Finding a long-term resident to stay in your rental property can be a persistent task. Utilize effective Conroe resident retention strategies to draw sustainable residents that you can trust to remain for a longer time. Some residents stay for the sense of community, while others elect to stay for lower costs come lease renewal time. Others might be awestruck by the beautiful view 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 include the move out costs incurred when you allow your property to become vacant. This cost can be substantial and cost you the profit you would have gained if you had retained the resident or had a system ready to replace the resident quickly. Having strong Conroe resident retention strategies can help you have a close relationship with your residents. For example, if one of your residents was considering a move, they would trust you and inform you of their plans. Obtaining this information beforehand can give you additional time to find a replacement.
Customer Service
Among the first Conroe resident retention strategies to do is to properly understand what your residents want. Some property managers are bewildered to hear when residents have unfortunate or opposing things to say about them. This can arise because of plenty of reasons. One of these reasons is your lack of communication with the resident. Residents want to be listened to. While customer service is a key component of meeting the resident’s needs, property managers tend to not focus on what is crucial when talking with the residents. Some property managers might have resentment towards such phone calls or interactions as it adds more tasks to an already busy day. However, what property managers need to understand is customer service is the most important part of the day.
Open Communication
Customer service can be a broad topic. Conroe resident retention strategies include diving deep into how your customer service experience impacts your residents. Essentially, customer service shouldn’t be viewed as a task. It is an interaction and relationship building step. An effective open communication relationship will not happen instantly. As soon as your rental property lease is signed, you adopt a constant testing phase with your resident. Residents will test you to see what your updating process is, your communication style, how quickly you reply to requests, and how available you are: where you can either be rigid with your job procedures or relaxed and open to conversation. Some residents can be busy and not able to take phone calls. Consider sending texts or simple reminders about things as an alternative to accumulating everything into one random drawn-out phone call.
Listen and Take Action
Conroe residents want to be heard. Whether their perspective is valid or not, there is a reason why they are contacting you. Listen to whatever they bring up. A resident will feel validated when you give them time to speak their mind. Listening, as in any relationship, shows that you care more about just accomplishing the task. It shows them that you care about them as a person. Avoid saying, “no, we can’t do that” or beginning your sentences or responses with “no.” Always provide a solution or a different choice to go along with their ideas even if your solution will cost the resident money or not be exactly what the resident supposes is right or has in mind as the solution.
Complete in a Timely Fashion
Residents tend to give a higher approval rating when service requests are resolved fast and effectively. You may have done the job correctly and exactly the way they wanted, but that wouldn’t be enough. If it took you several months to do it, they may still be angry about it. When you finish all your tasks quickly and in a timely fashion, your trustworthiness as a property manager would grow, especially among your Conroe residents. You must take time to specifically address the task even though you already have a full schedule. If you do, you will realize that spending even just ten minutes to isolate a recent service request and address it, that it would really help your relationship with the residents to ensure they stick around lease after lease.
An effective resident retention strategy can be boiled down to two things: paying careful attention and promptness. These two things must be noted when taking on service requests. There are so many opportunities you can create as you focus on the relationship aspect between you and your residents. Are you interested in learning more about Real Property Management Republic? Contact us online or call us at 281-362-5001 today and request a free assessment for your Conroe property.
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