Do you want to become a landlord with an outstanding reputation?
Being a landlord leads to numerous tasks and duties. You can tackle these responsibilities in an average way to fulfill the minimum requirements. However, it's always possible to strive for higher grounds.
Great landlords enjoy lower tenant turnover rates, higher satisfaction with their investments and happier tenants. Make no mistake: becoming a great landlord takes a lot of work and focus. In most cases, going that extra mile pays off.
We are going to list the top ways you can be a great landlord. Follow these practical recommendations to boost your status as a rental property owner full of passion and dedication.
1. Respect Privacy Needs
Privacy is something that most people seek when they rent a place to call their home. However, some landlords are intrusive enough so that privacy becomes a thing that the tenants are unable to enjoy.
The intrusive actions aren’t necessarily malicious. Some rental owners want to make sure that their tenants don’t have any problems. But they check on how they are doing too often.
Respecting the tenant’s privacy doesn’t mean abandoning your rental property altogether. Instead, it’s about letting your renter know before the visit that you are coming and limiting the number of inspections or regular visits that you make. Keep in mind that many states require clear notice before entering the rental.
2. Address Your Tenant’s Concerns
Listen to your tenant’s concerns. Make it known that you’ll fix issues. Whenever you can’t directly solve a problem, it’s still important to clarify why that might be the case. For instance, you can’t do anything about a neighbor’s questionable choice of window decorations. But you can actively listen to your renters and sympathize with them.
If possible, find solutions to problems that are tangible to your tenants. Postponing the solving of issues or ignoring your tenant’s worries altogether is toxic behavior. That will only create resentment and further trouble down the road.
3. Practice Open Communication
Communication is the key to creating great relationships with your tenants. Be honest and transparent when you need to communicate with your renters regarding difficult topics or problems.
Even if there are no problems to solve, you should still contact your tenants every now and then. Find the right balance between being distant and too friendly with your renters. Striking that sweet spot is necessary, because it helps to foster long-term partnerships.
Part of executing stellar communication is being there for your tenants when they need your help or advice. While tenants calling off-hours all the time in a harassing manner is unacceptable, keeping your lines open at all times makes sense. You never know when an emergency can happen.
4. Draft Stellar Lease Agreements
As a landlord, you should aim to create customized lease agreements that address all the key issues. This is one way to reduce any future friction with your tenants. When everything is laid out there in the beginning, unprecedented concerns are much less likely in the future.
When you have any special rules, make sure to separately introduce these to your renters. Indeed, it’s their responsibility to acquaint themselves with the contract details, but an outstanding landlord won’t take that chance. You’ll never know when a tenant glances over something too quickly, causing conflict later on into the tenancy.
5. Repair Whenever Necessary
Great landlords take care of repair needs as soon as they arise. This is important for two reasons.
- Your tenants aren’t going to appreciate much-needed fixes getting delayed forever.
- Repairing things sooner rather than later preserves the value of your rental property and diminishes the risk of damage associated with ignoring the initial problems.
Most tenants value landlords who provide solutions to their problems quickly and efficiently. Strive to be that person. Creating a network of reliable contractors and vendors has been an effective solution for many rental owners.
6. Become Organized
Being organized is one of the pillars of rental property management success. Legal compliance, time management and tenant relations are just some examples of areas that will benefit from top-class organizational skills.
Improved organization of your finances and daily management tasks makes it easier to become more profitable over time. This is especially true when it comes to the financial side of things. Data drives decisions. The more organized you are, the more and better quality data you’ll have at your disposal.
7. Choose the Right Tenants
You can be a great landlord in theory, but if you have the wrong tenants in your rental properties, it’s hard to live up to that image of a stellar landlord. Dealing with problem tenants puts a lot of stress on your shoulders, effectively keeping you from reaching the best version of yourself.
Tenant screening is an essential procedure that gets used by every successful landlord out there. When you screen the applicants, it’s possible to eliminate the high-risk prospects from potentially wonderful tenants.
The proper screening process starts with asking for applications. Once you have gathered all of the applications, you can run their credit background, check their income stability and take a look at their criminal history.
Just make sure to comply with the Fair Housing Act (FHA) whenever you are denying a tenant.
In a Nutshell: How to Be a Great Landlord
The success of your rental investment depends on your self-managing efforts. Being a great landlord increases the chance of rental investment success.
Here are the top recommendations on becoming one:
- Repair things whenever your tenant lets you know that something is broken
- Pick the right tenants because that will allow you to reach the maximum potential
- Communicate honestly and openly while addressing your renters’ worries
- Respect the privacy of your tenants
- Get organized; practice excellent bookkeeping and keep a strict time schedule
