As a rental property owner, you are likely aware that renter retention is necessary for long-term success. Not only do high turnover rates increase costs, but they can also influence the stability of your investment property in various ways. Therefore, resident retention should be a top priority for landlords and rental property owners alike. It’s good to know that a few easy, established strategies can make a big difference in keeping residents content and willing to renew their leases every year. We’ve collected some great tips for boosting resident retention and ensuring your properties stay profitable and flourishing.
Build Trust Between Renters and Landlords
In the rental industry, a huge part of what owners and landlords do revolves around building relationships with people. Effective communication and a feeling of trust between a renter and their landlord are key to keeping long-term retention.
As a property owner, you can build a good relationship with your renters by keeping in touch frequently and positively, maintaining open lines of communication, responding to their demands promptly, and checking in with them from time to time. It’s essential to find a balance, but staying responsive to your renter can really demonstrate that you care about their safety and might encourage them to stay in their rental home longer.
Ensure the Property is Properly Maintained
Along with cultivating a positive relationship with your renters, staying on top of your property maintenance and repairs is also imperative. These two policies work really well together, mainly when striving to improve retention rates.
Poor property upkeep is among the top reasons why renters leave, principally if they have made maintenance requests that have been ignored. Moreover, proactive maintenance can reduce costs by avoiding costly emergency repairs and demonstrating to your renter that you care about giving them 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
Obviously, finding renters who will take good care of your property can be quite difficult. However, you can cautiously screen your applicants before signing a lease. Screening renters necessary as it helps you find out if a potential renter is reliable, accountable, and a good fit for your property.
A great screening should give you a detailed look at your renter’s finances, credit history, and rental history and helping you figure out any previous concerns. Just keep in mind to ask for and check their references, like former landlords, any criminal history in your state, any criminal history in your state, and any states where they’ve lived before.
Provide Incentives for Lease Renewal
A fantastic approach to encourage lease renewals is to offer incentives to your current residents. It’s a bit disappointing that some rental property owners leverage the lease renewal to raise their rental rate or add boundaries that leave their renter unhappy or unwilling to renew. While a rental rate increase might be necessary at times, it’s important that it remains reasonable and comes with a clear clarification of the value the tenant will receive in return.
For instance, you might highlight recent property upgrades, like new appliances, improved services, or enhanced safety systems. It might be a good idea to think about 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 little action can go a long way toward making your resident feel valued and help build a sense of trust.
When to Call the Experts
These proven strategies can significantly improve resident retention, decrease turnover expenditures, upsurge property values, and foster more stable, long-term tenancies. For sure, managing a rental property and resident relationship can be quite problematic, especially when it calls for time and effort that you might not have to spare.
At Real Property Management Instant Equity (SW Michigan), we are conscious that managing rental property and resident relationships can be quite a difficult and takes time and effort that you might not have to spare. That’s why we’re here to give help. Our team is equipped to assist you in boosting resident retention in St Joseph and areas nearby. Contact us online or call 269-210-3771.
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.
