Tenant Rewards??

Hi there, i feel what you are proposing is terrific, i have been mulling over the same thing as my tenants birthday is coming up which almost coincides with new lease time.

having read posts on this thread, i’m quite happy to post a b’day card with 2 movie tickets – i’m really not going to say too much, but i do want to foster a pro active (albeit commercial) relationship (property is self managed).

if it takes $20 to save me 4 weeks vacancy, won’t need a calculator for that.

cheers

brahms

If you don’t ask, the answer is no!!

Tinkerbell,

Maybe you should consider rewarding your managers instead of the tennants. That way your managers will want to look after you with getting you the best possible tennants that arn’t likely to do a runner on you. Also if your property comes up for a new lease guess whose property they are likely to rent first. Yours because they are getting an insentive to do so.
This little strategy has served me well. Addmittedly I only have 4 propertys but they have a combined vacancy rate of 6 days over the last 24 month, and i have not had any none paying, a current affair tennants as yet and don’t expect to. I look after my managers and they certainly look after me.

Of course if you manage the property yourself this won’t apply and maybe you should look at sacking your manager.

Gav.

“Happy Days”

Hi Tink,

I’m sure your tenants will think you’re a fairy, but if you think it’ll help keep your tenant doing the right then go ahead.

Yes, this topic did cause a bit of debate last time, try doing a search on gifts or rewards and see what comes up, you might be very interested in that thread.

I tend to only give a gift at Christmas time to say “thanks” for the year, unless something out of the ordinary has happened in between ie: we were putting up a fence in 41 degree heat and lo and behold our tenant came and helped us. Took all day, was very dirty, and tiring work (I don’t think I’ve ever seem so many tree roots) and he missed watching the car racing on TV which we know he really likes to to watch. As far as we were concerned he went well above what can be expected so we bought him a carton of premium beer there and then! a carton seemed small for a days work but he was thrilled, he hadn’t had any money left over for himself for some time (single dad with two kids) so he really appreciated it.

Ultimately, though we are all different, some respond very well to positive reinforcement, for others it would make no difference, if they are going to do the wrong theing, then they still will do the wrong thing.

Good luck.
PK

Tinkerbell,

Let me share one “bad, tenant from hell story” with you. I was like you once, lost money with a “non paying tenant” so when I finally managed to get him out after failing to pay ANY rent for 8 months (by the time I went to the Tribunal) I decided that “the next time would be different”………so what did I do?????

Next tenant moved in, I would buy her a gift on her birthday, at Easter I got her (and her kids) chocky eggs, and at Xmas a bottle of wine. This went on for a year, and then the same thing happened; the tenants again failed to make regular payments, then just dead stopped. Oh and it gets better, then they decide to use the garage as their own private “whore house” sub-letting it to prostitutes; the police were always getting called around, and one night, I got a call to say that they had “trashed” the property, why?????? Because I left a message with one of them asking about the rent and “how dare I”!!!!! When I had finally endured enough, again, back to the tribunal, and again, eviction process started, only this time, they got pissed off, and decided to torch the house, but not before, they spray painted my neigbhouring wall with TENANTS RULE, and TAKE THAT YOU F…..ING BITCH!!!!!

So what do you think I should do now for my tenants, a bottle of bubbly with a personalised card again, note reading “Oh thank you sooooooo much for paying me to keep a roof over your head, and btw thanks oh so much for not burning my house down!!!!!!”

Please spare me!!!!!!!

Jo

See Tinkerbell, told you there’d be a range of responses.

What works for one tenant won’t necessarily work for another. What works for one investor may not work for another. Same goes for property managers. We’re dealing with people – too many variables.

I’ve always used property managers and they are rewarded as are some tenants. I keep my tenants at arms length. I reward either party when they exceed my expectations.

Gee Henry, I don’t think those tenants felt I regarded them as ‘stupid or inadequate’. In fact I’m not sure whether any smart investor would take their tenants for granted. But maybe I did unwittingly offend those tenants and I’m too obtuse to realise it? Still, the fact that they’d being paying monthly after the expiry of a lease and asked whether they could go on a lease again meant that whatever I did achieved the desired result.

All posts have been from the view point of the landlord – not surprising of course, but… casting my mind back to the many years of renting as most forumites will share.

I always felt the apartment or house i was in was my home, and treated it as such. And yes, I was never treated any better by any landlord or managing agent than the tenant who didn’t mow, didn’t weed, didn’t change their own light bulbs, didn’t park cars on the front lawn til the wheel tracks got so deep the car bottomed out and then complained to the realtor that the vehicle access was eroded and the realtor took this to the owner who said ‘what the hell has happenned to the lawn’…..you get the drift..

as i’m now on the other side of the ledger, i’ll happily foster a commercial relationship.

i always smile at the thought of telling a good news storey about a tenant and a rental property – you’d be boo’d off the stage – so much more fun to hear about the one out at Toowoomba who converted the 4th bedroom into a stable and kept the pony inside, well,,,, it does get cold out there……

cheers

brahms

If you don’t ask, the answer is no!!

Good point there. I was in the same boat a short while ago and was considering giving the tenants free movie tickets or a bottle of wine as a ‘thank you’ gift. But then I read a discussion about the general public’s views towards investment property owners. I just got paranoid thinking that if I start giving gifts the tenants will think I’m some well off real estate investor and change their ways.

‘My’ view now is that a tenant should not be given a gift unless they’re over the board nice, or go out of their way to look after your property (like the examples given above). In the end it’s up to the landlord as each case is a different situation.

Cheers [biggrin]

As a former PM, I have to agree with those who motivate the PM. They are the key to it all. I expect tenants to abide by the lease, it’s a business deal. I expect property owners to abide by their responsibilities too, otherwise I hand them back the property and the management because I don’t want to be sued by a tenant. So, best target is both parties abide by the lease, tenant pays rent on time and looks after the property, while landlord provides fast service on repairs and maintenance. hope you got a good PM and good tenants. cheers
thecrest