Notes

Retaining Good Tenants
All residents at the properties ought to be treated as your business partners since they are in charge of income, expenses plus your important thing cash flow. It is important to have a great retention program and reward good tenants.
Why do people move?
People move for so many different reasons and quite often they merely prefer to move and have silly whatsoever. They don't like the neighborhood, need to move their kids to an alternative school, get divorced and wish to relocate, or their family gets bigger plus they check for the bigger place. Some people end up buying their very own home, some move in using their relatives or elderly parents, some relocate because of their job change. Surprisingly the most typical reason people move is that they are ignored by their landlord. Not having good relationship together with your tenants can lead to them moving out from the property. Tenant turnover is usually costly as unnecessary work and repairs have to be done as well as the vacancy and advertising expenses need to be considered. To build a solid long term relationship using your tenants it is important to use a 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 this can be the best headache free and D being the worst nightmare ever. Most likely your tenants class with coincide with the property class. What I mean by that that the best properties situated in A type neighborhoods will probably have the best tenants. Good neighborhoods attract more affluent, educated and responsible those who want a better life for themselves along with their families. These are people that are always polite, respectful, pay by the due date and do not require unnecessary reasons. important source will also manage their unique home and minor work which should be done like minor paint, carpet cleaning or perhaps get their own appliances. B type tenants are also an excellent paying resident with some flows. Tenant type should always be indexed by 2 factors: timeliness of rent payments and property maintenance. Lateness is not necessarily an undesirable factor providing you get to collect the rent in addition to the late fees which actually is another supply of revenue. C type tenants are the types who may have had eviction notices for non-payment, issues with maintenance as a result of increased deterioration. They are not responsible, their telephone number is rarely working, they forget to pay for utilities, plus they move from job to job always attempting to catch up with their bills. They don't maintain property well and you also might have received trash citations, violations and in many cases complaints from neighbors. D type tenant is the one you would like OUT. These people are the type who are non-negotiable, most often have little if any education, get involved in illegal activities and in most cases live in D type neighborhoods (war zones). In D type neighborhoods the most effective approach 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 any business, you most likely spend 80% of energy on 20% of one's tenants. The goal is always to analyze which tenants cause you one of the most trouble and get eliminate them. It isn't worth the time for it to handle headaches, extensive repairs, late payments and evictions. Get gone them, please take a decrease in the start making it are employed in the long term. On the other side don't forget about your A and B type tenants and take some time and energy to reward them for being great residents.
Implement Retention Programs
While you could be busy handling problems of 20% of your respective tenants, make sure you remember in regards to the good ones. In the very end they are the type who build your living better and headache free. Remember, when we pay promptly, there is also some expectations. When you've got 100k in your checking account, you expect your banker to learn you because of your name; same pertains to your residents. Memorize their names and themselves composition. Build rapport, reach know who they are and what exactly are their interests. Treat them the way they do, make all necessary repairs promptly and each time, follow up with their requests, and return their messages punctually.
• Move In Welcome Package. First impression is what sets the foundation for the long lasting relationship. When people move into your house help it become clean and no repairs are expected. Assist them with getting their electric bills transferred over and check in to make certain they switched it inside their name. We normally give small welcome gifts to new residents also. We also add a welcome package containing information they must have, including our Rent to Own program! Welcome package is surely an opportunity to upsell your customer in the future.
• Quarterly Check Ups. It is a fantastic idea to accomplish quarterly property inspections and make sure the properties do not require any work or maintenance. Once people plan to move it is VERY tough to change their mind, so don't get to a point when it is to late and allocate sufficient time to your good residents. If you do not have time to inspect the property or visit your residents, send them an e-mail, word or produce a quick telephone call to evaluate things. People always appreciate that.
• Avoid Frequent Rent Increases. If you've got good paying tenants, leave them at the property and do not improve their rents frequently. Rent increases may ultimately turned into a problem and can help make your residents move. It is especially common during times of recession when the house values drop and new landlords have the ability to offer lower rents due to lower mortgage repayments. Rent increases are ok if you're offering initial discount on your own rental or if you have government subsidized tenants when a small rent increase is allowed annually. One year we chose to increase each 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 account that you placed into getting the exact property rerented. In the very end you don't know what type of tenant you'll be with this means you will cost more money in the future. To avoid that you simply 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 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 celebrate people when they get it. We ALWAYS give gifts to tenants on Christmas and New Year. It is also a good idea to provide them with a Home Depot/Lowes gift card or free carpet cleaning service. It will improve your property and earn your tenants happy. A lot of the times it is not the gift but attention you give to the people, they appreciate it as well as a $25 gift will translate in great lasting relationship together with your residents.
• Be Consistent and Do What You Promised. Managing rental properties can be a business plus 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 on top of management if you don't have a management company also it can be a full time job! Simply do that which you promised and 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 flyers along with your properties by regular mail. It is important to send these to your "A" and "B" type tenants. Good people usually escort like-minded people along with the chances are high you may be getting yet another good resident. Your tenants would not want to put your relationship at an increased risk and therefore are unlikely to recommend someone they don't know personally. As in any business you need to give incentives in your residents for referrals this means you will have the sort of commission, referral fee, or rent discount.
• Renew Lease EARLY. Make it a habit to transmit renewal lease a minimum of sixty day ahead of the current lease expiration. At this point residents don't believe about moving and will be more likely to sign another lease. If you do it eleventh hour itrrrs likely that they already are seeking another place and may 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 ensure the receipt with tenant. You need to know as quickly as possible in case you current resident is moving out to help you start advertising the spot. It is also an excellent idea to review your transfer policies if they decided to move.
Policies & Procedures.
Being nice does not always mean you can avoid policies and procedures. Set expectations of your residents upfront and explain them everything they need to learn (it ought to be in writing within your lease agreement) about late payment policy, property maintenance, pet policy, sublet policy, tenant insurance, move out procedures, security deposit policies, local laws and ordinances. People might not be aware of things they certainly wrong and it will cause you to 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 numerous things. Remember people are many different and what works for starters person might not help another.
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