Getting a long-term resident to remain in your rental property can be a hard task. Utilize effective Melbourne resident retention strategies to gain sustainable residents you can rely on to remain for a longer time. Some residents stay for the sense of community, and some might stay for lesser costs come lease renewal time. Others could have been captivated by the beautiful landscape or maintenance requests being processed efficiently and timely by a property management company.
In spite of the reasons residents might stay or leave, landlords and property managers must factor in the move out costs related to allowing your property to become vacant. These can be substantial and cost you the profit you would have earned if you had kept the resident or had a program in place to replace the resident quickly. Having established Melbourne resident retention strategies in play can help you develop a close relationship with your residents. For example, if a renter of yours was considering leaving, they would trust you and inform you of their plans. Having prior knowledge can give you significantly more time to acquire a replacement.
Customer Service
Among the first Melbourne resident retention strategies to implement is to properly know what your tenants want. Some property managers are shocked to hear when residents have unkind or opposing things to say regarding them. This could come up for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is a lack of communication with the resident. Residents desire to be heard. While customer service is a major element in meeting the resident’s needs, property managers have a habit of not concentrating on what really matters when talking with the tenants. Some property managers might feel hatred towards such phone calls or interactions as it puts in additional work to an already busy day. Nevertheless, what property managers need to understand is that customer service is the most important part of the day.
Open Communication
Customer Service can be a wide-ranging topic. Melbourne resident retention strategies include diving deep into what your customer service experience represents for your tenants. Generally, customer service must not be viewed as a task. It is an interaction and relationship-building step. A strong, open communication relationship is not happening overnight. From the time your tenant signs your rental property lease, you are engaging in a perpetual testing phase with your resident. These residents are going test you to see what your communication style is, what is your updating process, how fast you respond to requests, and how open you are – where you can either be stern with your job processes or relaxed and receptive to opinion. Some tenants might be busy and can’t take phone calls. Consider sending texts or simple reminders about things rather than gathering all of them into one random long phone call.
Listen and Take Action
Melbourne residents want to be heard. Whether their side of the story is the right one or not, there is a reason why they chose to reach out to you. Hear them out with whatever they have to share. A resident will feel validated when you give them an opportunity to voice their opinions. Listening, as in any relationship, demonstrates that you care about more than just getting the job done and shows them that you actually care about them. Avoid saying “no, we can’t do that” or starting out your sentences or replies with “no.” Always provide a solution or alternative to compromise with their ideas even though your solution will cost the resident money or might not be exactly what the resident feels is right or thought of as the solution.
Complete in a Timely Fashion
Residents tend to appreciate more when service requests are resolved swiftly and effectively. Even if you do the job right and to their liking, if it takes several months to do it, they could still develop hatred against you. When you deal with tasks in a quick and timely manner, your Melbourne renters will trust you more as a property manager. Take time out of your full schedule to quickly finish the task. You will see that even taking 10 minutes to give proper attention to a service request asked for not too long ago will go a long way in maintaining your resident lease after lease.
A successful resident retention strategy boils down to careful listening and timeliness in completing service requests. Imagine all the possibilities that you can make as you focus more on the relationship element with your residents. Interested in finding out more? contact us online or call us directly at 321-610-8022 today.
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