Being a landlord can be tough. Let me reword that; being a landlord IS tough. There are many moving parts when you own property that you lease to others like paperwork, people and repairs. But just like most other businesses, the cornerstone of your operation is how well you effectively communicate and relate to your customers. And don’t forget, tenants are customers. If you, or someone you hire is not treating the situation that way, it’s time for a change.

Get To Know Each Other

Think of being a manager and having employees that you supervise. If the landlord/tenant relationship is nothing other than a monthly rent transaction, how would you ever expect to communicate effectively with them if you needed to deal with a situation? Would you expect to get positive results out of a situation that needed to be resolved if you didn’t know the person you were dealing with?

When you first rent to someone, get to know them. You don’t have to be best buddies. Just get it done with a brief conversation. Give them a welcome letter and a list with local utility company phone numbers, trash night information, parking restrictions, dates and times of street cleaning and other pertinent information. Moving is enough of a hassle and tenants will appreciate this and most importantly, respect the landlord for it.

Reaction Time to Maintenance Problems

Stuff breaks. The faster the reaction time to repair calls, the better the relationship will be with your tenant. Your tenant wants to know that you care. If you own rental real estate and manage the property yourself, you are on call. If you have an agent or maintenance person responsible for taking care of repair issues, they are on call for you. A broken doorbell can wait a day. A non-functioning toilet or no heat situation cannot. If you or anyone you hire cannot make sense of what is urgent and what is not or does not have the time to react accordingly, it’s time to hire someone that does.

The Little Stuff

It’s very important for a tenant to notify their landlord of maintenance items as they occur. It is more costly to have dozens of items to address when a tenant moves out than to take care of issues as they come up. If the tenant sees that you care about your property, they will care for it too. Be visible and take care of the little things as they arise and more importantly, before the tenant moves in.

In the End…

Maintain a productive relationship with your tenant, react to problems as soon as they occur and encourage your tenants to notify you of even the smallest issues. The tenant will stay longer, be more likely to pay you on time, when they move you will have shorter downtime, your life will be easier, you will ultimately make more money and everybody’s happy!

Sam Gorgone, Hometown Property Management Services, LLC

www.hometownpms.com