Dealing with tenants is among the trickiest – and most rewarding – aspects of being a landlord. Since even the most desirable rental property is worth nothing in the absence of good tenants, it’s in every landlord’s best interest to remain on good terms with their respective renters. If this is your first time in such a role, you’re liable to experience some growing pains and make a variety of rookie mistakes. However, by taking the time to educate yourself on these mistakes, you can effectively diminish your likelihood of being impacted by them.
Working with Unreliable Contractors
Even if you employ a regular maintenance staff, you’re likely to encounter a number of specialized repairs and renovations that fall outside of their wheelhouse. In cases like these, you’ll need to bring in outside contractors – and before working with contractors, it pays to do your homework. For example, failure to research local contractors stands to result in you giving your business to people who are unskilled, undependable and lacking in proper business ethics. Fortunately, the plethora of consumer feedback applications found on the web makes it easy for potential customers to locate helpful reviews for contractors in their respective areas.
Giving your business to unreliable contractors not only stands to cause you stress, it’s also liable to draw the ire of your tenants. If work being done in their homes isn’t completed in a timely or competent fashion, many renters will become justifiably frustrated with decisions made on the part of their landlords. Additionally, if you regularly do business with contractors, you can conveniently expedite the payment process with the help of user-friendly contractor license management software.
Making Yourself Difficult to Reach
Renters want to feel as if they have a direct line to their respective landlords. After all, if electrical, plumbing or safety issues arise, having someone to call can provide tenants with tremendous peace of mind. On the flipside, if you consistently ignore the problems your tenants are having – regardless of whether you do so unintentionally – they’re liable to draw the conclusion that you simply don’t care about their well-being.
To help ensure that your renters are able to get in touch with you, provide all of them with a business phone number and email address. Furthermore, if you maintain an office on the property, encourage your tenants to reach out to you whenever you’re around. In the interest of offsetting certain emergencies, you should also encourage each of your tenants to purchase renters insurance. Similarly, since you can’t apply homeowners insurance to a property you don’t reside in, take care to purchase landlord insurance after investing in your first rental property.
Becoming Too Friendly with Tenants
While all landlords should seek to maintain good relationships with their tenants, it’s important to understand that these relationships are ultimately transactional. In order for you to maintain the property, tenants must keep up with rent, and if you allow yourself to become too friendly with them, things are going to get awkward if they ever find themselves unable to pay. So, while there’s nothing wrong with keeping things cordial with your renters, you should avoid becoming friendly to the point of being a pushover.
Hiring an Undependable Property Manager
If you have a day job and/or own multiple properties, a good property manager can lift a huge weight off your shoulders. Needless to say, if you hire the wrong property manager, their actions are likely to reflect on you. Since this person is essentially tasked with acting as your proxy, choosing someone who is inattentive to tenants’ needs or just generally undependable isn’t going to do you any favors with your renters. So, in addition to putting applicants for this job through a rigorous screening process, make sure to consistently remain abreast of what’s happening, even after a suitable candidate has been chosen.
If you’ve never owned a rental property or acted as a landlord, finding yourself thrust into the role may initially prove a bit uncomfortable. Although good tenants are the lifeblood of any successful rental property, a staggering number of landlords seemingly have no idea how to tend to their needs. Fortunately, maintaining friendly relationships with your tenants and being mindful of their concerns isn’t nearly as difficult as some property owners make it look. When looking for ways to stay on good terms with your renters, avoiding the previously discussed mistakes is a good first step.
