Searching for a long-term resident to stay in your rental property can be an enduring task. Use effective West Bend resident retention strategies to gain sustainable residents that you can trust to remain for a longer time. A number of residents stay for the sense of community, others might stay for lower costs come lease renewal time. Others might be captivated by the attractive landscape or maintenance requests process being completed efficiently and timely by a property management company.
Despite the reasons residents might stay or go, landlords and property managers should take into account the move out costs associated with allowing your property to become vacant. This cost can be massive and cost you the profit you would have gained if you had retained the resident or had a program set-up to replace the resident quickly. Having installed West Bend resident retention strategies can help you have a close relationship with your residents. For example, if one of your residents was thinking about moving, they would trust you and let you know of their plans. Knowing this information ahead of time can give you considerably more time to find a replacement.
Customer Service
Among the first West Bend resident retention strategies to implement is to correctly understand what your residents want. A number of property managers are surprised to hear when residents have unkind or opposing things to say concerning them. This can happen for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is your failure to communicate with the resident. Residents want to be heard. While customer service is a big deal in meeting the resident’s needs, property managers tend to not concentrate on what really matters when talking with the residents. Some property managers might have bitterness towards such phone calls or interactions as it adds more work to an already busy day. Nevertheless, what property managers should understand is customer service is the most important part of the day.
Open Communication
Customer Service can be a broad topic. West Bend resident retention strategies include intently studying what your customer service experience means for your residents. Primarily, customer service shouldn’t be viewed as a task. It is an exchange and a relationship building step. An effective open communication relationship will not happen overnight. From the moment your resident signs your rental property lease, you are engaging in a perpetual testing phase with them. Residents will test you to see what your updating process is, your communication style, how fast you respond to requests, and how open you are: where you can either be strict with your job procedures, or relaxed and open to conversation. Some residents can be busy and unable to communicate. Think about sending texts or simple reminders about things rather than collecting everything into one random long phone call.
Listen and Take Action
West Bend residents want to be attended to. Whether their side of the story is legitimate or not, there is a reason why they are reaching out to you. Listen to whatever they have to say. A resident will feel valued when you give them time to voice their opinions. Listening, as in any relationship, demonstrates that you care about more than just getting the job done. It shows that you care about them as a person. Steer clear of saying, “no, we can’t do that” or starting out your sentences or answers with “no.” Make sure to provide a solution or alternative to go along with their ideas even if your solution will cost the resident money or not be completely the same as what the resident feels is right or has in mind as the solution.
Complete in a Timely Fashion
Residents tend to have a higher appreciation when service requests are addressed quickly and efficiently. Even if you accomplish everything and do it to their specifications, if you take months to do it, they may still harbor resentment towards you. When you finish your tasks quickly and in a timely manner, you will earn more trust as a property manager. Your West Bend residents would trust you more. You need to carve out some time off your busy schedule to perform that specific task as fast as you can. You will find out that even if you take just ten minutes to focus on a service request that was made recently, it will go a long way to keeping your resident around and renewing their lease.
An effective resident retention strategy comes down to listening carefully and promptness in performing service requests. Think of all the possibilities that you can attain as you focus intently on the relationship you have with your resident. Want to learn more about Real Property Management Greater Milwaukee? Contact us online or call us at 262-309-6961 today and request a free assessment of your West Bend property.
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