Recommendations for Managing Tenant Communications

[David Proffitt]

I’m curious how other owner/managers or small-scale PMs (less than ~20 units) handle tenant communication, especially around maintenance requests. Currently I'm only managing two units, so I'm happy with having my tenants simply text me when they have problems because it's still a manageable amount of volume. I also feel that this approach is preferred by the tenants from an ease of communication standpoint, as opposed to logging tickets in a portal. The major downside I have found of this approach is that it requires a decent amount of extra documentation (issue details, resolution, expense mapping, etc.) on the backend for traceability purposes. As I look toward scaling up to more properties, I see how this approach could get messy quickly once you’re juggling multiple properties, tenants, photos, and follow-ups.

A few questions I’d love to hear real experiences on:

• How do tenants usually reach you for maintenance issues (text, call, email, portal, something else)?

• Do you actively document those requests somewhere, or mostly handle them as they come in?

• At what property scale did you upgrade to a full-blown PM software platform?

• What are your horror stories from a direct message getting missed, forgotten, or lost in a thread?

• What’s the hardest part of managing tenant communication today?

Just looking to understand how people are handling this in practice and where things tend to break down before I get in too far over my head. Thanks in advance for any input!

[Nathan Fisher]

I really like having records and have consistent information for the team, so we require tenants to text us through Appfolio. Every email and text is available through the portal. Every team member can see the communication records and be on the same page. Tenants can't misrepresent us, trying to get freebies or discounts. 

Not having a phone call does hurt us sometimes when it comes to customer service, but it also protects us in a highly regulated industry. But the worst side effect so far is missing out on a lease opportunity from a good tenant.  

Get a property management software from the beginning. It'll help you with consistent accounting and building out your processes.