Is tenant turnover a problem your property is facing? If so, welcome to the club; you’re not the only landlord with this problem, but you’ve taken a huge first step in seeking help to persuade tenants to renew a lease.
We’re going to offer you some landlord tips that will improve your tenant retention rates starting today!
Why Does Tenant Retention Matter?
If you’re looking to improve your bottom line as a landlord, one of the main ways to do this is to retain tenants. By securing lease renewals, you can save money used for marketing materials to get tenants into your building and improve your overall budget.
Marketing isn’t the only reason that tenant retention matters. It also matters because the cost of tenant turnovers is considerably high and will only continue to climb in the years to come.
Improving your tenant retention will ensure you make the most of the limited time you have. Instead of spending an excess of time showing your properties or screening new tenants, you’ll dedicate time to other business tasks that need to be completed.
Keep this in mind when a tenant is happy; it increases the chances of them continuing to call your property their home. With this information, it’s time to check out some tips that will help you improve your tenant retention rates.
Screen Your Tenants
Screening your tenants is an essential part of tenant retention. If you stop to think about it, tenant retention is at the bottom of the list when it comes to the issues you’ll run into with your tenants.
When you screen tenants, you’ll receive critical information about tenant:
- Criminal history
- Proof of income
- Past landlord references
It’s essential to screen your tenants to ensure you make a note of red flags in the tenant’s past. This reduces the chances of dealing with tenants that will cause damages to your property or are late paying their rent each month.
Ensure you have questions ready to ask as you check their references. Speaking with the tenant’s references will give you considerable insight into whether this tenant is the right tenant for your property.
Put Customer Service First
58% of consumers state they will change companies purely based on customer service interactions with staff members. It doesn’t matter how great your property is if you don’t put customer service first.
Your staff should be trained on the proper way to provide customer service to tenants. Examples of excellent customer service include:
- Providing helpful information when tenants call the property office
- Attending to maintenance requests promptly
- Offer an easy screening process for potential tenants
It would be best if you used every interaction with your tenants as a way to improve upon your initial impression. A little customer service goes a long way and enhances the tenant experience.
Offering quality customer service will also ensure that you continue to create and nurture the relationships you’ve made within your community.
Offer an Incentive
Everyone loves an incentive and the same goes for tenants you want to live in your properties. When leases come to an end, it’s an important time for property management because it’s the time when tenants decide whether or not to renew their lease.
There are several types of incentives you could consider, including offering rent discounts. As you market this incentive, you’ll let tenants know that for a limited time, only they’re able to renew their lease and receive a lower rental price or a type of discount for renewing.
Another incentive you can focus on when marketing to tenants is the amenities your property has. By doing this, you’ll pique people’s interest to come and check out the rest of the property.
Stay Consistent With Your Rental Prices
Tenants don’t like it when their rent increases without warning each year. If you want to ensure they continue to live on your property, it’s essential to keep your rental rates consistent.
Understandably, you’re focused on increasing your profit, but constantly increasing the rent for tenants is an overly aggressive way to do this. We recommend you take time to research the area you live in and make a note of the rental prices in other areas.
This will ensure you’re not increasing your rates too frequently and are staying just under your competitors, attracting more tenants to your property. As you continue to monitor the market prices in the area, you should also think about the upgrades other properties are making.
The last thing you want is your property amenities to be outdated and more expensive than newer properties in the area.
Provide Tenants With Exit Surveys
If there’s something wrong with the way you’re managing your properties, how will you know if you don’t conduct an exit survey? Your survey should have several questions that will help you get to the bottom of why tenants aren’t renewing their leases.
Is there anything you and your staff could’ve done differently to retain the tenant? Was the tenant satisfied with the property they were living in?
Equipped with these questions, you can ensure you make the necessary changes to retain future tenants.
Ways to Get Tenants to Renew a Lease
There are several ways to get a tenant to renew a lease, including offering incentives and ensuring you always provide the best customer service possible. The thing you need to remember is that tenant retention begins with the screening process.
If you’re looking for a way to streamline the screening process, contact us here at RentSafe. We want to help you find the right tenants for your properties every time!
