Notes

Retaining Good Tenants
All residents for your properties ought to be treated because your business partners since they are to blame for income, expenses along with your bottom line cashflow. It is important to have a good retention program and reward good tenants.
Why do people move?
People move for many reasons and quite often they merely like to move and possess no reason at all in any way. They don't just like the neighborhood, want to move their kids to a new school, get divorced and want to relocate, or their family gets bigger plus they search for any bigger place. Some people purchase their own home, some relocate using relatives or elderly parents, some relocate this can job change. Surprisingly the most frequent reason why people move is because they are ignored by their landlord. Not having good relationship with your tenants can bring about them moving out from the property. Tenant turnover is usually costly as unnecessary work and repairs need to be done plus the vacancy and advertising expenses have to be looked at. To build a strong long lasting relationship along with your tenants it is essential to have a very retention enter in place.
Classify your tenants
Make a directory of all properties and classify your tenants ranking from A, B, C, D: A being simply the best headache free and D being the worst nightmare ever. Most likely your tenants class with coincide while using property class. What I mean by that that the best properties positioned in A type neighborhoods probably will possess the best tenants. Good neighborhoods attract more affluent, educated and responsible people who require a better life on their own as well as their families. These are individuals who are always polite, respectful, pay by the due date and do not demand unnecessary reasons. They will also take care of their own home and minor work which should be done like minor paint, carpet cleaning or even get their own appliances. B type tenants are also a great paying resident with a few flows. Tenant type ought to always be listed in 2 factors: timeliness of rent payments and property maintenance. Lateness is just not necessarily an undesirable factor as long as you reach collect the rent as well as the additional fees which actually is another method to obtain revenue. C type tenants are the type who have had eviction notices for non-payment, problems with maintenance due to increased wear and tear. They are not responsible, their telephone number is rarely working, they forget to purchase utilities, and they move from job to job always attempting to catch up using bills. They don't maintain property well so you probably have received trash citations, violations and even complaints from neighbors. D type tenant is the one you desire OUT. These people are the ones who are non-negotiable, will often have little if any education, try illegal activities and usually reside in D type neighborhoods (war zones). In D type neighborhoods the most effective technique is to rent your home with a Section 8 or government subsidized tenant as rent payments always be a problem.
80/20 RULE
Like in a business, it is likely you spend 80% of their time on 20% of your respective tenants. The goal is always to analyze which tenants result in your probably the most trouble and acquire gone them. It isn't well worth the time for it to deal with headaches, extensive repairs, late payments and evictions. Get rid of them, please take a loss in first to make it work in the end. On the other side remember about your A and B type tenants and take some time to reward them to be great residents.
Implement Retention Programs
While you could be busy handling problems of 20% of your respective tenants, remember regarding the high quality ones. In the very end they are those who you could make your living better and headache free. Remember, when we pay on time, next to your skin some expectations. When you have 100k inside your bank-account, you expect your banker to find out you because of your name; same applies to your residents. Memorize their names and their loved ones composition. Build rapport, be able to know who they really are and exactly what are their interests. Treat them how they do, make all necessary repairs by the due date and every time, follow up using requests, and return their messages punctually.
• Move In Welcome Package. First impression is what sets the building blocks for the long-term relationship. When people move into your premises help it become clean and no repairs are expected. Assist them getting their power bills transferred over and check in to make sure they switched it within their name. We normally give small welcome gifts to new residents as well. We also include a welcome package containing all information they must have, including our Rent to Own program! Welcome package is definitely an opportunity to upsell your customer in the long term.
• Quarterly Check Ups. It is a great idea to do quarterly property inspections to make sure the properties do not require any work or maintenance. Once people plan to move it is VERY challenging to change their mind, so don't get to a point when it would be to late and allocate enough time to your good residents. If you do not have time for it to inspect the property or call at your residents, send them an e-mail, text or create a quick mobile call to evaluate things. People always appreciate that.
• Avoid Frequent Rent Increases. If you've got good paying tenants, leave them at the exact property and don't increase their rents frequently. Rent increases will in the end turn into a problem and will build your residents move. It is especially common during times of recession when the exact property values drop and new landlords can easily offer lower rents on account of lower mortgage repayments. Rent increases are ok in case you are offering initial discount in your rental or if you've government subsidized tenants in which a small rent increase is allowed annually. One year we decided to increase all of our rents by $25 so we lost several tenants. It cost thousands in unnecessary repairs, advertising costs, and vacancies! It is also your TIME that must be taken into account which you place into getting the home rerented. In the very end you don't know what kind of tenant you'll be with also it can cost more cash in the long term. To avoid that you can implement small "inflational" rent increases and justify them by increase within your insurance rate, property tax increase or improvements/updates that have been done at the house.
• Gifts, Postcards and Thank You Letters. Show your residents appreciation by sending them a Birthday and/or Christmas cards. You will be surprised how happy celebrate people once they obtain it. We ALWAYS give gifts to tenants on Christmas and New Year. It is also a good idea to let them have a Home Depot/Lowes gift card or free carpet cleaning service. their explanation will improve your home to make your tenants happy. A lot of the times it is not the gift but attention you allow to individuals, they regards plus a $25 gift will translate in great long lasting relationship using your residents.
• Be Consistent and Do What You Promised. Managing rental properties is a business and yes it must be treated like one. It is common sense but so many people don't do what you promise. It makes landlord look unprofessional and irresponsible. It is your responsibility to get along with management if you do not possess a management company also it is a full time job! Simply do whatever you promised and promise folks who wants deliver.
• Pay for Referrals. You can turn your existing customers into more referrals by sending them either e-mail blast newsletter with new properties or perhaps flyers together with your properties by regular mail. It is important to deliver these phones your "A" and "B" type tenants. Good people usually keep company with like-minded people as well as the likelihood is high you can be getting one other good resident. Your tenants would not wish to put your relationship at risk and so are improbable to recommend someone they don't know personally. As in any business you wish to give incentives to your residents for referrals and it can maintain the type of commission, referral fee, or rent discount.
• Renew Lease EARLY. Make it a habit to deliver renewal lease a minimum of 2 month prior to current lease expiration. At this point residents don't think about moving and you will be more likely to sign another lease. If you do it last minute chances are they are actually searching for another place and may have found something better or cheaper, or both. Put the dates in your calendar please remember to deliver the lease by mail/e-mail and confirm the receipt with tenant. You need to know as early as possible if you current resident is moving out in order to start advertising the best place. It is also a fantastic idea to go over your re-locate policies should they made a decision to move.
Policies & Procedures.
Being nice does not necessarily mean you'll be able to avoid policies and procedures. Set expectations of one's residents upfront and explain them everything they need to find out (it should be on paper inside your lease agreement) about late payment policy, property maintenance, pet policy, sublet policy, tenant insurance, leave procedures, security deposit policies, local laws and ordinances. People most likely are not alert to things they are doing wrong plus it will cause you to look bad in the long run. Set all expectations upfront and become nice later! Find a tenant retention program that works for you and implement it regularly, test a number of things. Remember everyone is various different and what works for one person may not help another.
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