Keeping a tenant is much cheaper for landlords than finding new renters all the time. Consider all of the costs of finding a new tenant, including advertising, time spent touring, and the cost of a vacant apartment because you haven’t found a replacement yet. It’s more difficult, time-consuming, and costly to find new renters than to keep the ones already in your rental property. With that in mind, here’s how you can keep your best tenants and save money and time.
Find Great Tenants to Begin With
While you could approve all of the applications that come your way, it’s important to choose tenants you think will be good neighbors and renters. The first step is doing an eviction background check to ensure that a potential tenant hasn’t been evicted by another rental property owner before, and if they have, find out why.
Past evictions are a big red flag when it comes to tenants because you can assume that the same behavior will be repeated with your rental property, causing you to likely have to evict them. As you know, evictions mean that you will have a vacant unit that will cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars to fill quickly. Not only that, but the whole eviction process can be quite a headache.
On the other hand, if you find quality tenants, they are much less likely to leave or get evicted. Instead, they’ll have a stellar background check and references from previous landlords. This will help ensure that the only reason they’d be moving is that they bought a home or got a job out of town. Remember, renters are typically renting because they’re still trying to save money for a house, so while you can’t stop all of your great tenants from moving out, you can keep the ones who aren’t ready to leave yet.
Be a More Productive Landlord
If you’re a landlord that hasn’t invested in productivity tools, you could be losing valuable time. Perhaps a tenant has a maintenance issue that needs to be addressed immediately because they invited their family over. Something like a leak in the apartment requires immediate attention, but if you aren’t productive and don’t promote productivity in the workplace, a flood can build because your maintenance technicians don’t make it to the property immediately.
Making your tenants wait when they have an emergency can upset even the most patient tenants, causing them to want to leave the property. Instead, invest in tools that can help you manage maintenance requests and get your technicians to emergencies as soon as possible.
Keep in Contact
When you keep in communication with your tenants, they feel more valued and connected to the property. Even something as simple as sending them an automated email to remind them when their rent is due or a receipt of online payment immediately after paying their rent can make them feel more secure being your tenant. Similarly, community updates and fun communication like birthdays wishing tenants happy birthdays can make them feel like they are appreciated, preventing turnover.
Upgrade Appliances
Making upgrades in a rental unit can make it more desirable long-term. For example, wood flooring or high-quality appliances like stainless steel dishwashers can make someone want to live there longer, reducing your turnover rates. Similarly, if a tenant ever tells you that their tub finishing is peeling or paint is chipping, these problems should be addressed as soon as possible to make them have the premium rental feeling that they’re looking for.
Invest in Energy Efficiency
Your tenants are responsible for their own utilities, but you can make choices that keep their bills lower. One complaint many landlords hear about older properties is that the energy bills are high. So, having energy-efficient lighting or a water heater insulation blanket can help them keep their bills down, which is something they’ll be sure to appreciate. With lower energy bills, they’ll want to stay in their rental unit for a longer period of time to avoid potentially higher costs of energy in a new home or rental.
By keeping these tips in mind, you can reduce turnover and vacancies, while improving your tenant roster.
Read Also:
10 Best Energy Pills & Supplements on the Market to Boost your Energy
6 Tips for Running Again After Surgery
3 Safe and Natural Stress Remedies
