All Forum Posts by: Scott F.

Well thanks everyone for all the input, I really like @Linda S.'s idea of a small property improvement instead of the gift card idea.

Thank you!

@Thomas S.

I'm sure we would agree on many, many things (over a cold American beer). But I guess this one is left for another time. 

Have a great day Greg!

Go Wings!

lol!

@Thomas S.

Good morning, I see you and I operate differently and that's fine, if it works for you keep doing it. After 30 years and several hundred tenants later I just do things differently than you. 

Tenants do have their mind made up in advance, but if there a good tenant I try to keep them and the gift card is a gesture not a handcuff or the thing that they couldn't live without.

The real question on this blog is "Do you reward your tenants on their lease anniversary, if so what are you doing?"

You like one of my former Attorneys run M2M - I see the benefits on that all day long, I just operate differently than you.

@Patrick M.

Good Morning,

Your operation sounds like ours except we don’t have rent control. By not maxing out the rent allowed under the Borough Ordinance, you effectively are giving away gift cards the same as we do - right?

"By contrast- I could never imagine renting to someone who would otherwise move but for the $25 gift card I give them. It is not a part of my business model."

Our market is white hot, I actually look forward to someone leaving because the current market rates have shot up through the roof so we adjust accordingly. Current lease expirations DO get an increase along with the gift card.

We effectively do the same thing as you. The real goal for all of us is to place a tenant into the property, get at or just below maximum market rate, never have repairs for 75 years and then we die! Or in our case, we are permanent hold multi-generation growth and conveyance, so really it will be the next generations issue.

We all do what fits in our local market, some do it better than others no doubt. We just operate differently than some here on this post but it still works for us.

@Patrick M.

Wow, the question was - Do you reward your Residents at their lease anniversary, if so how?, not beat on Scott day, but that’s ok, I have thick skin!

I see I’ve stirred lots of opinions here and that’s good. I was just merely asking what YOU do with your tenants. I could care less what you do honestly, I know what works for us and we’ll continue to follow our procedures.

I was merely finding out what else we could use to reward our clients for their good behavior. Bad behavior gets rewarded also by helping them out the door as soon as possible. That’s the beauty of BP, we all do something different so we can learn something from each other.

Yes I know it’s only $25 or $50 bucks, who cares as long as I don’t have another vacancy and have to another update/rehab/fill in the blank… It’s much cheaper to reward the good behavior and try to prolong the tenancy as long as possible

I’m quite aware that this paltry amount isn’t the glue that keeps them from moving, but it helps. It Is just like the Christmas card that says – I appreciate, or the I’ll paint your living room, it’s just something that everyone that receives it likes.

Ask yourself this: WHAT should I/me/you/us be doing to retain tenants so we have less turn over?

Enjoy!

@Brian Faulkner

You are correct, we do give money away, but what we’ve found is that it’s one of our policies that keep our residents for multiple years.

Let’s do the math:

I’ve given them $250.00 in five years, oh yea, I put new carpet in the living room because it was old when they moved in – maybe $400.00 (installed).

They in return have paid me a couple of late charges and in addition $54,000.00 in rent alone.

All on a house we paid $45,000.00 for 9 years ago. Not to mention the other tenants that paid rent in the first 4 years of ownership before they moved in.

I like giving money away if it nets this kind of return.

Now if they were bad residents with really poor paying habits they most likely would not get a renewal and most certainly not get the anniversary gift.

Do you reward your Residents at their lease anniversary, if so how?

One of our policies is to reward a resident at their lease anniversary with a gift card to a very large national retail store in our market. The longer the resident stays, the larger the gift card becomes.

Initial lease $0.00

2nd year $25.00

3rd year $50.00

4th year $75.00

5th year $100.00 and so on.

No one has not ever liked this or expected it. 

I actually had one guy in a group of (party style) student housing had tears in his eyes on year four!

He’s going to sign year #6 with me in a couple of months, Cha-Ching!

I've said this a hundred times;

Have cash, tons of equity and move forward conservatively and you will last through the next storm!

I miss the 2007-2010 time frame!

How do you keep the satellite dishes off your roof?

My tenants aren’t allowed to have a satellite dish installed on the roof, however I keep seeing more and more of them popping up, what do you do to prevent this?

The dish installers simply climb up the ladder and bolt them in place without asking or getting anything in writing from the owner. 

No one ever asks - I'm guessing the installer doesn't earn any money if they don’t complete the installation, they need the roof to get a clear shot at the satellite - Uugh!

@Nat C.

Wow lots of great advice, and it all makes sense to your brain but your heart just needs to understand that costs do in fact go up, it’s just the way it is. These being your first properties it seems like your being hard on the tenant but it’s a fact of life – examine your own personal costs.

@Joe Splitrock Has it correct, give them the choice so it’s the tenants decision and not yours if it’s too great of a burden for you.

I give my tenants choices all the time, in fact at lease anniversary time they can choose 1, 2, 3 year lease, new window air conditioners, ceiling fans, paint….. but I show them their rent will increase based on the improvement option they choose.

AC is a big one: so I spend $150.00 on a window shaker, divide that by 12, add a service charge for the install… and viola’ we have a new number to add to the rent.

That’s why fast food has you order by the number rather than individual items; you don’t pay as much attention to the individual order costs – you simply order the #6 for $9.87, oh and would you like to Super-Size that for only $5.00 more?

Give them the choice.