Do you Tenants get Buyers Remorse?

Question

I don't know how else to explain it. They move in, they freak out, they call the office 400 times with all these things they want different. It's almost like they think we went in there and messed the place up since their showing and lease signing.

Anyone else experience this or am I just having bad luck? LOL.

Charles Carillo · Answer

@Lucas Carl

I have had this before. Possibly having another walk through before signing the lease? Make sure it is the exact apartment they are renting, not a model. Before we hired 3rd party management, we would have a checklist that was required to be completed before an apartment was "rent ready". After you rent hundreds of apartments you are going to find people like this that are just wanting some sort of discount. There really is nothing you can do. If you start finding that 15%+ of people are having remorse (there are probably twice as many that don't say anything), maybe there is something you need to change.

Patricia Steiner · Answer

Once.  And, after that experience, a process was put in place to ensure that all tenants sign-off on the initial walk-through checklist, that all repair requests have to be submitted by email with photos, and a "tool box" is provided that contains a plunger, hair removal comb for bathtub/shower drains, instructions on how to reset the garbage disposal, etc.

And, about the once...we discovered that the tenant actually liked "being in charge."  She loved making demands, bossing the handymen around, and having absolutely no accountability/responsibility for any damage she caused.  It came down to explaining that if it was a legitimate repair, we would get it done immediately; but if it was damage she caused or a "false alarm," the service call charge would be assessed to her.  The calls stopped.

May the force be with you...

Luke Carl · Answer

@Patricia Steiner  This is exactly what I was looking for :)

Anna Sagatelova · Answer

It happens sometimes, and it's important to handle this delicately. If you bend over backwards, you are setting the wrong precedent and they will call incessantly and have unrealistic expectations for the duration of their tenancy. However, if you are too harsh, they will think poorly of you as a landlord and it will be a difficult and contentious relationship to manage.

I recommend being sympathetic to their concerns, taking the time to identify any legitimate issues - it's more than possible that actual problems that should have been addressed during the rent ready were missed, and there are certain things you can't leave "as is" per landlord-tenant law and your local housing code. Let them know clearly, in writing, what you will address and why you are isolating these issues from the rest of their complaints. Then let them know that the rest will be noted as "as-is" conditions and this is mostly to ensure they are not made liable for any of those issues when they  move out.

Good luck!

Do you Tenants get Buyers Remorse?

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