A recent post delved into some of the reasons tenants move and the concerns it causes when they do. In this post I want to look at how we can keep our tenants, especially the good ones.
If I had to guess, I would say that about 95% of my tenants have been good and ones I have wanted to keep. What do I mean by good? By good I mean that they pay their rent on time, they do not cause any problems or drama, they keep their places nice and clean and they let me know when something is wrong. Otherwise, they mind their own business and keep to themselves. These are the types of tenants I want to keep. And keeping them requires some effort on the part of the landlord.
Fix It
This is likely the number one reason that tenants move. You can read it again and again on blogs, on forums and in the headlines – “My landlord never fixed anything.” Now I get that some tenants are overly demanding and some will never be satisfied. Those tenants I happily let move on to become someone else’s problem. But, by not fixing things you can actually induce good paying, low drama tenants into moving. This turnover costs money. Money on top of the fixing the things that you did not fix. Maintenance is hard and can be expensive, there is no doubt about that. But, vacant units that constantly turn over are even more difficult to your bottom line.
Be Responsive
Do you hate waiting on the phone to speak to customer service with your cable or wireless provider? Do you feel like you are noting but a number to them and that they could care less about your problem? Your tenant does too and the last thing they want is to get the same experience from their landlord. Customer service is a part of this landlording business. I’m not saying you should always bend over backwards to please your tenants, but just being a bit responsive can go a long way.
Work With Them
Good tenants sometimes have bad things happen to them. When they do, they often have to make a choice between paying the rent, fixing the car, perhaps keeping the lights on. If you have a tenant who has been good to you, perhaps it is wise to return the favor when they hit a hard time. Yes, I know, I do not like being a bank or providing incentives to not get paid, but the costs of a good tenant moving can be so high that it might be worth it to you. How far you work with your tenants is up to you. In the past we have worked with tenants to set up payment plans to help them over a bad hump and get them back on tract. Small business landlords can be real flexible, while larger landlord operations may not be able to do so.
Don’t Nickel And Dime Them
No one likes to feel they are being taken advantage of. And people hate it even more if they think that they are being unfairly exploited. While rents are on the rise most everywhere (along with our costs as well) it is perhaps not the best policy to consistently raise rents as often and as high as you can. Sure, you could try to squeeze every last dime out of your tenants, but they can also get fed up and move out as well. There is often a fine line here. Think and tread carefully before crossing it.
Do Not Be Their Friend
Your tenant is not your friend and you as the landlord should not try to be theirs. I’m not saying that you have to be surly or unkind. What I am saying is that what you have with your tenant is a business relationship, not a personal one. You should strive to keep things on that level. Tenants want to feel like they are been treated in a fair and consistent manner. Trust me when I say that they will notice when other tenants get special or privileged treatment. You will be tempted to give special treatment if you become overly friendly with your tenants. They will expect it! Avoid this situation by not becoming too friendly and by being firm but fair.
Working to retain our good tenants is an essential part of our business. Tenants can make it hard sometimes, but we landlords can also make it hard on ourselves.
Kevin Perk is the founder and publisher of Smarterlandlording.com. He is the author of Advice From Experience To New Real Estate Investors. Subscribe to Smarterlandlording here. Contact Kevin here.
Agreed. I have been practicing all of that and it has been working fine. Longest staying tent is in her 10th year and there are others staying for 5, 6, 7 years. I noticed that if the tenant stayed there for a year without any issues then they’ll stay longer otherwise they’ll be gone within the first year. I am not sure if I am the only one noticing this.
Hi Kay,
Thanks for commenting!
I agree with what you say. Some folks just like to move. Others are never satisfied. It can be hard to weed those folks out in the application and screening process. There are red flags that we look for to so so such as a lot of complaints or frequent past moves but the red flags are not always so visible.
Plus providing customer service, which is part of what we do, is just hard. It is hard to keep everyone satisfied every time, all the time. Mistakes will be made or things will not be done up to someone’s level of approval. This part of the business is I think perhaps in part what you may be getting at and what we landlords should try to work on (in addition to everything else we do) to help improve our bottom line and keep good tenants.