Retaining Tenants with Property Management in North San Diego County

Prolonging the Magic: How to Hold on to Amazing Tenants

Your relationship with your tenants can make or break your experience as a Carlsbad area landlord. Difficult renters can make an otherwise great property and market a challenging investment, while quality tenants can salvage an otherwise sour situation. Writers have spilled plenty of ink on the topic of how you can hurry bad tenants along, but what can you do about renters that you'd like to keep? Some sources place annual rental turnover as high as 54% a year nationally. With all of the costs that go into renting a vacant property, it can be much cheaper in the long run to retain a tenant who has proven to be a reliable partner. So what can you do to keep your properties in the 46% that don't turn over?

Provide a Good Place to Live

You and your tenants are going to have fundamentally different views when it comes to your properties. For you, they're an investment and a source of income—for your tenants, they're a home. As long as you can appreciate the other's point of view, you can cultivate a great relationship. As a landlord, this means that you should do everything reasonably possible to provide your tenants with the best living environment you can. Doing this means conducting regular inspections and being both proactive and responsive with maintenance on the property.

Think about your property as your tenants view it: a broken air conditioner, dripping faucet, or faulty appliance might be an item on a to-do list for you, but it's a daily inconvenience (or worse) for your tenants. Consider offering incentives to long term tenants such as carpet cleaning or periodic deep clean that may be relatively inexpensive for you but can be thoughtful gestures that will count in your favor when a tenant is considering whether or not to renew.

Couple watching movers move boxes from the moving van

Be the Best Landlord You Can Be

Real estate investment in the Carlsbad area (as with anywhere else) is a people-oriented business by nature. The human touch in your relationships with your tenants will go a long way to cementing good relationships. Much of this is a simple courtesy: be timely with your communication and responsive when you get requests from your renters. Keep an open door (figuratively) and make yourself easy to reach if a tenant has any questions or concerns. Better communication will keep misunderstandings at a minimum and allow regular opportunities for you to identify issues early. Always be calm, courteous, and respectful when interacting with tenants. You'll find that the "golden rule" holds up here as well as it did in elementary school. Finally, always keep your word: if you promise that you'll perform maintenance in a specific timeframe or have an answer to a question by tomorrow, make sure that you do. A good landlord retains good tenants.

Encourage Long-Term Thinking

If you have a good relationship with your tenants, and they seem open to the idea, consider approaching your tenants early and offering the opportunity to renew or extend the lease at the tenants' current rate. Maybe your tenants have been renewing the lease every six months, and you can offer a full year at their current price. If you're currently on a one year lease with a good tenant, it can be worth considering an extension to 18 or 24 months. While you may lose out a little on the opportunity to bump up your rental rates, you'll likely save in the long run on all of the costs associated with turning over a unit. You may even be able to negotiate some incentives that could convince a tenant to stick around for another lease. New tenants can be a risk as well, and you may find that the math works out in your favor to keep a reliable renter for a little less per month.

Tenant Tastes Decide—Not Your Own!

Knowing your tenants as a market or demographic—and as individuals—will help you to understand their needs and what you can do to meet them. The more you can meet the needs of your tenants, the more likely they are to stick with you and your property. Think about features that your tenants may value in a property. Smaller upgrades can go a long way towards tenant retention. In-demand upgrades, such as hardwood floors or smart appliances may help pay dividends with current tenants but will also pay off with future renters as well. Don't neglect cosmetic upgrades: new coats of paint, updated kitchen hardware, or some relatively simple lighting upgrades can help a tenant feel at home (and help them want to stay).

New kitchen cabinets

Bring in an Expert Property Manager

If you can meet your obligations as a landlord with quality and consistency and show your tenants respect and dignity, then you have done the lion's share of what you need to do to keep your tenants renting from you. A good Carlsbad area property manager can help you to deliver! There is a great deal that goes into property management, and you can rely on Raintree Property Management to do it right. Reach out to us by phone or online for a free consultation, and see what your investment property has been missing out on!

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