Communication is the cornerstone of every relationship.
Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to communicate with tenants. We talk to landlords all the time who are simply unable to get in touch with their tenants because they’ll change their phone numbers and not inform them. Or, they’ll ignore email messages and voicemails.
Tenant communication is important. You’ll need to talk with your residents about maintenance, lease expectations, and inspections you may need to conduct. You’ll want to share pertinent information about things that might be happening at the property or within the community.
Many landlords find themselves frustrated at how difficult it is to communicate with their tenants. It damages their landlord/tenant relationship and leads to a contentious rental experience that’s more difficult than it needs to be.
Property managers can manage both the communication and the tenant relationship. It makes a huge difference in your profitability and your peace of mind.
Communicating Expectations with Tenants
No matter if you have a tenant in Myrtle Beach or on the other side of the country, you should be able to count on your property management partner to get ahead of communication with your tenants by being responsive and accessible before they’re even renting your home.
Establishing expectations and defining the standards we’re setting for the relationship and the tenancy helps us give our tenants an idea of what it will be like to work with us.
We are available and quick to answer questions during the showing and application process. We’ll talk about the lease agreement with your tenants before they move in. This is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that we are open to conversation and willing to listen to any concerns your tenants might have.
Property managers have two goals while setting expectations before the tenancy:
- To establish good communication standards. We want tenants to know how to get in touch with us and why it’s important to respond when we’re trying to get in touch with them.
- To ensure your tenants understand their rights and responsibilities.
That communication creates a sense of security for tenants. And, it means we have no reason to believe your tenants won’t follow the terms of the lease agreement. Everyone is on the same page.
Property Managers Understand the Value of Listening
Active listening is a skill that we embrace, as professional property managers. This can be difficult for you, as a landlord, when you’re just looking for the problem that needs to be solved.
The best property managers realize listening is a major part of the communication strategy. Sometimes, it seems like residents are simply complaining or being difficult. Listening, in that case, is hard. A lot of times, however, your tenants are less committed to a solution and more interested in simply being heard. It takes a bit of time, but it doesn’t cost us or property owners anything to listen and validate their concerns.
For the sake of improved communication, we are willing to listen with empathy and act with compassion. When we can do that, the tenant won’t be afraid to come to us for assistance. Maybe they know that rent will be late this month, and they’re nervous about telling us. We’ve found it’s much better to know than to waste time chasing down those tenants about their rental payment. Or, perhaps there’s a maintenance issue which needs to be dealt with, like one of our Conway tenants recently experienced. Due to our great open communication, the issue was able to get resolved quickly and inexpensively, instead of something that over time could have caused a lot of stress and expenses for the tenant, owner, and us. You always want to welcome that conversation with your tenants.
Property managers who invest in listening, tend to have a much better relationship with their tenants, and it helps with retention.
Property Management Technology
Property management technology simply makes communication easier.
As an independent landlord, you can invest in apps and cost-effective software tools. But, you cannot reach the level of tech that we have, at least in a cost effective way that would make financial sense for the majority of investment property owners. Our ability to invest in innovative technology streamlines and improves communication with everyone – vendors, tenants, owners, and just about everyone we work with.
Our management software is one of the fastest, most transparent, and easiest to use for both property owners and tenants.
Just about every piece of property management business can be conducted online, digitally, or virtually. We can list available properties, accept applications, take rental payments electronically and even send owner contributions with a simple electric transfer of funds. Tenants, owners, and vendors have access to a platform which allows them to communicate with us via text, instant message, email, or social media. Even maintenance requests are accepted from the tenants and sent to our vendors electronically.
Each of your residents will be different, and they’ll have their own preferences around how to communicate. We remain open to all communication methods, and make it easy for them to reach us.
Maintaining Rental Homes with Better Communication
Most will agree that over-communication can be annoying to anyone, so we try to leave our residents alone unless it’s absolutely necessary.
If we are going to over-communicate, it will likely be when we’re dealing with maintenance.
When tenants report a maintenance issue, it is time stamped in our system so that all issues and responses are documented. We stay in touch so tenants know what to expect and how we plan to resolve the issue at hand. After the work is complete, we will contact your tenants and ask if the problem was solved and if they were happy with the way the repair was handled.
We want to know that it was a good experience.
Retaining Tenants with Intentional Communication
Another great reason to leave tenant communication to property managers is that good communication helps with tenant retention. When you’re able to retain your tenants, you won’t have to worry about expensive turnover and vacancy costs.
Tenants expect and need communication that’s clear, accurate, and responsive. In order to keep tenants in place, we’re responsive to their needs, whether it’s a maintenance request or a simple question about how to deal with the utility companies.
We serve as a resource to our tenants, and let them know that we care about their rental experience. They shouldn’t only hear from us only when there’s bad news about a repair or a complaint or when rent is late. They should hear positive and affirming news from us, too. We make an effort to thank them when rent is paid on time, and we let them know we appreciate that they’re taking care of the property.
These things will help us keep your tenants for the long term, which is good for your cash flow and your return on investment (ROI).
If you’d like to talk more about how property managers can improve tenant communication, please contact us at J&P Unlimited. We manage investment properties in Myrtle Beach, Conway, Surfside Beach, Murrells Inlet, Socastee and along the Grand Strand area.