Vacancy is something that every landlord must be ready for sooner rather than later because is comes with owning rental properties in Beaverton Oregon, and elsewhere in the United States.
Thankfully, landlords can lower vacancy rates while increasing renewals by following these tips.
Tips For Lowering Vacancy Rates
One of the best things that every landlord can do to reduce vacancies at their rental properties while increasing renewals is to build a relationship with their tenant.
The relationship starts from day one; they should let that tenant know they’re welcome to live in their rental property by providing them with a gift basket containing the essentials that a tenant might need to get started in a new home.
Some of the most common essentials that every tenant is going to need when moving into a new home include:
- Cleaning supplies
- Toilet caddy
- Broom with dustpan
- Vacuum cleaner
- Trash bags
Once the gift basket is given, the landlord should next show the tenant that there are multiple ways for them to connect with the landlord including calls, texts, or emails.
The tenant must know that anytime they need to reach out to the landlord, the landlord is going to be accessible to assist them with any problems that they may be experiencing at their rental property instead of having their issues left unanswered.
As a landlord invests in more rental properties in Beaverton Oregon, the calls that they receive from their tenants are only going to increase. Therefore, every landlord should consider outsourcing those calls to a live answering service so that they could keep their cell phone out of the contact loop and avoid after-hours calls.
What’s even more ideal is for a landlord to outsource the management of their rental properties to a qualified property manager like Rent Portland Homes – Professionals. Our team offers live customer service that’s available to assist tenants with all their questions, problems, or concerns that they might have.
Tip #2 – Be willing To Accept Feedback
Another simple thing that landlords can do to lower vacancies at their rental properties is to be willing to listen to feedback from their tenants.
Even though not every recommendation is going to be a good idea, if the tenant’s feedback is simple, cost-effective, and easy to implement, the landlord should be willing to act upon that feedback because this will show the tenant that the landlord is taking their feedback into consideration and values their input.
Landlords should provide their tenants with a simple method for submitting feedback either via text message, contact form on their website or by submitting written feedback to the landlord at their office.
Tip #3 – Approach Tenants Early About Lease Renewals
Another effective thing that landlords can do to reduce vacancy rates while increasing renewals is to approach their tenants early about lease renewals.
This means that instead of waiting until 30 days before their tenants are due to renew their leases, landlords should approach their tenants at least 90 days in advance to get their feedback on renewing for another 12 months.
This is a smart thing to do because a tenant may be hesitant to renew their lease because they feel that their feedback or maintenance requests have gone unanswered by the landlord.
Approaching the tenant early about lease renewals gives the landlord time to address the tenant’s concerns, resolve issues, and show that them they’re willing to go the extra mile to continue earning that business for another year.
Tip #4 – Offer Incentives for Lease Renewals
In cases where the landlord can still not get the tenant to renew their lease for another year, the landlord should consider offering them incentives or perks for renewing.
Depending upon if it’s a single-family or multifamily unit in a rental property, landlords should consider offering their tenants incentives like:
- Cash incentives
- Gift cards
- Unit upgrades or enhancements
- Free wi-fi
- Free gym membership
- Amazon Prime subscription
Incentives are always something that every landlord should use to increase lease renewals while lowering vacancy rates at their rental properties.
Besides offering incentives, landlords should also consider allowing their tenants in their rental properties as well.
Even though a tenant may not currently have a pet right now, it’s possible that they could be thinking about buying one soon and are in the process of looking for a pet-friendly rental property.
Seventy percent of U.S. households, or about 90.5 million families, own a pet, according to the 2021-2022 National Pet Owners Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA). This is up from 56 percent of U.S. households in 1988, the first year the survey was conducted, and 67 percent in 2019.
Source – https://www.iii.org/
Allowing pets will keep good tenants living in the rental property while also providing them with the convenience of being able to have a pet versus them moving out of a property that they might enjoy, in favor of searching for a pet-friendly rental in the area.
Remember, incentives that may work for tenants in other cities or states may not work for tenants in the Beaverton area so owners should also take the time to research incentives/concessions that other local landlords are offering their vacancy tenants before they decide on what they should offer.
Contact Us
At Rent Portland Homes – Professionals, our team specializes in local property management for Beaverton, Portland, and the surrounding area.
We save owners the time, money, and hassle of managing rental properties so they can continue enjoying passive income from their properties without having to get bogged down with day-to-day property management.
Besides helping owners’ lower vacancies while increasing their renewals, some of our other services include rental property marketing, evictions, customer service, maintenance, accounting, and more.
To learn more about the property management services that we can offer you, contact us today by calling (503) 646-9664 or by clicking here to connect with us online.
