Ways of Keeping Your Tenants Long Term
As full-time Canadian real estate investors, we need to continuously focus on deals which keep paying us. We need to build a portfolio of properties which gives a regular passive income. This means we must utilize successful landlording techniques in order to secure long term tenants that are happy. This will also make your bank account happy.
When we find ourselves in the usually dreaded position of being a landlord, there are many ways to make this a much more pleasant experience. Most investors who are landlords do not enjoy the job. They do not really like their tenants, don’t like the maintenance and generally have a hard time with the whole process.
I say everything is energy and if you bring negative energy to landlording, guess what? Have you heard the expression: “there are no bad tenants….only bad landlords.” Think about that one. 🙂
There are ways to make this process more hands off, less labour intensive and thus…much more enjoyable.
Now, people have to rent because either they are in a financial situation that has been caused as a result of a situation in their life (such as a marriage failure), or they have poor spending habits, or are in a low-paying job, or are just not in a mindset to own. These are usually all good people. if you keep that attitude you may not be a landlord statistic and may enjoy the process.
There are ways of creating a better landlord-tenant relationship and a much more loyal tenant base. One is by utilizing incentives.
Tenant Incentives
What kind of incentives do I mean? They don’t have to be expensive or labour intensive but go a long way in solidifying good tenant relations.
The following are a few little things I have done to create excellent relationship:
- Note tenant birth dates and the birth dates of the tenant’s children. Recognize those with, at the very least, a card, a bottle of wine(not for the children), or a gift certificate for a dinner. It may cost $50, or even $100 dollars: but it is a small amount to pay to get a very, very appreciative and happy tenant. Not to mention, it is a write-off for your business.
- As we all know, repairs are a huge part of being a landlord, and can really affect our bottom line greatly. I give my tenants a repair request sheet making them responsible to outline what the particular repair is, when it occurred, how long has it been happening, etc. Paper trail.
Details
They must sign it and date it, then send it to me. I then tell them “if I have not taken care of this repair within ten days, I will rebate you your prorated daily rent after the ten days, until the repairs are complete. This incentive gives the tenant the assurance that the repair will be done, and done on time. If it isn’t then they will be getting money back. This builds confidence as a win-win situation, and builds a bond between you and your tenant.If there has been no repairs within a year, (meaning if the tenants has done their own little fixes), then I will give the tenant $100. This could be in the form of a gift card. (you have to inspect the property before giving the gift card)
So create a better situation between you and your tenants by creating incentives, and you will have a happy long-term tenant and a good relationship.
#propertyprophs
#realestateapprentice
#canadianrealestate
Keeping Your Tenants Longterm
