Better tenant retention leads to better ROI. When tenants renew their lease agreements and stay in place, the rental income continues to come in consistently without a month or two where you have no rent to count on. Retention also means fewer turnover costs, which can often be hundreds and even thousands of dollars.
How can you be better about retaining your best Brentwood tenants? Here’s our expert advice.
Screen for Long-Term Brentwood Tenants
All of your tenant screening must comply with fair housing laws. After you have identified a qualified tenant who meets all your initial criteria in terms of credit, income, and criminal background, you should think about whether that tenant is looking for a long-term place to live or whether you’ll likely be looking for someone else in a year. Do they move around a lot, or are they likely to stay in place for a few years? Check rental histories as part of your screening process.
Tenant Retention and Maintenance
Responsive maintenance goes a long way towards retaining tenants. When your residents are stuck waiting for weeks to have minor repairs addressed, they don’t have a good reason to stay. When they need to remind you about maintenance requests they’ve made, they feel like you don’t care about their experience.
Increase retention by being proactive and responsive when it comes to emergency maintenance and even routine repairs. Have a system in place so tenants can report issues in writing. Then, get in touch with them right away so they know you’ve received the request. Explain what your plan is to take care of the issue. Always follow up after the work is done to make sure everything is satisfactory.
This will make a difference.
Is Your Brentwood Rental Property Pet-Friendly?
One of the benefits to allowing pets in your property is that you’ll see higher retention rates.
Pet owners typically stay in place longer than non-pet owners and it’s easy to understand why. Finding a rental home that allows pets is sometimes a challenge. Tenants won’t want to pay another pet fee in a year. So, when you open your property to pets, you’re likely to keep your pet-owing tenants for longer than a single year.
Keep Rental Increases Reasonable
Rents are rising, and your tenants will surely expect that when they renew their lease agreement, they’re going to pay more. In a less competitive market, tenants will generally wait and see how much rent is going up before they decide to renew a lease.
In the current market, fewer tenants are leaving because rent prices are so high and inventory is so tight. But, you don’t want to increase the rent too much, or your tenants will start looking around. You also don’t want to price them out of their own home. If they can’t afford the rent, it’s going to cause problems for them and for you.
Research the market and set your increase just below the market rents for similar properties. Tenants will know they’re getting a deal, and you’ll still earn more than you did the previous year. This keeps everyone in place.
We know tenant retention is good news for investors and property owners who are mindful of their costs. If you’d like to hear some additional Brentwood property management advice, please contact us at Parks Property Management.