Whether you have a single apartment or multiple units to keep track of, managing rental properties is not an easy task at all. From maintaining upkeep to buying insurance, you have your work cut out for you every step of the way.

Due to this variety of responsibilities, managing good tenants seems like an impossible feat at times. This creates a scary picture for first-time property owners and seasoned landlords alike.

But when you follow property management best practices, you can easily retain good tenants for a long time. This makes sure that you not only keep your properties occupied but also that the property is cared for by reliable renters.

To help you reap these rewards, here are 5 tips for ensuring you have good tenants on your property.

1. Rent to reliable parties

Similar to performing sustainability checks while getting a car, ensuring long-term tenant retention takes form at the very beginning of the process. When you are renting your property to someone, make sure that they make for a dependable renter. Apart from inquiring about their past rental history, this also calls for doing some choice background checks.

For instance, running the best credit check for landlords lets you ensure that the potential tenant doesn’t have a poor credit history. Additionally, looking for eviction records lets you know if they have ever been evicted from a rental property. This lets you steer clear of any red flags and enables you to select potentially long-term tenants.

2. Establish proactive communication

Many tenants tend to leave their existing rental units due to poor services. Several property managers chalk that up to substandard upkeep and try to improve upon that aspect.

But another factor that often gets ignored is the lack of proactive communication. Even when the tenants understand that the property manager or landlord might be busy, it still doesn’t resolve any problems that they might be facing.

As a result, poor response time often makes tenants think that their complaints are not being heard. To make sure that you don’t drive away renters with a subpar response to complaints and inquiries, invest in a property manager texting app. This ensures that you can remain in touch with your tenants and establish yourself as someone they can count on at all times.

3. Pay attention to upkeep

As mentioned above, poor upkeep is a well-known problem across the rental real estate segment. But merely acknowledging the issue doesn’t resolve it. You have to take active steps to steer clear of this hurdle to long-term tenant retention. Similar to learning how to create a sustainable wardrobe, this aspect requires targeted attention on how to solve common property problems.

From managing various repair vendors to hiring a building supervisor, you can choose from multiple effective approaches. Apart from these traditional practices, you can also use a repair app for landlords for swift management of tenant complaints. This makes sure that you are able to deploy quick help for different property issues.

4. Enhance the value proposition

It’s typical for rental properties to come unfurnished. This gives tenants the flexibility to indulge in trendy home decor tips. With that being said, that approach not only asks for more time from renters, but also requires more financial investment from them. For landlords, it also translates to reduced rental income.

In contrast, furnishing your apartment through your own decor skills or with the expertise of interior design consultants offers a significant perk to tenants. Since they reap the rewards of comfortable and inspiring decor by simply living in your unit, finding a replacement is more difficult for them than stumbling upon an empty space with the same square footage. This goes a long way towards tenant retention while also increasing your rental income.

5. Offer renewal incentives

When the lease renewal date draws near, you should make it a point to reach out to your tenants. This gives you a chance to establish effective communication and understand what it would take for your renters to renew their lease. It may seem like a small step, but it might just be what your tenants are looking for in order to continue renting the unit.

The perks that you can offer may range from rent coupons to unit upgrades. It all depends upon how much you are willing to spend on the respective tenant. But in all cases, it can translate to the very factor that makes or breaks your lease renewal with the tenant.

Being mindful of these tips enhances your chances of retaining your tenants. In turn, you don’t have to scramble about finding new renters every now and then.

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