As a rental property owner, you know that vacancies are one of your worst enemies. Not only do vacancies cost you in terms of lost rent, but continued costs preparing the property for the next tenant over and over again. But what can you do to keep your turnover rate under control?
Let’s face it, we all want to feel we are important when dealing with someone such as a landlord. You should treat each of your tenants in the same manner as you would want to be treated, this can go a long way towards giving them a good reason to extend their leases rather than move on.
Your tenants have their own responsibilities to deal with, jobs, kids, school, daycare, and many others that take up enough of their time. When a problem occurs in their rental home, andit doesn’t get taken care of in a timely manner, it only adds to the tenant’s stress and can drive them over the edge!
A simple repair such as a leaky toilet can lead to significant costs and create a very unhappy tenant.
If your tenant has to try and track you down, this is the start of a bad situation. Then after they finally find you, it takes you several more days to find a contractor, andfor them to schedule an acceptable appointment to complete the repair, you are not going to have a happy tenant. It only gets worse if the vendor you choose has been given a budget and has to reach out to you if the cost goes over.
By the time the entire process is over and the simple leak that took less than an hour to fix is complete, it is possible for weeks to have passed. Imagine how you would feel if this happened to you. Now you have put yourself in your tenant’s shoes. But let’s add even more fuel to the fire. What if you are the type of owner who wants multiple estimates before you approve the repairs.
Now that you can see where we are going with this. More time, more vendors in and out of your tenant’s house, more time they must take off to be there to let them in, and of course, a far less chance that your tenant will have any intention of renewing their lease.
If you are going to manage your properties rather than hire a property management service. You need to be available to your tenants on a 24/7 basis. When they call you with a repair issue, don’t put it aside with an “I’ll get around to it” attitude. This is headed down the wrong path. Instead, you must make contactinga vendor immediately your highest priority. Be sure you give the vendor a reasonable budget to work with, andyou are available should they need to call you.
Handling repair requests from your tenants isone of the best ways to create that bond of trust and loyalty needed to help ensure yourproperties remain occupied and the rents keep rolling in!
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