What is Resident Retention?

One of the critical assets of a business is the loyal customers. In real estate, retention of tenants is highly sought by landlords and property owners. Tenants who are contented and satisfied with the rental services tend to stay in the same house or apartment. If the resident acquires a sense of comfort in their place, the property owner can avoid property vacancies and turnovers.

This article will give you details about resident retention and the factors that can assist you in achieving it. 

Resident Retention Tips You Need to Know

Build Relationships

Property managers who have a sense of professionalism in them which they really should, don’t undervalue the treatment they give to the tenants. It is important to let them know that they are viewed as individuals with different preferences and that you are willing to cater to their personal requests.  Making the occupant feel like the relationship is just all transactional is improvident. It is natural that most of the tenants appreciate simple gestures of kindness and friendliness. This may mean:

• Remembering their names
• Regular visit
• Hosting a community event
• Creating incentives for the tenants

Maintain a Good Communication

Maintaining regular and open communication with the tenants makes them feel heard and valued. Letting them address their queries, questions, and concerns is the basic step in good communication. You can meet them face to face or you can provide a medium of communication that makes the information easier to disseminate. 

Allowing the tenants to give feedback regarding the services provided to them is also a good suggestion. If there are changes planned by the management that might affect the occupants, it’s a good practice to conduct a survey first or gather necessary pieces of information from them. 

Improve Security Measures

One of the main concerns that is always on the checklist when choosing a place to stay is security measures. Keeping up with the security demands of the customers and being able to provide them with what they are most comfortable with gives the property owners a broader chance of resident retention. As a rental manager or property owner, it is your responsibility to ensure the tenants about the quality of security your property can offer. 

Since security for rental properties is one of the top priorities, here are some of the rental features that should be maintained to ensure tenant safety.

•  Secure doors and windows
• Install security cameras
• Hires competent guards

Excellent Customer Service

Residents to stay at your rental property might be easy to find but when the terms of the lease are up they might just leave and move to another unit. This is why good customer service in property management shouldn’t be taken for granted. Being responsive to the customer’s requests in a timely manner makes tenants feel cared for. Approachable and well-disciplined staff is also a huge help in aiding the residents-in-stay to feel comfortable, allowing their stay in your residential area an experience worth remembering. 

How to Create a Resident Retention Plan?

What is Resident Retention?

One of the major mistakes that happen most of the time is the lack of planning. Establishing events for residents in a particular property requires a framework of plans in order to be successful. This would also allow you to foresee the possible outcomes of the events as well as the required budget needed.

Build a Retention Budget

By creating a retention budget you’ll be able to determine the exact activities to perform and get engaged with. You’ll be able to identify the community features you are capable of handling and if it is something you can afford. It is important to set a specific amount of money to spend on that particular activity to avoid unplanned, excessive spending. The more planning you’ve done, the less you’ll encounter frantic situations.

Implement Pet-focused Resident Events

Many residents are picky about apartment features for their pets. For sure, that’s the same in the events they want their pets to belong with. Having a pet-friendly environment is an advantage since most household nowadays have their pets. Your current residents want what’s best for their fur children, and their preferences should be prioritized. Try assessing if your property website offers up-to-date proposals regarding this topic.

Design a Resident Retention Calendar

Once your resident retention plan is complete and done, it’s important to make a visual representation of the following events. By this, you’ll let the residents of your apartment be informed about the upcoming activities. Making and disseminating the visual representation as early as possible allows the residents to perform time budgeting and avoid absence and schedule conflicts. Gather your property management team and have a collaborative meeting about how to arrange the activities and what are the necessary actions to take. Create a softcopy or hardcopy of information, depending on what’s best for the residents, to inform them about the plan.

How to Increase Resident Retention?

Increasing resident retention requires a good amount of planning. Although it is the property owner’s and staff’s responsibility to respond to the requests right away, exerting more effort than usual often produces amazing results. It is important to be provident when it comes to property keep-ups in order to avoid critical situations that might affect the resident’s living.

Hosting Community Events for Resident Retention Rate Increase

What is Resident Retention?

Activities that focus on community building are far less money-consuming and it provides time and space to create a good atmosphere amidst the neighborhood. If there’s a newly transferred household, you can maybe show thoughtfulness by giving them a welcome party. You can invite them to an informal get-together during holidays, facilitate a casual basketball team, and many more. There are so many ways to show them reasons why they should extend their stay by just treating them right. 

Why is Resident Retention Important?

Various sources stated that there’s a high number of resident move-out records due to service dissatisfaction. In order to maintain a healthy number of residents, you should maintain the quality of your efforts. Resident retention plays a vital role in today’s world. This may reflect your service quality and how competent you are in dealing with your residents.

Conclusion

In order to keep a good number of residents, it is important to regularly assess the efforts exerted by your team. For the past records indulging the resident moves out, the reasons of each household are distinct from one another though there are some cases that the reported problem is common from different sources. For the reasons that are placed within your scope of control, there’s a chance that you can do something about it.

Perform a root-cause analysis and determine the main problem of why there is a decreasing record of your resident move-out. As for what was previously reprimanded, it might have to do with service issues, lack of communication, not much room for resident feedback, unapproachable and unfriendly staff, and many more. After pinpointing the common problems, you’ll now be able to do the best step suited for each issue.

If you are interested in knowing more about resident retention and how it affects your real estate career, Eagle Property Management is ready to give you the assistance you need.