If you own rental property in Chittenden County, you’ve probably felt it: units are taking a little longer to lease, and the days of naming your price and watching applications pour in have cooled. You’re not imagining it ‚ and the good news is that a softer market is actually one of the best times to strengthen your position.
At Full Circle, we track hundreds of active listings across the local market every week. Here’s what the data is telling us right now, and why the owners who move early will come out ahead.
The market is softening , and concessions are back
Across the units we track in the greater Burlington area, vacancy has been running noticeably higher through the spring and summer than in recent years. The clearest signal, though, isn’t the vacancy number itself ‚ it’s the concessions.
Right now, roughly one in four actively marketed units is offering some kind of incentive: a free month, reduced deposit, waived fees, or a straight rent discount. When landlords start competing on price and giveaways, it tells you supply has caught up with demand. Revenue per unit is under pressure.
That sounds like bad news. For owners who do nothing, it is. But it also sets up an opportunity that only exists in a softer market.
The “flight to quality” ‚ and why it works in your favor
When renters have fewer options, they take what they can get. When they have more options — as they do now — they get selective. They consolidate into the nicest unit they can afford and leave the tired, dated ones sitting empty.
This is what economists call a flight to quality, and it’s already visible in our data. Units that advertise the amenities today’s renters actually want don’t just lease faster ‚Äî they command real premiums:
- In-unit laundry: Comparable two-bedroom units advertising in-unit washer/dryer are asking roughly $350 more per month than those without.
- Dishwashers: Two-bedrooms with a dishwasher are listing several hundred dollars higher than those without — a reflection of how strongly renters now associate a dishwasher with a “finished” unit.
- Pet-friendly: Pet-friendly units aren’t just renting for a bit more — they make up the clear majority of what’s on the market, because owners have learned that excluding pets means excluding most of the applicant pool.
(A fair caveat: a unit with in-unit laundry and a dishwasher is usually nicer all around, so these figures reflect overall quality, not the value of a single appliance in isolation. But the direction is unmistakable — quality wins, and the gap is widening.)
Why a vacancy is the moment to act
Here’s the part most owners miss. The single best time to renovate a unit is when it’s already vacant — the one window where an upgrade costs you no lost rent, because there’s no tenant to work around and no turnover you’re forcing.
In a hot market, it’s tempting to slap on a coat of paint and re-list at yesterday’s rent. In a softening market, that same tired unit is exactly the one that sits. So instead of treating a turnover as a cost to minimize, treat it as the cheapest renovation opportunity you’ll ever get ‚Äî and re-list into the flight to quality, not against it.
Upgrades that actually pay
Not every improvement earns its keep. Here’s where we consistently see the strongest return for Vermont owners:
Add in-unit laundry
It’s one of the most-requested amenities in every renter survey, it supports a meaningful monthly premium, and it quietly extends tenancies — people don’t move away from in-unit laundry. If the plumbing and space allow it, this is often the highest-ROI single upgrade you can make.
Install a dishwasher
For quality renters, a dishwasher has moved from “nice to have” to nearly expected. It’s an inexpensive upgrade relative to the rent it supports and the applicant pool it opens up.
Consider cold-climate heat pumps
This is a uniquely Vermont win. Between Efficiency Vermont rebates and federal incentives, installing a cold-climate heat pump is far cheaper than most owners assume. You lower operating costs, add efficient cooling that renters increasingly expect, and strengthen the unit’s appeal — often with a chunk of the cost rebated back to you.
Rethink your pet policy
With most renters owning a pet, a “no pets” policy is one of the most expensive rules on your lease ‚Äî it shrinks your applicant pool right when you need it widest. Reconsidering it, and structuring it correctly, turns a liability into recurring income: monthly pet rent is a steady revenue stream in a way a one-time fee never is, with a separate refundable deposit to cover risk.
One important note: fair-housing law prohibits charging pet rent, fees, or deposits for service animals or emotional-support animals — they aren’t legally “pets.” Getting this right protects you from a costly mistake, which is exactly the kind of thing a professional manager keeps you clear of.
The inexpensive wins
Keyless smart locks, modern LED lighting and fixtures, durable luxury-vinyl-plank flooring, and fresh neutral paint all signal “quality” to a prospective renter for a few hundred dollars. In a flight-to-quality market, these small cues are often the difference between a unit that leases and one that lingers.
The timing that ties it together
An upgraded unit still needs to hit the market at the right moment. Renovating over the winter to re-list in December — the slowest leasing season in Vermont — undercuts the whole strategy. Planning the turn, the improvements, and the re-list date as a single sequence is where a lot of value is either captured or lost.
You don’t have to figure this out alone
This is exactly the work we do for the owners we manage: we track the market so you don’t have to, model which upgrades will actually pay for your unit, coordinate the vendors and the timing, and keep your policies on the right side of Vermont and fair-housing law. A softer market rewards owners who act deliberately — and penalizes those who wait.
If your unit is coming up for turnover, or you’re wondering whether it’s time to reposition, let’s talk . We’ll give you a straight read on where your property stands in today’s market and what, if anything, is worth doing before you re-list.
