5 Sure-Fire Ways to Prevent Tenant Turnover on Your Investment Rental

Do you want to know some secrets for preventing tenant turnover in your Single-Family Rental (SFR) or other real estate investment rental properties?

Is the vacancy period between tenants eating too much into your profit margin?

As a landlord of a rental investment property, one of the most crucial tasks in which you should invest your time and energy is finding and retaining outstanding tenants. After all, these folks pay their rent on time, take great care of your property, and definitely make your life easier.

Finding a perfect tenant can require a bit of luck, but there are also strategies you should know about to keep that fantastic renter in your property once they have moved in.

Here are five strategies that will help you retain those excellent tenants and make them absolutely despise the thought of moving out.

1. Build personal rapport with them

Keep yourself active and engaged with your renters, showing an interest in their lives and experience with the property. This makes them feel welcome, comfortable, well cared-for, and at home.

When a tenant first moves in, and even beyond that, make it a point to casually ask how things are going, if they have any questions or concerns, and things of that nature. This makes the tenant feel like a valuable part of your life, which keeps them interested in staying in your property.

2. Open the lines of communication

Relationships thrive on communication, so you should provide your tenant with plenty of ways to contact you. You want to be approachable and accessible to all of your tenants, making them feel welcome and comfortable instead of feeling like a bother.

Achieving this is easy. You just need to make sure you quickly return your tenants’ calls and messages, have a great attitude towards dealing with them, and show an active interest in their well-being.

Whenever possible, offer your tenants as many options as possible to reach you. These can include email, text messages, or even Web-based forms they can fill out. The key here is to make sure you respond promptly no matter how your tenant reaches out to you.

3. Respond to your tenants’ needs

You like to know you are being heard, right? This is especially true when it comes to your home, so you need to be highly responsive each and every time your tenant contacts you with a maintenance request or other concern. Don’t just fix the problem; let the tenant know that you’ve heard their concern and you’re working to make things right.

This becomes especially true when it might take longer than a day or two to address the tenant’s concerns. You want to make sure they know that you are aware of the problem and are working on it. Beyond that, make sure you get those repairs and maintenance tasks done in a timeline manner. That is a sure-fire way to make that tenant feel important and at home in the property.

4. Exceed your tenants’ expectations

If you want to make someone loyal to you, a sure-fire way to do that is to exceed his or her expectations. Remember, the lease you and the tenant signed is much more than just a list of things for the renter to do or not do.

You have your own obligations to fulfill, such as making sure the property is not only fit to live in, but also safe and secure. Exceed even that lofty mandate, though, and you will build loyalty that simply cannot be bought.

Make sure your properties are so attractive and pleasant to live in that your tenant will absolutely hate the idea of moving out. Exceed their expectations for their home.

5. Be as flexible as you can

Sure, there are going to be some hard and fast rules that you have to enforce in your lease agreements. Even so, be sure to offer flexibility when you can, while still keeping great results. Some examples of this could be offering alternative rent payment structures, or offering the ability to make those lease payments online.

There are more ways than ever to conduct business, so make sure you take advantage of the technology our hyperconnected world has to offer. You have to use your good judgment, of course, but treat tenants with a great track record right when problems come up, and they’ll keep treating you right.

Summary

There are other ways to build loyalty in your tenants, but these five strategies are the biggest ones. They will help you foster a relationship with your tenant that makes them almost like extended family. In turn, they will reward that strong relationship with loyalty that cuts your churn rate to a bare minimum.