Notes

Retaining Good Tenants
All residents at the properties needs to be treated as the business partners since they are in charge of income, expenses along with your important thing cashflow. It is important to have a great retention program and reward good tenants.
Why do people move?
People move for a wide variety of reasons and sometimes they simply like to move and possess pointless in any way. They don't much like the neighborhood, need to move their kids to an alternative school, get divorced and require to relocate, or themselves gets bigger plus they begin looking to get a bigger place. Some people purchase their unique home, some relocate with their relatives or elderly parents, some relocate because of their job change. Surprisingly the most frequent reasons why people move is because they are ignored by their landlord. Not having good relationship with your tenants can lead to them moving out out of your property. Tenant turnover is usually costly as unnecessary work and repairs must be done together with vacancy and advertising expenses need to be looked at. To build a strong long lasting relationship using your tenants it is very important 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 that the best properties located in A type neighborhoods probably will possess the best tenants. Good neighborhoods attract more affluent, educated and responsible people that require a better life for themselves and their families. These are those who are always polite, respectful, pay by the due date and do not call for unnecessary reasons. They will also care for their unique home and minor work that should be done like minor paint, carpet cleaners and even get their very own appliances. B type tenants will also be a fantastic paying resident by incorporating flows. Tenant type should always be classified by 2 factors: timeliness of rent payments and property maintenance. Lateness is not necessarily a poor factor providing you arrive at collect the rent in addition to the late fees which turns out to be another supply of revenue. C type tenants are the types who've had eviction notices for non-payment, difficulty with maintenance as a result of increased wear and tear. They are not responsible, their telephone number isn't working, they forget to fund utilities, and so they go from job to job always attempting to catch up with their bills. They don't maintain property well and you also could have received trash citations, violations as well as complaints from neighbors. D type tenant may be the one you would like OUT. These people are the ones who are non-negotiable, most often have no education, get involved in illegal activities and usually live in D type neighborhoods (war zones). In D type neighborhoods the very best method is to rent the home to your Section 8 or government subsidized tenant as rent payments always turn into a problem.
80/20 RULE
Like in a business, you almost certainly spend 80% of your time on 20% of one's tenants. The goal would be to analyze which tenants cause you the most trouble and have rid of them. It is just not really worth the time for it to deal with headaches, extensive repairs, late payments and evictions. Get reduce them, please take a loss in the start making it be employed in the future. On the other side don't forget about your A and B type tenants and take some time for it to reward them for being great residents.
Implement Retention Programs
While you may be busy handling problems of 20% of the tenants, remember in regards to the good ones. In the very end they are the types who you could make your living better and headache free. Remember, when property management doncaster east pay by the due date, there is also some expectations. When you've got 100k with your bank account, you expect your banker to know you because of your name; same refers to your residents. Memorize their names and their loved ones composition. Build rapport, get to know who they are and exactly what are their interests. Treat them where did they do, make all necessary repairs by the due date every time, followup using their requests, and return their messages on time.
• Move In Welcome Package. First impression is what sets the foundation for the long-term relationship. When people move into your home make sure it is clean and no repairs are expected. Assist all of them with getting their bills transferred over and follow up to ensure they switched it to their name. We normally give small welcome gifts to new residents at the same time. We also incorporate a welcome package which has all the they have to have, including our Rent to Own program! Welcome package can be an opportunity to upsell your customer in the long run.
• Quarterly Check Ups. It is a great idea to accomplish quarterly property inspections making sure the properties don't need any work or maintenance. Once people opt to move it is VERY difficult to change their mind, so don't reach a point when it is usually to late and allocate enough time on 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, message or produce a quick phone call to be sure of things. People always appreciate that.
• Avoid Frequent Rent Increases. If you have good paying tenants, leave them at the home and don't increase their rents frequently. Rent increases will in the end turn into a problem and may you could make your residents move. It is especially common when in recession when the property values drop and new landlords have the ability to offer lower rents on account of lower mortgage repayments. Rent increases are ok in case you are offering initial discount on your own rental or if you have government subsidized tenants in which a small rent increase is allowed annually. One year we chose to increase all of our rents by $25 and we lost several tenants. It cost 1000s of dollars in unnecessary repairs, advertising costs, and vacancies! It is also your TIME that really must be taken into consideration that you just 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 a lot 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 were done at the home.
• 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 commemorate people after they obtain it. We ALWAYS give gifts to tenants on Christmas and New Year. It is also a great idea to give them a Home Depot/Lowes gift card or free rug cleaning. It will improve your house and make your tenants happy. A lot of the times it is just not the gift but attention you give to people, they regards plus a $25 gift will translate in great long-term relationship using your residents.
• Be Consistent and Do What You Promised. Managing rental properties is a business plus it needs to be treated like one. It is common sense but more and more people don't do the things they promise. It makes landlord look unprofessional and irresponsible. It is your responsibility to be together with management if you do not possess a management company and yes it is a full time job! Simply do whatever you promised and don't 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 simply just flyers using your properties by regular mail. It is important to deliver the crooks to your "A" and "B" type tenants. Good people usually escort like-minded people and the chances are high you'll be getting one additional resident. Your tenants would not desire to put your relationship in danger and so are unlikely to recommend someone they don't know personally. As in almost any business you need to give incentives to your residents for referrals and it can be in the sort of commission, referral fee, or rent discount.
• Renew Lease EARLY. Make it a habit to deliver renewal lease at the very least sixty day prior to the current lease expiration. At this point residents do not think about moving and will also be very likely to sign another lease. If you do it very last minute likelihood is they are already seeking another place and probably have found something better or cheaper, or both. Put the dates with your calendar and remember to send the lease by mail/e-mail and make sure the receipt with tenant. You need to learn as early as possible should you current resident is moving out so you can start advertising the area. It is also an excellent idea to go over your leave policies if they decided to 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 know (it should be written inside your lease agreement) about overdue policy, property maintenance, pet policy, sublet policy, tenant insurance, leave procedures, security deposit policies, local laws and ordinances. People most likely are not conscious of things they certainly wrong and it will cause you to look bad eventually. Set all expectations upfront and become nice later! Find a tenant retention program which fits your life-style and implement it regularly, test several things. Remember individuals are all different and what works for one person may not work for another.
Homepage: http://www.masonre.com.au/