If You Are Not Using These 4 Tools You Are Loosing Long-Term Tenants

Long-term tenants are goldmines for landlords, the majority of landlords are looking for tenants that are punctual with rental payments, clean, and are looking for a long-term lease. If You Are Not Using These 4 Tools You Are Loosing Long-Term Tenants

Property Maintenance and Upkeep is one way to secure long term tenants or turning tenants that normally only sign a 1 year contract to a long lasting customer. All landlords will make sure their property is in presentable condition at the beginning of the tenancy, however great landlords will continue to add extra features that will maintain the tenancy. For example small updates annually that may cost you under $100 will remind your tenants that you are doing things to improve the property for them. A small thing that I like to do is update light switch covers. This is something relatively low cost but it reminds the tenants that you take pride in your property and they should as well. Not updating your property informs the tenant that you are just focused on collecting their rent. You may think this is a bit excessive but if you would like to minimize vacancies this is a sure way to do it. I understand that this approach is not common and not feasible for huge complexes or if you are holding numerous single family homes but if you have a few single family units, or a couple multifamily units this is a great tactic to build long lasting tenancies.

Consistent Procedures—If you have followed me at all you understand that I am a stickler for procedures. I follow procedures closely because it minimizes risk exposure in all aspect of your business, from placing the correct ad to attract the right tenant to tenant eviction procedures. When you establish legal and sound procedures you will be in a position to save thousands. In any business there is something that supports the mission of a business as it pertains to daily operations and it is called the Standard Operating Procedures. Every real estate investor should incorporate standard operating procedures. By establishing legally sound procedural guidelines will allow you as landlord to sleep a bit better at night especially if you manage maintenance staff, or self-manage your properties. The best advice I received years ago was when I was told to create procedures and have them reviewed by my attorney. You may ask how does this save you thousands; great question, because of the procedures my team and I are able to follow a streamlined workflow with contractors, subcontractors, and tenants. This helps us minimize mistakes and when mistakes do occur, we are able to inform our attorney (if needed) and they will be able to assist us in mitigating the problem without large attorney fees.

Quality Rentals – We were looking at a property recently that we are thinking about flipping to add to our rental portfolio and during the walk through I was discussing what needed to be changed in order for us to get it rent ready. My former realtor stated that we were trying to do too much to the property and we should do what all other investors do. This comment rubbed me the wrong way for many reasons but especially the following 2, for one we pride ourselves on providing a quality product for our renters, and 2 he was only saying this to try and get us to buy any and everything without our best interest in mind. Providing a quality rental experience will limit your vacancy rate. As state above the little details can turn your rental into someone’s home, for example using a better grade carpet and pad will be a feature you can tell prospective tenants about during the walk through, they will appreciate the small features.

Tenant Survey – Tenant surveys are key in evaluating your product. We have incorporated this recently and the feedback we receive is outstanding. Many tenants say they have never had to complete a survey on any property they had rented before. We use this tool to identify what areas we lack in and it shows us our strong points. We also use the findings naturally to improve our properties and our service delivery. This tells the tenants that we respect their concerns and we are working to improve in areas that we may miss the mark on. Tenant acknowledgement is an open line of communication with our tenants. Many landlords do not like to hear from their tenants, we welcome it. It gives us an opportunity to solidify long term tenants.

If you are not using these 4 tools you are losing long-term tenants, and a lot of money. It does not take an extreme amount of effort to turn your rental into someone’s long lasting home. Remember if you are not comfortable to put your mom in, it’s not good enough for long-term tenants.