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The Carrot and Stick Approach to Tenant Management
Your lease is full of negatives, including penalties for non-payment of rent, damage to the property, lease violations, and non-performance clauses. How about the positive side? Here are some ideas to help promote a good relationship with your tenant, get your rent on time, and get your tenant to help rent your other properties.
A long term relationship has its rewards
Reward good behavior. If your tenant is paying their rent on time, encourage this to continue. Offer some kind of reward, such as a free carpet cleaning or paint job if they pay their rent on time during the past lease period, and are going to renew. Maybe you could offer to plant new trees, which will only improve the value of the property. This will demonstrate to your tenants that you care about the property, and can help their attitude towards keeping the property in good shape as well.
Develop a marketing partner
A happy tenant will be a good asset to help promote your rentals. Think about including a clause in your lease that rewards any new lease that the current tenant brings in. Banks and other business do this to bring in new customers, so why shouldn’t you? This incentive could be a new appliance or network speed upgrade, or ceiling fan. Again this will also increase the value of your property. Eventually, you’ll have a team of renters that are trying to assist you in filling your vacancies.
A Lease Purchase without a Contract
You can offer a ‘credit’ towards an eventual home purchase providing that the rent is paid on time. Each credit would be worth a ‘lump sum’ of money if the tenant purchases the home down the road. You might want to set a time period that the purchase must be made within. This will help retain the tenant and also assist in getting the rent on time. If the rent is late, the credits would start over, beginning with the first on-time rent payment.
You’ve got a Built-in Maintenance Contractor
Look for tenants with skills and use them. If so, they can trade their skill to help maintain and promote your property. Whether it is for repairs and improvement, painting, or passing out flyers, trade their skills for the things you need to become a successful property manager. Most tenants will be happy to do work if you provide the materials.
By using these positive steps, you’ll save money, and get satisfied renters in your property. This can create a positive long-term relationship with your tenants.