucks, depending on where you live. Like this can drastically affect your cash flow. But you can just call the city and say, I don't like that.

37:53David Greene:Every city has a process for doing this. It's not just like you call Stan down at the market. Like online. I just do it online.

38:02Brandon Turner:You can do it online in some places. Here, most of the time, you have to make a phone call. But every time I've done that, almost every time, I think there's been one time we've called and said, hey, I think that's a little too high, that they were like, nah, it's good. Every other time, they're like, yeah, we'll take a look at it. And then they come down.

38:18David Greene:I am batting 1 ,000. 1 ,000 in the city of Denver, every time I've contested my property taxes and I tell them what I think it's worth, they split the difference. 100 % of the time down to the dollar. They say 700, I say 500, it's 600. That's exactly what happens every time. Why not do that? It takes four minutes. It's amazing.

38:37Brandon Turner:Just do it. Worst case scenario, they say no. Best case scenario, you save yourself a few hundred to a thousand bucks or so. It's unbelievable. Do it. It's just people at the city office, they're making their best guess. And if you call them with actual data, a lot of the times they're like, yeah, no, that's good.

38:53David Greene:I'm fine with that. Yeah. I think this is true for all these things. Like all of these things, you don't know if they're going to save you a ton of money for each deal. But if you go through these seven steps for each deal that you have, or each deal that you're going to acquire, I promise you, you're saving a thousand bucks. You're saving 2000 bucks. You're saving 3000 bucks on every single deal that adds up so much. That's more money for your next down payment. That's more money in your reserves. That's more money you can put into a renovation. That's more money you can go and go out and have a nice dinner.

39:23David Greene:Whatever you want. These are amazing ways to save money and boost your cash flow. And they're things that literally everyone can do for every single project.

39:31Brandon Turner:Yes, exactly. And if you go back in this episode and you listen to number three through number seven, all of those are things that you can do with existing properties you own right now. So you don't have to be buying a new one to start taking advantage of some of these benefits. All right.

39:46David Greene:Well, that's what we got for you all today. If you want to take advantage of all the amazing discounts that you get as a BiggerPockets Pro member, go to biggerpockets.com slash pro. Check out all the money-saving tools that we have there on top of the calculators, the rent estimators, all the other stuff that you get for being a part of the BiggerPockets Pro community. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of the BiggerPockets podcast. Henry, oh, he's dancing. He's looking good. All right. He's ready to get out of here. Hope you all enjoy this episode as much as we did making it.

40:17David Greene:We'll see you all next time.

40:43David Greene:newsletter, please visit www.biggerpockets.com. The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk. So use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. And remember, past performance is not indicative of future results. BiggerPockets LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising from a reliance on information presented in this podcast. Attention, passive real estate investors.

41:08David Greene:Make sure you have the Passive Pocket Summit on your calendar. Better yet, plan on attending it in Denver, Colorado from April 30th to May 2nd. This conference is built exclusively for the LP or limited partner. It's a great place to network and talk current deals and current strategies for accredited investors investing in real estate deals right now. Go to PassivePockets.com forward slash summit for all the details and use a coupon code podcast to save you$50. Hope to see you in Denver.