It always surprises me how little some property managers value tenants that pay their rent on time. In most cases units sit vacant for at least one month when a tenant leaves, plus there are costs to make the unit tenant-ready again and plus there are new leasing commissions that need to get paid to the management every time they place a new tenant. Real estate investors save so much money by retaining quality & happy tenants for as long as possible.
Here are 5 easy ways to retain quality tenants.
5. Take their problems seriously – If a good paying tenant calls you with a reasonable complaint, get it addressed quickly. It may be just another call to you, but it’s a big deal to them. In the late afternoon on December 24th, I received an email from tenant whose stove just stopped working. She has family coming over that night and was in a total panic. We quickly started dialing whoever we could find that was still working to beg them to go fix the stove. In the meantime, I gave the tenant a list of other vacant properties that I had in the area where she could cook her holiday meal if we couldn’t find someone to fix it in time. Luckily, we found someone to go out, it was an easy fix and her holiday went on as planned. She let me know how appreciative she was if our efforts. Chances are, she will remain a happy tenant for a long time.
4. Make their life easier by accepting payments via check, ach, credit card & automatic bill pay. It’s not hard to do and it keeps your money coming in on time.
3. Create an incentive program – For good tenants, it often pays to let them choose from a list of either ceiling fans, new appliances, etc, if they renew a lease. You can always reuse the old appliance or fixture that you take out and the money that you spend only goes to improving your property.
4. Be nice – There’s never a reason to talk down to a tenant (or anyone else) and there are many reasons to be nice. Being nice doesn’t mean being a pushover. If rent is due, then rent is due and the tenant needs to be told that, but they can and should be told in a nice and respectful way.
… and the number 1 thing that you should do to get your keep paying & happy tenants is to hire a competition property manager. If you think that the above 4 things are a lot of work and will take a lot of time, you’re correct. Hire REMA, an expert in Philadelphia property management, to get it done right the first time, which will allow you to focus on making money.
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