One of the biggest difficulties being a landlord has to do with tenant retention. If you’re seriously considering rental properties as your go-to choice of income, then you have to do it right. The area to focus most of your attention on is retaining tenants. But how do you do it? What does it take to keep tenants happy and continuously renting your properties?
To answer it simply, you can do a ton of things. But the answer lies in the before-mentioned questions – keeping them happy. So, here is how to retain tenants.
Maintain the Properties
Unless you happened to be Peter Parker and broke, you won’t find tenants to rent your property with a broken door. The first thing to do to retain more tenants is to maintain the property. You will have to fix each issue and keep the property in top-notch condition. This will make the tenants happier and more eager to sign another six-month lease with you.
Part of good maintenance is having insurance (see this list of best homeowners insurance in Florida)so you’re covered in case of disaster or unexpected issues. This isn’t something to be handled as an afterthought so be sure to include room for insurance when doing your budgeting.
As you all know, tenant retention is the best way to make money as a landlord. If you have gaps where no one is living on your property, then you are losing money. Since tenants hate living in unlivable conditions, you must do your best and address these issues. That way, you can ask for more rent and be attractive to tenants looking to sign a long-term lease.
You might think that maintaining your properties is a costly expense. While it certainly isn’t cheap, there are cost-effective ways to renovate your rental property and get the most out of it.
Don’t Be A Bad Landlord
Bad landlords will always exist. We’ve all heard a story of that being the case, and landlords do get a bad rep because of it. So the last thing you want is for tenants to talk about you negatively. Why? Well, we live in the digital age. That means anyone can connect with anyone else through the internet, share their thoughts, and of course, leave negative reviews about businesses.
Since being a landlord is one form of running a business, you don’t want unhappy tenants leaving negative reviews regarding your business. Being a good landlord pays off a lot nowadays. And there are many ways to be a good landlord. Probably the easiest thing to do is to make it easy for your tenants to reach you. Keeping your “door open” for tenants to come in and talk to you regarding certain issues can separate you from the vast majority of landlords.
But that’s not all. Another thing to do is to actively work on improving the relationship you have with your tenants. You can do this by making them feel as comfortable as possible. And that’s precisely why the previous point is so important. Through regular maintenance and repairing, you are improving the living conditions of your tenants.
Provide Amenities
According to Pew Research, there are currently more than 20 million rental properties in the United States. That means you are competing with every one of these properties. Naturally, the goal is to prevent current tenants from leaving and presenting yourself as more attractive to future tenants.
One way to do both of those things is to provide lots of amenities to tenants. But how do you know what amenities tenants want? We can easily determine that by looking at this report. The report says that high-speed internet and soundproof walls are two of the three most desirable home amenities tenants want – and for good reasons.
Everyone needs access to high-speed internet as everything we do, we do it online. Soundproof walls are important to privacy. Plenty of people value privacy and they will value the fact that your property provides this amenity. The list is rounded up with a washer, dryer, and balcony. So if you manage to provide these amenities to your tenants, there is a stronger chance of retaining tenants.
Don’t Dwell On Lease Renewals
Since the goal of every landlord is to not miss out on a month, the smart thing to do is to know beforehand if your current tenants are interested in renewing the lease.
Luckily, you can easily do that by reaching out in advance. Most recommend you do it 90 days before the current lease expires. While anything can happen in three months, you can at least get an idea if your tenants are interested in sticking around for another six months. If they do decide to leave, you’ll have a jump start in looking for new tenants.
That way, you can plan on advertising beforehand. But your focus must always be on retaining tenants as opposed to losing them. So even if they plan on moving, ask if there is something you can do to change their mind. This is why having a good landlord-tenant relationship is important.
