If you are a small-scale real estate investor, you know how important it is stay close to your tenants. You can learn about their problems and solve the issues quickly. This helps in developing close relations with your tenants. In fact, you learn how small things can help you in developing strong bonds with your tenants. You will be surprised how can attract and retain long term good tenants by showing that you are a caring landlord.
Call from manager is an opportunity for you
Most landlords have someone looking after the maintenance of their rental properties. These property managers usually call landlords to report about the issues and the progress of the repairs. As most calls are usually about t he cost involved with repairs, landlords become apprehensive whenever they receive a call in the middle of the night from their property managers. However, these calls are not irritating all the time. As a landlord, you can take these calls as an opportunity to learn new things and to try and become a better landlord for your tenants. Let us understand this with the help of an example.
Suppose you receive a call at night from your property manager that the kitchen faucet in one of your units has started to malfunction and it needs replacement.
Put yourself in the shoes of your tenant
You are a landlord but also a human being. You know how many times a kitchen faucet is opened and closed in a single day. It is used so much that you forget that it is also an appliance that can develop a snag at any time. You remember how all hell broke loose at your home when kitchen faucet developed a snag and your wife started to scream at you. Thus you know from your own experience that it is easy to lose your temper when a gadget or appliance develops an issue. You can easily relate with the condition of your tenant who has a non-working faucet inside his kitchen. You can use this situation to your advantage by showing how caring a landlord you are. All you must do is to put yourself in the condition of your tenant and lend a helping hand.
Your property manager could have easily gone to the market and purchased a cheap faucet to replace the old faucet. Herein lays the catch. Ask yourself if you would use this kind of a faucet in your kitchen. Your tenant wants a faucet with a goose-neck so that he has large space under it to comfortably wash the utensils. Such a faucet also helps in cleaning the sink in a more efficient manner.
There are two important lessons to be learnt from this short example. If your tenants tell you what kind of faucet they want in their kitchens, they are helping you in becoming a better landlord. By buying and installing such a faucet, you can show them how much you care for their needs. Also, you know that Millennial's have different needs than tenants form the earlier generation.
As a landlord, you need to realize that the house is your tenants’ and not yours if they are living inside it. By spending a few more dollars in buying the kind of faucet your tenants want, you can win over their love and make sure that they continue to live in your property for a much longer time period. By being attentive and helpful, you can easily become a better landlord.
If you’d like to talk more about property management, or you need help with Everest Property Management, please contact us at Everest Realty.
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As a top producing Realtor and Property Manager; Terry specializes in sales, extensive construction homes, rentals, REO’s, short sales, and all aspects of Real Estate. After graduating the University of Michigan with a master in MBA, Terry continued his endeavor and now has over 15+ years of experience in the Real Estate world. If there is anything that has to do with Real Estate and sales, you can always be sure of Terry to provide important, specialized knowledge.
