As a rental property owner, you are cognizant that renter retention is one of the keys to long-term success. Not only do high turnover rates increase costs, but they can also mess up the stability of your investment property in other ways. As a result, resident retention should be a top priority for landlords and rental property owners. Opportunely, a few straightforward, time-tested strategies can go a long way toward keeping residents content and excited to renew their leases each year. Here are our best recommendations for boosting resident retention and guaranteeing your properties stay profitable and flourishing.
Build Trust Between Renters and Landlords
In the rental industry, so much of what owners and landlords do is about relationships with people. Long-term retention depends on communication and a sense of trust between a renter and their landlord.
As a property owner, you can build a good relationship with your renters by communicating with them often (and positively), maintaining open lines of communication, answering their demands swiftly, and checking in with them periodically. While you are hesitant to go too far, staying responsive to your renter can help them feel like you care about their safety and push them to stay in their rental home longer.
Ensure the Property is Properly Maintained
On top of cultivating a positive relationship with your renters, prioritizing your property maintenance and repairs is equally critical. These two ideas support one other, mainly when it comes to improving retention rates.
Not having enough property upkeep is one of the top reasons why renters leave, especially if their maintenance requests have been abandoned. Besides that, proactive maintenance can reduce costs by avoiding costly emergency repairs and proving to your renter that you want them to live in a well-kept property. This, in turn, may motivate them to take good care of the property, which can also protect the value of your property.
Invest in Thorough Tenant Screening
Unquestionably, finding renters who will take good care of your property is difficult to accomplish. However, you can comprehensively screen your applicants before signing a lease. Screening renters is important because it may help you evaluate whether a possible renter is honest, answerable, and a good fit for your property.
An in-depth background check should deliver a detailed look at your renter’s finances, credit history, and rental history and alert you to any previous issues. Just be sure to ask for and check their references, including prior landlords, any criminal history in your state, and any states where they’ve recently lived.
Provide Incentives for Lease Renewal
Incentives for your present resident are a great way to encourage lease renewals. Unhappily, numerous rental property owners utilize the lease renewal to raise their rental rate or employ limitations that make their renter unhappy or unwilling to renew. Even though a rental rate increase may not always be averted, it should be reasonable and coupled with a clarification of the value the tenant will receive in return.
For illustration, you might highlight recent property upgrades, such as new appliances, expanded facilities, or improved security systems. You may also try giving your resident a small discount for renewing early, a free carpet cleaning, or even a minor unit upgrade, such as fresh paint or new fixtures. Even a small contribution can go a long way toward making your resident feel valued and keeping a sense of trust.
When to Call the Experts
These proven strategies can drastically improve resident retention, reduce turnover costs, increase property values, and generate more secure, long-term tenancies. Unquestionably, managing a rental property and resident relationships can be problematic, necessitating time and effort that you may not have.
At Real Property Management Vesta, we recognize that managing rental property and resident relationships can be complicated and time-consuming. This is why we’re here to give assistance. Our staff is ready to assist you in boosting resident retention in Byron and its vicinity. Contact us online or call 478-257-7055.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
