Notes

Retaining Good Tenants
All residents at the properties needs to be treated as your business partners as they are in charge of income, expenses as well as your bottom line cashflow. It is important to have a very good retention program and reward good tenants.
Why do people move?
People move for several reasons and infrequently they just love to move and possess no reason at all whatsoever. They don't just like the neighborhood, need to move their kids to an alternative school, get divorced and want to relocate, or their family gets bigger and so they begin looking for the bigger place. Some people decide to buy their very own home, some move in with their relatives or elderly parents, some relocate this can job change. Surprisingly the most common reasons why people move is that they are being ignored by their landlord. Not having good relationship using your tenants can lead to them moving out from a property. Tenant turnover is usually costly as unnecessary work and repairs should be done together with vacancy and advertising expenses need to be considered. To build a solid long term relationship along with your tenants it is important to have a very retention program in place.
Classify your tenants
Make a list 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 using the property class. What I mean by that is your best properties situated in A type neighborhoods probably will hold the best tenants. Good neighborhoods have more affluent, educated and responsible people that need a better life by themselves and their families. These are people who are always polite, respectful, pay on time and don't demand unnecessary reasons. They will also manage their very own home and minor work which needs to be done like minor paint, carpet cleaning service as well as get their own appliances. B type tenants can also be a great paying resident with some flows. Tenant type ought to always be classified by 2 factors: timeliness of rent payments and property maintenance. Lateness just isn't necessarily a poor factor providing you reach collect the rent together with late fees which actually is another supply of revenue. C type tenants are those who may have had eviction notices for non-payment, difficulties with maintenance because of increased damage. They are not responsible, their telephone number is rarely working, they forget to purchase utilities, plus they go from job to job always attempting to catch up using their bills. They don't maintain property well and you also could have received trash citations, violations and in many cases complaints from neighbors. D type tenant is the one you want OUT. These people are the type who are non-negotiable, usually have little or no education, get involved with illegal activities and often live in D type neighborhoods (war zones). In D type neighborhoods the top strategy is to rent your house to your Section 8 or government subsidized tenant as rent payments always turn into a problem.
80/20 RULE
Like in any business, you almost certainly spend 80% of their time on 20% of your tenants. The goal is always to analyze which tenants give you essentially the most trouble and acquire rid of them. It is not well worth the time for it to deal with headaches, extensive repairs, late payments and evictions. Get gone them, please take a reduction in the beginning making it be employed in the future. On the other side make sure you remember about your A and B type tenants and take some time to reward them if you are great residents.
Implement Retention Programs
While you can be busy handling problems of 20% of one's tenants, remember regarding the good ones. In the very end they are the type who make your living better and headache free. Remember, when browse around here pay promptly, there is also some expectations. When you might have 100k in your bank account, you expect your banker to learn you by your name; same relates to your residents. Memorize their names and their loved ones composition. Build rapport, reach know who they may be and what exactly are their interests. Treat them where did they do, make all necessary repairs on time and every time, follow-up using requests, and return their messages on time.
• Move In Welcome Package. First impression is exactly what sets the foundation for the long term relationship. When people move into your home makes it clean and no repairs are required. Assist these with getting their electric bills transferred over and follow-up to make sure they switched it within their name. We normally give small welcome gifts to new residents also. We also add a welcome package containing information they have to have, including our Rent to Own program! Welcome package can be an opportunity to upsell your customer in the end.
• Quarterly Check Ups. It is a great idea to complete quarterly property inspections to make sure the properties do not require any work or maintenance. Once people plan to move it is VERY hard to change their mind, so don't reach a point when it is usually to late and allocate sufficient time for the good residents. If you do not have time to inspect the exact property or see your residents, send them an e-mail, message or create a quick call to be sure of things. People always appreciate that.
• Avoid Frequent Rent Increases. If you've good paying tenants, leave them at the exact property and don't improve their rents frequently. Rent increases will in the end become a problem and may make your residents move. It is especially common when in recession when the home values drop and new landlords can offer lower rents as a result of lower home loan repayments. Rent increases are ok if you're offering initial discount on the rental or if you might have government subsidized tenants in which a small rent increase is allowed annually. One year we chose to increase our rents by $25 and now we lost several tenants. It cost thousands in unnecessary repairs, advertising costs, and vacancies! It is also your TIME that really must be looked at that you simply put into getting the home rerented. In the very end you don't know which kind of tenant you will end up with this means you will cost much more cash in the long term. To avoid which you can implement small "inflational" rent increases and justify them by increase inside your insurance rate, property tax increase or improvements/updates which were done at the property.
• 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 whenever they obtain it. We ALWAYS give gifts to tenants on Christmas and New Year. It is also a good idea to allow them to have a Home Depot/Lowes gift card or free carpet cleaners. It will improve your house and earn your tenants happy. A lot of the times it isn't the gift but attention you allow to folks, they enjoy it and a $25 gift will translate in great lasting relationship with your residents.
• Be Consistent and Do What You Promised. Managing rental properties can be a business and yes it needs to be treated like one. It is common sense but many people don't do what they promise. It makes landlord look unprofessional and irresponsible. It is your responsibility being on top of management unless you possess a management company also it can be a full time job! Simply do whatever you promised , nor promise if you can't 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 simply just flyers together with your properties by regular mail. It is important to transmit these to your "A" and "B" type tenants. Good people usually associate with like-minded people along with the likelihood is quite high you'll be getting one additional resident. Your tenants would not wish to put your relationship in danger and are not likely to recommend someone they don't know personally. As in almost any business you need to give incentives to your residents for referrals this means you will take the form of commission, referral fee, or rent discount.
• Renew Lease EARLY. Make it a habit for you renewal lease at the very least 60 day before the current lease expiration. At this point residents don't think about moving and will be very likely to sign another lease. If you do it very last minute chances are they are actually searching for another place and could have found something better or cheaper, or both. Put the dates with your calendar and don't forget for you the lease by mail/e-mail and confirm the receipt with tenant. You need to know as soon as possible in the event you current resident is moving out so you can start advertising the spot. It is also a fantastic idea to review your leave policies should they thought we would move.
Policies & Procedures.
Being nice does not mean you can avoid policies and procedures. Set expectations of your respective residents upfront and explain them everything they need to understand (it ought to be written within your lease agreement) about late payment policy, property maintenance, pet policy, sublet policy, tenant insurance, transfer procedures, security deposit policies, local laws and ordinances. People may not be aware of things they are doing wrong also it will make you look bad eventually. Set all expectations upfront and be nice later! Find a tenant retention program which works for you and implement it regularly, test unique. Remember individuals are many different and what works for one person might not work for another.
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