Do you want to focus on finding ways to retain your good tenants? Tenant retention is one of the top priorities of a good property management company. Turnover causes stress to property owners as you need to go back to advertising, tenant screening, property preparation for move ins, and more. Here are some ways you can focus on retaining the good tenants.
- Keep up with the market trends. What do other rental properties look like in the area? Is your property able to keep up with the look, style, and overall feeling of the other locations? Knowing your market does a great deal to ensure you can keep the property looking great and meeting the expectations of the renters.
- Talk to the tenant about their property needs. How often do you stop and talk to your tenants? Do you ask them about their satisfaction with the property? Tenant retention comes down to communicating with the tenants and finding out what they would like. Perhaps a simple thing like adding a fresh coat of paint is all they need to continue being satisfied with the property.
- Maintenance and upkeep. Tenants want to come home to a nice place to live. Failure to perform basic upkeep and maintenance will be prevalent to the tenant. Checking on appliance, making fixes to the exterior, cleaning out the gutters, and other maintenance tasks are beneficial for landlords as it can reduce the risk of serious problems occurring.
- Referral program with tenants. Encourage your good tenants to tell their friends and family members to rent another unit you own. Most people want to live by people they are comfortable with, so why not enact a referral program to gain access to some potential good tenants, and offer a discount on lease renewal or rent, or even provide some upgrades to the property.
- Have an effective screening process. Landlords can save themselves a lot of frustration with some tenants simply by having a screening process in place. Look at more than just the credit rating of the tenant as you want to make sure they pose little risk as a tenant. Screening can also help you avoid the short-term tenants that are likely to cause property damage and other issues for landlords.
- Keep accurate renter files. When it comes to managing your tenants, you will need to have information on file for each tenant. The information you store should be more than just a contract as you want to have a few notes about the tenant personally to engage in general conversation next time you talk. Having some notes about the person helps to build a connection with them, which makes the tenant feel better about renewing a lease.
- Provide notice for rent increase. When you deal with rental rate hikes, people are always going to start out annoyed. It is a wise idea to raise rent yearly, even by a small amount to help pay for the maintenance and upkeep costs. When you maintain a consistent fee increase, long-term tenants will know to expect a small increase yearly on the same date.
- Provide notice. When you do need to perform a property inspection, give your tenant plenty of notice. Try to find a time when the tenant can walk through the property with you so they can point out some issues. The goal is to work with the tenant and do everything you can to provide a nice place to live.
- Evict bad tenants. If you want to keep the good tenants, you need to trim out the bad tenants. Bad tenants often pay late, but they can end up being a nuisance to many other tenants by failing to adhere to the contract and property rules.
- Lease renewal discounts. A good tenant deserves to be rewarded. A lease renewal should be more than an extension of the last contract, you want to provide discounts or some type of reward to the tenant. New flooring can go a long way for a tenant. Consider what options you can afford and start enacting them into your rental agreement.
Keyrenter Property Management in Washington, DC focuses on tenant retention using our proven techniques and tactics. Contact our office to discuss your property management needs.
