Designating a long-term resident to keep on in your rental property can be a long-range task. Capitalize effective Marina del Rey resident retention strategies to attract sustainable residents that you can count upon to remain for a longer time. Several residents stay for the sense of community, others might stay for scaled down costs come lease renewal time. Others might be charmed by the superb landscape or maintenance requests process being completed smoothly and in a well-timed manner by a property management company.
Notwithstanding the reasons residents might stay or go, landlords and property managers should have in mind in the move out costs connected with allowing your property to become desolate. This cost can be hefty and cost you the profit you would have gained if you had retained the resident or had a program in place to replace the resident quickly. Having established Marina del Rey 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 let you know of their plans. Knowing this information beforehand can give you significantly more time on finding a replacement.
Customer Service
One of the first Marina del Rey resident retention strategies to execute is to sensibly perceive what your residents wish. Some property managers are surprised to hear when residents have unkind or opposing things to say about them. This can arise for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is your lack of communication with the resident. Residents want to be heard. While customer service is a major component of meeting the resident’s needs, property managers tend to not focus on what really matters when talking with the residents. Some property managers might have resentment towards such phone calls or interactions as it adds more work to an already busy day. However, what property managers should understand is customer service is the most important part of the day.
Open Communication
Customer Service can be a large topic. Marina del Rey resident retention strategies have in mind diving heavily into what your customer service experience indicates for your residents. On the whole, 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 overnight. From the time your resident signs your rental property lease, you are engaging in a constant testing phase with your resident. Residents will test you to see what your communication style is, your updating process, how quick you will 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 take phone calls. Consider sending texts or simple reminders about things rather than accumulating everything into one random long phone call.
Listen and Take Action
Marina del Rey residents call to be paid attention to. Whether their side of the story is logical or not, there is a ground that they are reaching out to you. Hear them out with whatever they have to say. A resident will feel validated when you give them time to voice their opinions. Listening, as in any relationship shows that you care more about just getting the job done and showing them that you care about them as a person. Avoiding saying, “no, we can’t do that” or starting out your sentences or responses with “no.” Always provide a solution or alternative to go along with their ideas even if your solution will cost the resident money or not be exactly what the resident feels is right or has in mind as the solution.
Complete In a Timely Fashion
Residents have a tendency to have a higher liking when service requests are resolved rapidly and impressively. Even if you do the job right and to their preferences, if it takes several months to do it, they may still hold resentment towards you. When you finish tasks in a quick and timely fashion, your Marina del Rey residents will trust you more as a property manager. Take time out of your busy schedule to quickly perform the task. You will find that even taking ten-minutes to give proper attention to a service request asked for not too long ago, will go a long way in keeping your resident around lease after lease.
An effective resident retention strategy adds up to prudent listening and efficiency in carrying out service requests. Imagine all the possibilities that you can generate as you pinpoint more on the relationship facet with your residents. Interested in learning more? Contact us online or call us at 310-535-2150 today and request a free assessment for your Marina del Rey property.
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