How do smaller owners handle the repeat tenant texts?

Question

Curious how other landlords here handle something. I'd guess 90% of the texts I get from tenants are the same handful of questions. When's rent due, is parking included, when do I get my deposit back, stuff that's already in the lease, it's just easier for them to text me than dig it out themselves.

Do you personally answer everything as it comes in? Use a PM software's tenant portal, and if so, do tenants actually use it or do they still text you directly? Just accept it as part of the job?

Genuinely trying to figure out if this is a me problem or an everyone problem. Would love to hear how you all handle it

Mike Fisher · Answer

This is an everyone problem, not a you problem, and I would push back gently on the idea that it means the tenants were screened badly. Even great tenants take the path of least resistance, and a text to you is easier than opening a lease PDF. The fix is to make the answer easier to find than the text is to send. I have invested in and managed Chicago-area rentals since 1991, so this is a daily thing for me too.

What actually cut the repeat texts down for us:

1. A one-page move-in sheet, handed over at key exchange, that answers the top ten questions before they are asked. Rent due date and how to pay, parking, trash and recycling day, how to submit a maintenance request, what counts as an emergency versus normal, and who to contact. Most of the "already in the lease" questions are really "I do not want to read twelve pages to find one line," so give them the one line up front.

2. Separate the channel from your personal cell. A business number or Google Voice, plus a portal or simple form for maintenance so those requests are documented and not living in your text thread. You will not get tenants to fully stop texting, so the move is to funnel it: a friendly auto-reply or a saved canned response that points them back to the portal trains the habit over a lease term.

3. Handle the predictable ones proactively. The deposit-return question, for example, gets answered before they ask if you mention the timeline and process at the move-out walkthrough and in writing when notice is given. Same with lease renewal season. Answer it on your calendar instead of their text.

One honest caveat: do not optimize this to zero. A tenant who texts you the small stuff is also the tenant who texts you early about the slow drip under the sink before it becomes a ceiling. The goal is to filter noise from signal, not to train people to stop talking to you. A portal that documents the real issues is worth more than a quiet tenant.

I run MF CashFlow Property Management (M Property Group LLC) out of New Lenox, IL, so happy to compare notes on what is working.

Richard F. · Answer

That's what happens when you don't actually review the rental agreement and terms with all of the signers. Of course, allowing them to text or call your personal cell is a major part of the problem. Set up allowable communication methods at the outset...email, "business" phone number with voicemail, and an "after hours" process for emergencies only. With regard to the deposit return, that should have been covered as a reminder when notice was given/received and/or at the move out inspection.

Just a guess, but I have doubts they were properly screened to begin with if they are asking such basic questions.