The industry is always in flux, but even with that acknowledgement, it is no secret that right now is a bit less stable than it usually is. With the Summer Months comes moving season, with everyone packing up their fresh-out-of-school kids and looking for greener grass and brighter futures. That’s fine, right, unless those moving out were your best tenants. A good income means consistent rental payments, but if your best and brightest are always leaving you’re not going to get that. How do you keep your favorite tenants from leaving you?
Fast Response Times
The industry is always in flux, but even with that acknowledgement, it is no secret that right now is a bit less stable than it usually is. With the Summer Months comes moving season, with everyone packing up their fresh-out-of-school kids and looking for greener grass and brighter futures. That’s fine, right, unless those moving out were your best tenants. A good income means consistent rental payments, but if your best and brightest are always leaving you’re not going to get that. How do you keep your favorite tenants from leaving you?
Fast Response Times
If a tenant has a complaint, it’s usually to do with broken things staying broken. Tenants depend on their landlords to address the maintenance requests that fall under the landlord’s responsibilities, be it a broken AC Unit, an oven that isn’t working, or whatever they have promised to take care of. Your tenants can’t feed themselves very well if the fridge is broken, and that fate is a bit scarier if they have medicines that need to be kept cold. The ability to address maintenance problems fast, easy, and without whining can make you a Tenant’s Favorite Landlord quick as a whistle. Tenants will complain about their grumpy landlords who refused to fix anything ‘til they run out of breath, and as landlords like that are about a dime a dozen, being the opposite will make tenants much more unwilling to leave.
If a tenant has a complaint, it’s usually to do with broken things staying broken. Tenants depend on their landlords to address the maintenance requests that fall under the landlord’s responsibilities, be it a broken AC Unit, an oven that isn’t working, or whatever they have promised to take care of. Your tenants can’t feed themselves very well if the fridge is broken, and that fate is a bit scarier if they have medicines that need to be kept cold. The ability to address maintenance problems fast, easy, and without whining can make you a Tenant’s Favorite Landlord quick as a whistle. Tenants will complain about their grumpy landlords who refused to fix anything ‘til they run out of breath, and as landlords like that are about a dime a dozen, being the opposite will make tenants much more unwilling to leave.
Good Communication Skills
Let’s be real, sometimes it is not your fault that your maintenance time isn’t the best. If you’re not a handyman, you’re probably outsourcing your maintenance jobs. Even if you are a skilled laborer, you may still want someone professional working your high skill requirement jobs. Just because you can fix something doesn’t mean you don’t want the best, right? You need to be able to talk to your tenants and explain what’s going on before they feel they need to complain. If you can explain, “I’m so sorry this has happened. I’ve already called the repair company, and they will be here Monday morning at ‘X’ time. Is your family alright?” then your tenants will feel more respected.
Being a good communicator means your tenants will be more receptive to waiting. No one wants to be left in the dark. If you can’t communicate with your tenants, hear their wants, desires, and most importantly concerns, they will begin to assume the worst. That’s when they start leaving bad reviews and start to look for new places to live, hoping that they will find a landlord willing to listen to them.
Good Communication Skills
Let’s be real, sometimes it is not your fault that your maintenance time isn’t the best. If you’re not a handyman, you’re probably outsourcing your maintenance jobs. Even if you are a skilled laborer, you may still want someone professional working your high skill requirement jobs. Just because you can fix something doesn’t mean you don’t want the best, right? You need to be able to talk to your tenants and explain what’s going on before they feel they need to complain. If you can explain, “I’m so sorry this has happened. I’ve already called the repair company, and they will be here Monday morning at ‘X’ time. Is your family alright?” then your tenants will feel more respected.
Being a good communicator means your tenants will be more receptive to waiting. No one wants to be left in the dark. If you can’t communicate with your tenants, hear their wants, desires, and most importantly concerns, they will begin to assume the worst. That’s when they start leaving bad reviews and start to look for new places to live, hoping that they will find a landlord willing to listen to them.
Appreciation
We’ve talked about the importance of move in gifts, and there are plenty of modern wonders to great brand-new tenants. The point is that people love to be appreciated, to have their existence validated and to feel like their presence is wanted. If your tenants think they’re an annoyance, they will start looking elsewhere. Around the holidays, consider a small present. Perhaps send a thank you gift card around their ‘anniversary’ of renting from you. Small tokens of gratitude can go a long way to encourage stable tenancy, and who knows? Maybe while their feeling warm and fuzzy from your thank you, they will consider asking for a longer lease.
Appreciation
We’ve talked about the importance of move in gifts, and there are plenty of modern wonders to great brand-new tenants. The point is that people love to be appreciated, to have their existence validated and to feel like their presence is wanted. If your tenants think they’re an annoyance, they will start looking elsewhere. Around the holidays, consider a small present. Perhaps send a thank you gift card around their ‘anniversary’ of renting from you. Small tokens of gratitude can go a long way to encourage stable tenancy, and who knows? Maybe while their feeling warm and fuzzy from your thank you, they will consider asking for a longer lease.
If you don’t want to factor in small gifts into your budget, consider offering your favorite tenants some home décor leeway. While some landlords strictly don’t allow painting or nails in the walls, if you know your tenants are responsible, allowing your renters to invest a little into the space can make it harder for them to want to leave. Plus, allowing renters do all the work of painting or adding shelving to their closet doesn’t cost you anything.
To be fair, the best way to encourage long term tenancy involves returning to the most basic of interpersonal skills. Treating people the way you want to be treated goes a long way with relationships and it is a great starting point to getting your landlord-tenant relationship off on the right foot.
If you don’t want to factor in small gifts into your budget, consider offering your favorite tenants some home décor leeway. While some landlords strictly don’t allow painting or nails in the walls, if you know your tenants are responsible, allowing your renters to invest a little into the space can make it harder for them to want to leave. Plus, allowing renters do all the work of painting or adding shelving to their closet doesn’t cost you anything.
To be fair, the best way to encourage long term tenancy involves returning to the most basic of interpersonal skills. Treating people the way you want to be treated goes a long way with relationships and it is a great starting point to getting your landlord-tenant relationship off on the right foot.
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