Hey all
two of Steve books I've read so far he explains how he rewards his tenants with movie passes or vouchers to possible improve the property to help keep a happy tenant and a paying one on time.
My 2nd investment property should be all go by this week or next, the thing is this will make me have up to five tenants as its a complete complex.
First investment is a house with one tenant and 2nd has Three additional and possibly a fourth after some minor improvements on the townhouse.
my investment morgage will now be at 288K P&I. Not alot for some but its a bit for me. Rental income before fees will be near $700 a week all investments combined.
Min repayments will be near $500 a week plus rates for both properties will be near $3000, insurance just over $1000, water rates and real estate fees 9% plus repairs, So i need happy tenants
Living in a country town with no cinemas
what should i reward a tenant? should i be rewarding a tenant?Also the two units at the rear of the property are both 2 bedroom brick units, both in good condition. One tennent just signed a lease for $125 a week and the other has been leased for $110 a week. Both need Air conditioning and maybe a bathroom heat lamp/fan. the one being leased for $110 a week he has been there for over 5 years and a has been a loyal tennant, he isnt on a contract. Would it be wrong of me to update the unit with Air Co and bathroom heat since in summer its hot, winter its below zero at night and up the rent alittle. Could this cause him to leave?
I'm still very new to this
thanks for your time.
Hi Rabbitohs,
Well done on your investments so far.
This is a topic that interests me too. We sent a plant voucher to a couple of tenants. One lot SMS'd to say thanks, the other doesn't have our details. Ironically,the one who SMS'd is the one who is on welfare and is behind in their rent. They are now on an auto payment catchup plan, and they will be a long term tenant. The other was already a dream tenant, so it's hard to gather any useful data from the exercise so far.
I do think that it is good to send an out of the blue 'thanks for being a great tenant" something now and again. Could be anything – a hamper, bunch of flowers, DVD voucher etc. Maybe even an online gift voucher like a magazine subscription or something. I'm sure it keeps the maintenance costs down. It's the little things that make a big difference.
On the other hand, I think it's really important to strike swiftly if they get behind in rent (I've had to manage my PM on this sometimes). My approach is to show that I appreciate when they make my life easy, but also to show that I won't tolerate them making my life difficult.
Daedalus
I reward the tenant for being a good tenant and being loyal, that is if they are there for more than one Christmas, they get a gift voucher (I gave a Coles/Kmart one this Christmas, because they could buy that Christy lunch even if they don;t shop there normally), or beer etc. I always portion the gift around 1/2 of the weekly rent. My thoughts are, if they do not move out, I am left with a vacancy and paying the agent the leasing fee. It's much cheaper to have them loyal to us. Last Christmas I got a thankyou with some photo's from a grateful and excellent tenant. They are always behind in the rent by 1 week, but they look after the place. I do not go to inspections and have never meet them. The other tenants we gave gifts too, we did not hear from but they do not have our contact details.
I would not be giving gifts straight away, but I would make the tenants feel at ease about your intentions. Having a new owner is a very uncertain time for them.If you are worried about the A/c cost etc, give the tenant the option of the increase rent or no A/C. You will soon find out what is important to them and can base your decision accordingly. Another thing is if you only increase the rent by a little, you will find that most tenants will not move because it will actually cost more to reconnect all the services etc.
Good luck and hope this helps.
JLAgree with JL re asking the tenants if they want a/c and heating, and if they can pay more for it.
I find that you can make your tenants happy even with gestures that cost nothing. For example, just keeping them informed! If they ask for a repair, and it's going to take more than a day or two, I drop them an email apologising for the inconvenience and briefly explaining why. I keep the tone very friendly and tell them I hope that they're enjoying living there. I also tell them of any planned improvements, and ask if they have any feedback (eg colour preferences, or whether there are other things they'd like attended to first).
I've found that tenants are very appreciative of information, and when they see that you are responsive and do care that they enjoy living there, you're no longer an "anonymous landlord" and they're much less likely to get stroppy about anything. If things go wrong in future, they'll assume it's a communication breakdown or something beyond your control, rather than bombarding the real estate agent with complaints and assuming that you're just blowing them off.
If it's true, I tell them that I intend to own the property for a very long time as an investment, and that I hope they'll be my tenants for as long as I own the property. For many tenants, the uncertainty of the property possibly being "sold from underneath them" at any moment is a major source of stress, so if you can reassure them on this front, then do so. It doesn't bind you if circumstances change, of course.
I provide a roof over their heads and fix all the little things that are totally neglected in my own home.
Good tennants will always be good tennants just as rewards aren't going to change a bad tennant
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