Building a Personal Relationship with Tenants - Good or Bad?
Shiloh LundahlPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votesI hear a lot on the podcasts and have read on the forums that many property owners pretend that they are not the owners of the property when they meet a tenant or potential tenant. Instead, they lead that person to believe that they just work for the owner. They don’t want the tenant knowing who they really are.
So I tried following that same pattern by trying not to have much contact with tenants or potential tenants and just having my assistant be the go between for everything. Then I met another investor who had a few rentals he was selling and I was looking at buying his small portfolio. He set up a time for me to go take a look at the houses and when we got there his tenants were happy to see him and gave him a hug and talked with him about how things were going as they showed the house.
I compare that experience to a different experience I had where we purchased a property that had 2 homes on it where the tenants had no relationship with the owner. It was very difficult to get any info about the tenants before we purchased the property and soon after we purchased it the tenants in one house moved out.
I realize this is a very small sample size to draw any conclusions from, but I guess I want to challenge the belief that it is better for the owner that the tenant not to know who he or she is. Real estate is a relationship business after all, therefore, would it not be better to build relationships with tenants?
So what I am reading from the majority of the posts, and I appreciate everyone’s comments so far, is the following:
1. Be fair but firm
2. Be friendly but don't be a friend
3. Always follow the contracts - don't make exceptions
4. Have a professional relationship but not a personal relationship
5. Treat your tenants well, be accessible, attentive, and responsive to build trust which may turn into long-term tenant relationships and may reduce turn over
Anything else that I am missing?
Another question - Do any of you give anything to your tenants during Christmas time or do you feel that that would be crossing into being a friend over being a friendly land lord?
I differ on 3. A contract binds you to meet it's obligations it does not bind you to assert it's rights.
Forgoing of a contractual right is a time honoured widespread business practice. People will argue of impending Armageddon if you don't slavishly follow your contract but it's not true.
It can be a way you choose to operate your business - most it's not how most businesses operate (ever heard of the gesture of goodwill) and there is no real reason (no it will not necessarily get you in Fair Housing trouble) for a rental business to be an exception.
I disagree. Unless you only manage 1 property, then selective enforcement (or whatever flower language you want to put on it), puts you in a HUGE Fair Housing cesspool. There should be NO exceptions. Otherwise, how can you A) Enforce it for the next guy without exception and B) Enforce it the next time the same Tenant wants the same exception. It just doesn't work. At least not in a professional capacity, without consequence and substantial risk of liability.
You can disagree all you want but that is how most businesses operate, banks, insurance companies, retailers will all listen to customers, make execptions as gestures of goodwill and they know more about running a business than you do.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....That is hilarious! THESE are your examples? I think you have just proven my point! Our biggest housing crash in decades happened because banks and lending institutions got willy nilly on their policies and were making exceptions all over the place as to what they called a 'qualified borrower". Shortly after, they were looking to the Government to bail them out of the hole they dug for themselves.
YOU run YOUR business like that, and I will run MY business with policies in place that are fair, consistant, and expected to be followed every time.
Congratulations. You've managed to figure out not tell to others how to run their business, which was my point all along.
On reflection this topic is a bit of a wind-up.
To me it's a partnership - I provide a safe place for you to live - you provide me with income/cash flow.
There is sufficient mutual self-interest in nurturing that relationship to render the question of whether or not you are friends completely irrelevant.
They are your customer....not your friend. There is a difference between treating someone with kindness, and mutual respect vs being a friend.
Friends push boundaries and get special treatment....great customers do also but not to the extent of what friends get.... this is a business, not a social event.
Be professional, courteous, kind and respectful..... but run it like a business
I'm a police officer as well as a real estate investor and I've found there are several parallels. People are people and if you set out to treat them fairly, with respect and understanding, you can many times, though not always, get the same in return. Be honest and up front with people and most of the time they will respect and appreciate you for it. To me that is a relationship worth having.