Happiness is something we’re all after, and if we can deliver it to another person, we end up feeling pretty good about ourselves.
As a rental property owner in St. Louis, you need to be thinking about your tenants like you’d think about customers in a business. You want to make them happy. Why? Because happy tenants pay rent on time. They take care of your property. They renew their lease agreements.
All of those things save you time and money.
Focus on tenant happiness with good communication, clear expectations, conveniences such as online rental payments, and responsive maintenance.
Here’s what professional St. Louis property managers like us do to keep our tenants happy with where they live.
Keep Communication Open and Positive
Your tenants shouldn’t hear from you only when something is wrong.
Keep them happy by checking in with them from time to time. This will help you better understand the condition of your property and it will also provide an opportunity to connect with your renters. Make sure they’re comfortable and ask if there’s anything they need. Share any news you receive about interesting things that may be going on in the neighborhood that might interest them.
Tenant relationships are an important part of retention. If you need to call your resident because rent is a couple of days late, be empathetic and understanding. Talk about making a payment arrangement or collecting a partial payment now and the rest later. The way you communicate will have an impact on how they see you.
Respond to tenant phone calls and messages. Even if you can’t help them right at that moment, explain that you’ll need to do some research and talk to some other people, and you’ll get right back to them when you can. Don’t leave them hanging feeling unheard. It’s demoralizing and will lead to a vacancy at the end of the lease term.
Establish Your Expectations
Tenants want to succeed in your rental home. No one sets out to be a bad tenant.
Make sure they understand what you expect from them. Go over the lease agreement in detail before they move in. Reinforce your rent collection policy, the way you expect maintenance to be reported, and what you need them to do, whether it’s changing air filters regularly or keeping utility accounts current or taking care of the lawn or the pest control.
Maintain consistency. Everything you tell your tenants must also be in the lease agreement.
Online Rent Payments and Maintenance Requests
Tenants are happy when their lives are manageable.
Online rental payments are a huge benefit to tenants. They can pay rent from the comfort and convenience of their home, and they can do so at any time of the night or day. With a secure and convenient online portal, tenants will be happy to make payments on time.
Routine maintenance requests should also be made online. They aren’t going to want to call you every time the garbage disposal gets stuck or a toilet leaks. Make things easy for them, and they’ll be happy.
Provide Responsive Maintenance
The most common reason that a tenant is unhappy is maintenance.
When repairs are not responded to in a timely manner, tenants get upset.
Check your system for accepting maintenance requests. Can your tenants get in touch with you right away? Is there a written procedure to request routine maintenance so that the issue is not forgotten or pushed off?
Make maintenance a priority, and your tenants’ happiness will improve. Let them know their comfort and satisfaction is important by taking care of even minor issues with a sense of urgency. Make sure your vendors are licensed, insured, and professional. Follow up to ensure the work was done to your tenant’s satisfaction.
These are just a few ways to keep your great tenants in place. If you’d like to hear more strategies about how to develop good tenant relationships and keep St. Louis renters happy, contact us at Amoso Properties.
