Vacancy Issues: Keep Your Tenants In
Losing tenants is, at one point, inevitable. Whether they leave because of dissatisfaction or due to circumstances that you have no control over, the most important thing is to know how to keep the vacancy rate relatively low.
Vacancy is a disadvantage as you have to shed off money for mortgage, taxes, maintenance and repair without income flowing in. Even though vacancy is something you can’t avoid, you can do something to prevent it from happening, or at least prevent your business from getting bad feedbacks. A good reputation will invite new tenants in the future.
How exactly do you keep tenants in? If a tenant is leaving due to incontrollable circumstance such as promotion or cross-country job transfers, no need to stop them. This is not something you can decide. On the other hand, if a tenant is leaving because they are unsatisfied, then this is something in your control, and making them leave proves that you are either not competent enough or there’s something wrong with your property or the way you manage it. You have to put yourself in your tenant’s shoe and figure out what it is that they want and can make them stay.
Normally, tenants would want a clean property in good condition. If you have the capacity to beautify the place further, perhaps add some greens that are good for the tired and weary eyes, then take the liberty to do so. And if you can add some facilities in the neighborhood, a pool perhaps, or a nice park, or a gym, that would cater a lot of people to live in the area especially if facilities like this, which will normally cost them to spend a bit more, will come off free if they live in your neighborhood. Instruct your property manager to treat the people nicely, show himself to them, if possible, every day, and have him engage with them conversations that will pull down the wall that divides the management from the tenants. This way, the tenants would feel comfortable with the person who manages the area, and would not feel awkward should they have repair concerns. However, this should not be overdone so as to overlook the business. Being too kind is not good either.
Before you decide to go tell all of your friends about your property and start advertising about it, be sure you already have everything in place. The house is nice and clean and in good condition, everything is working properly, it has a pretty look from inside out, and with some greens if possible. While having tenants is crucial for your business, you might as well lose them should they realize in the long run that the property is not as good as what you told them. You have to present your property at its best and be honest with the tenant so you won’t have to suffer from money back, and months and months of vacancy. Put in mind that losing tenants is inevitable, but even the inevitable can be minimized. Do your homework and you’ll definitely come out of every situation just fine.
