When an investor purchases a property with an eye toward renting out units to long-term tenants, what ideally would follow is the steady population of that building with reliable, high-quality tenants that love their apartment, pay their rent on time, and plan on staying put. These people aren’t unicorns, and they can find their way to your property if you can follow these six tips:
Define What an Ideal Tenant Is
It sounds simple, but a lot of landlords make their biggest mistakes with tenants by failing to nail down what makes perfect tenants in the first place. The best of them have steady employment, adhere to all your rental agreements, pay their rent in a timely manner, don’t cause any problems within the building, and don’t have any history of eviction. Your search should begin with people like that because doing so will make your life so much easier in the long run.
Screen Potential Tenants
Knowing this, it is imperative that landlords undertake the process of screening tenants once they’ve applied. Even if they look and act the part, there’s no way to be sure unless you check into them beforehand. Put together an in-depth screening process for tenants, and stick to it.
Advertise
To attract good tenants, you’re going to advertise. In doing so, make sure you point out what makes your building desirable to them. Sell your location, your security features, great parking, modern amenities—anything that could draw the best tenants is worth listing in your targeted ads.
Make Your Property Desirable
If you find it hard to list things that make your property desirable, it may be time to invest in some upgrades to change that. What impresses tenants most is an apartment that makes them want to live there long-term, so put on a fresh coat of paint, update your landscaping, or upgrade appliances. Anything you can do to make potential tenants’ jaws drop is something worthy of consideration.
Maintain Your Property
In terms of keeping great tenants, you need to make sure you also maintain the property after they’ve moved in. When something breaks, fix it. Don’t let weeds grow or dripping sinks linger. If a tenant contacts you with a concern, address it quickly. That type of excellent property management can keep great tenants in a building for a long time.
Price Your Property Competitively
A great price obviously will draw in potential tenants, but keeping the price reasonable over time is something to consider, as well. If tenants are truly great, you don’t want to price them out of your building, so be fair and competitive with your rent rates, and do everything to keep them there long-term.
If you can manage these six things, you should have great tenants living in your building for a long time. In the meantime, you find yourself with any landlord insurance needs to make sure your property is properly covered, give us a call here at Insurance by Castle. We’ll help you keep your building stay desirable to the very best potential tenants.
