5 Tips to Lower Rental Inventory

5 Tips to Lower Rental Vacancies

According to the National Center for Housing Management, each year, 54% of apartment’s turnover to new tenants. This period of time comes with expenses including cleaning, lost rent, utilities and advertising fees which can add up the longer the unit is vacant.

Glowacki Management Company offers five tips to reducing tenant turnover.

1. Communication Is Key

Tenant conflict is usually a result of misunderstanding, often due to a breakdown or lack of communication. Be timely with your responses and make it easy for the tenant to contact you. Maintain open communication to help reduce misunderstandings and create a better overall tenant-landlord relationship. Being courteous and respectful goes a long way to making tenants feel comfortable in their units. Setting expectation from the onset will help establish a solid relationship.

2. Property Maintenance

Few things are more frustrating for a tenant than having unaddressed maintenance requests. This can be a big deciding factor when your tenant is considering a lease renewal. Incentives like carpet cleaning can be very attractive to long-term tenants and may make them feel appreciated. Proactive maintenance helps reduce costs, keeps up property appearance, prevents injury, and is important to the value of your rental.

3. Be Proactive with Lease Renewals

It’s important to let your tenant know well in advanced you’re interested in renewing their lease with them. Consider reaching out to your tenant 60 days before the lease expires to ask if they would be interested in renewing. This early notice may help encourage them to start thinking about their plans early so they can give you more notice. If the tenant decides to move, then at least you can get a jump on advertising your rental before they’ve officially moved out. If you get someone lined up, then you might not lose a month of rent.

4. Consider Longer Lease Terms

Consider asking the tenant to sign a longer-term lease at a reduced rate. If they renew yearly, then consider extending the lease to two years at a reduced rate. While this method could mean you lose out on the profit from rent increases, it could be worth it to keep a reliable, rent-paying tenant. Make sure you calculate the differences in your rental revenue, so you know what option is financially best for you.

5. Enforce Rules Fairly

Whether the rules are related to safety or pets renters should know the rules before the lease is signed. You need to put your property rules in writing. It pays to go a step further and indicate the consequences of failing to follow these rules. This helps your renter understand their responsibilities and your expectations. Fairly enforcing rules and having a clear policy of what happens when they are ignored, you can manage your renters’ expectations and more easily get rid of rule-breaking tenants.

If you are considering hiring a property management company to manage your rentals, contact Garrett S. Shames at Glowacki Management (814) 452-3681 to learn how we can help.