Best way to communicate w tenants: App or Cell phone number? HELP

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Best way to communicate w tenants: App or Cell phone number? HELP

Cameron Riley
Rental Property Investor · Phila, PA · Member since 2018 · 553 posts · 118 votes

Thinking of changing all my communications over to an APP ( wire or telegram )

I want to be engaged but also more organized and more professional ...

Advice and opinions are needed! NO SPAM/NO HATE. Discussions and positive advice Plz

What do you do for communication?

- do you keep your tenants at a distance from your life... keep them carefully separated?

- Do your tenants ever bother you over petty things? If so, do you answer 24/7?

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Alex Smith
Property Manager · Chattanooga, TN · Member since 2018 · 179 posts · 92 votes
7y

Cameron,

This is a good question. Working for a PM company, it's easier for us to find separation. We keep communication mostly to email (so things are in writing) and the rest on the phone. Ultimately, it's a decision that you'll have to make for yourself and how you want to run your business. My recommendation would be to keep the communication to an app. That way when you start building a team and maybe have someone running the PM side of things (or you just want to get away for a week) that person can start running things relatively quickly and without much confusion because they'll have access to past communications, and the app can be run from anywhere, as opposed to YOUR phone that can only be used if you're around. 

Outside of working hours we generally wait until the next business day to respond to tenants unless it is an emergency. 

I hope this helps. 

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  • Alex Smith
    Property Manager · Chattanooga, TN · Member since 2018 · 179 posts · 92 votes
    7y

    Cameron,

    This is a good question. Working for a PM company, it's easier for us to find separation. We keep communication mostly to email (so things are in writing) and the rest on the phone. Ultimately, it's a decision that you'll have to make for yourself and how you want to run your business. My recommendation would be to keep the communication to an app. That way when you start building a team and maybe have someone running the PM side of things (or you just want to get away for a week) that person can start running things relatively quickly and without much confusion because they'll have access to past communications, and the app can be run from anywhere, as opposed to YOUR phone that can only be used if you're around. 

    Outside of working hours we generally wait until the next business day to respond to tenants unless it is an emergency. 

    I hope this helps. 

    3Reply
  • Domenick T.
    Investor · Springfield , NJ · Member since 2017 · 192 posts · 93 votes
    7y

    @Cameron Riley

    Get a Google Voice number. Your tenants can text or call you but they won’t have your personal phone number.

    3Reply
  • Thomas S.
    Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    7y

    Give them a number to call that has a answering machine or voice mail. I have never given out my cell phone number to tennats. They call my home phone land line and leave a message.

    0Reply
  • Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
    7y

    I agree with the above. Use a system that allows them to email, text, or leave a voicemail. Respond at your convenience. You don't want tenants calling at 11pm and you don't want them calling 10 times a week with petty stuff.

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    1Reply
  • Cameron Riley
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Phila, PA · Member since 2018 · 553 posts · 118 votes
    7y

    @Thomas S.

    Exactly. I hate the idea of sharing my personal life with my tenants

    Business and personal should be different! 🙏

    0Reply
  • Connie Chan
    Investor · Member since 2017 · 239 posts · 149 votes
    7y

    Totally resonate with this one! My tenant once added me on What's App and started messaging me there. It felt strange to be honest because I use What'sApp to talk to friends and family, and I want to keep that separate. 

    After that episode, I asked around a few landlord friends what they do. One friend of mine goes to an extreme length with a different email address for EACH rental unit and she screenshots her text conversations (that are via google voice), and emails them to herself and then describes the context of what they discussed. She does the email part so that the conversations are separated by unit. 

    I know I don't have the discipline for that so I switched to Tellusapp.com to manage my rental chat. The app does what I need it to do and it includes read receipts, time stamp, group chat, sending pics/docs, etc. I've noticed a few things since switching over: the best part is that when tenants use the group chat feature they're all on the same page. So if the husband renter writes to me, I can write back and the wife renter will also see my message. Had to coordinate a sink maintenance issue recently and that helped a lot. The other thing I noticed was that the communication stayed professional (since it's written), but took on a friendlier tone which was nice. 

    To me documentation of the conversation is really important. I don't want to be caught in a he said she said situation which is why I try to avoid phone calls. 

    0Reply
  • James Wise
    Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Cameron Riley:

    Thinking of changing all my communications over to an APP ( wire or telegram )

    I want to be engaged but also more organized and more professional ...

    Advice and opinions are needed! NO SPAM/NO HATE. Discussions and positive advice Plz

    What do you do for communication?

    - do you keep your tenants at a distance from your life... keep them carefully separated?

    - Do your tenants ever bother you over petty things? If so, do you answer 24/7?

     You should communicate with them in a way that best suites you. If that is text so be it. Same with phone or email. I prefer written modes of communication as it's nice to have a written record so you avoid he said & or she said situations. However you need to know that now all of your tenants will be able to get on board with the written communication movement. Think elderly people or people with limited English skills etc.........

    To avoid being bothered 24/7 you'll want to set office hours for yourself. When you move in tenants tell them you answer calls/texts M-F between 9am-5pm or whatever time you like. Then be disciplined enough not to respond to them when they reach out to you for non emergencies outside of those hours.

    0Reply
  • Cameron Riley
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Phila, PA · Member since 2018 · 553 posts · 118 votes
    7y

    @Connie Chan

    I’m finding that “ telegram “ is becoming super popular! You may like that as well!

    Happy someone can relate to my situation currently right now! Lol

    0Reply
  • Connie Chan
    Investor · Member since 2017 · 239 posts · 149 votes
    7y

    @Cameron Riley , yup! Telegram is a super popular messaging app and I use it to for friend chat. I think it's fairly popular among crypto investors, lol. 

    I still prefer keeping tenant chat separate though -- it's just important to me for documentation reasons to not have it intermingled with my personal stuff. Also I don't know about you but I sometimes get the names of my tenants mixed up (especially the ones that I don't hear from often) so I prefer a rental specific chat so I can also see which unit they live in, how much they owe me, etc. 

    One other thing to think about -- make sure telegram or whatever you decide on backs up everything. The reason iMessage didn't work for me (normal texts) is that when I switch phones I lose my old text messages. A friend of mine was once caught in a really bad position where an old tenant made up a story about his property manager not being responsive. The property manager had switched phones at that point and couldn't prove the communication. Thank goodness he had an old Apple backup of his iphone or else my friend would have lost the small claims court case. Basically just make sure the communication is backed up to the cloud automatically! 

    0Reply
  • Cameron Riley
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Phila, PA · Member since 2018 · 553 posts · 118 votes
    7y

    @Connie Chan

    Good advice! Thanks

    Yeah, small claims are starting to SIDE with landlords these days! That’s good news for us! 😅🙏

    0Reply
  • Thomas S.
    Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    7y

    I purposely avoid all written, typed, texted communication aside from official notifications. It's hard evidence. The problem with e-mail or other informal typed communication is that it can be misinterpreted. This misinterpretation can also be extended to court.

    I prefer verbal aside from my official communication after the fact. He said, she said works both ways. I use it to my advantage when necessary and use my official notifications to pack up my position. 

    No way in he** I want any informal conversations floating around the inter-web.

    1Reply
  • Thomas S.
    Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    7y

    I purposely avoid all written, typed, texted communication aside from official notifications. Anything typed is hard evidence. The problem with e-mail or other informal typed communication is that it can be misinterpreted. This misinterpretation can also be extended to court.

    I prefer verbal aside from my official notifications after the fact. He said, she said works both ways. I use it to my advantage when necessary and use my official notifications to back up my position. 

    No way in he** I want any informal conversations with tenants floating around the inter-web getting twisted around and misinterpreted.

    0Reply
  • Cameron Riley
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Phila, PA · Member since 2018 · 553 posts · 118 votes
    7y

    @Nathan G. EXACTLY! This is so true! Hate the petty calls

    0Reply
  • Jason Goretzki
    Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2016 · 214 posts · 95 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Domenick T.:

    @Cameron Riley

    Get a Google Voice number. Your tenants can text or call you but they won’t have your personal phone number.

     This also allows you to change your personal number & not have it negatively effect every tenant. 
    Additionally all texts & missing calls are saved & viewable by way of logging into Google Voice's website.

    1Reply
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