Successful landlords know that a big part of their job involves managing tenants. It’s not always fun, but it comes with the territory.
When it comes to managing tenants, the key is being prepared for anything. You can make your job much easier if you can anticipate problems and be prepared for them before they happen.
Use these tips for managing tenants to make your job as a landlord more successful and less stressful.
1. Know what you are doing.
Educate yourself on what it means to be a landlord and ways that you can do your job better. Just as any other job would require you to participate in continuing education and employee training, you should also continually try to improve yourself as a landlord.
2. Put good policies in place.
You can’t make up the rules as you go and expect to enforce them. Have a written policy for any issue that you can possibly anticipate, and provide these policies to your tenants before they move in. If a problem comes up, you don’t have to explain yourself to the tenants. Just refer them to the written policy. Once the policy is in place, don’t make exceptions.
3. Attract higher quality tenants by offering quality rental units.
This doesn’t mean that you should only rent luxury units. Even in lower-income housing, you can attract better tenants if you offer a living space that is a bit better than the average space in that price range. Be professional and organized, and make sure that repairs are handled quickly. There is more to being a landlord than the actual rental unit. You need to build a good reputation and good relationships. In doing so, you will create loyal tenants.
4. Establish business hours.
You don’t want to take calls from tenants at 10 pm, and you don’t want your tenants to believe that you are available to them any time. Establish business hours, and don’t answer your phone outside of those hours. You can always check your voice mail and call the tenant back if it is truly an emergency. You might also consider setting up a second, business-only phone number for your phone through a service like Google Voice.
5. Charge an extra fee if the rent is late.
Make a policy that there will be an additional charge of X dollars if the rent is late, and charge that fee consistently. Sometimes tenants have to prioritize what bill they will pay first, and they are more likely to prioritize the rent if there is a late fee. This late fee also provides you with compensation for the stress of dealing with unpaid rent.
6. Don’t rent to family or friends.
No matter how much you think you can trust the person, this always leads to problems. You don’t want to be forced to choose between your business and a relationship.
7. Have support systems in place.
No landlord can do it all alone. Consider hiring a property management service. They will handle all the day-to-day responsibilities of being a landlord. This includes screening tenants, collecting rent, making repairs, and handling eviction proceedings. This takes a lot of stress off of you, the landlord.
If you own a rental property or are considering purchasing one, Get in touch with McMath Realty.
We offer a variety of services to assist you in maintaining your property, including investment consulting,property management,rental management,property inspections, and home maintenance services.
We manage rental properties in Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Glendale, and all areas of Maricopa County.
We advertise your property in the MLS listing, on multiple websites, and on our own website. We also use signage to attract potential renters who are out driving around and looking for rental opportunities. We will assess your property, recommend improvements, and help you price your unit appropriately.
Contact McMath Realty at https://mcmathrealty.com//contact.php to learn more about how we can help you keep your rental property in great shape and take care of the day-to-day dealings with tenants!