When you’re renting out a Humboldt County property, you probably invest a lot of time and effort into finding a well-qualified tenant. You do a lot of marketing and you focus on strict tenant screening. 

That’s obviously important, because a good tenant contributes to a good rental experience. 

But, we have found that what a lot of property owners tend to forget is that it’s just as important to keep that tenant in place. Good tenant retention contributes to better cash flow and higher ROI. It creates stability for you and your rental property. You spend less on maintenance and renovations when you keep your tenants.

We enjoy high retention rates at Rentor, and we believe that’s due to a few important factors:

• Responsive maintenance
• Excellent tenant communication
• Stress-free move-in and move-out processes
• Rent increases are market-driven

Providing a pleasant rental experience that makes your residents want to renew their lease isn’t complicated. It requires care and attention and a good tenant relationship. Here are some easy-to-implement strategies that can help you retain long-term tenants in Humboldt County. 

Responsive Maintenance Serves Tenants and Investment Goals 

If there is one thing tenants do not love, it’s waiting for maintenance work to be complete. They get even more frustrated if they have to wait for their maintenance requests to even be acknowledged. We have read all of the same reports that you likely have; we all know that one of the main reasons tenants leave a rental property at the end of their lease term is that they’re dissatisfied with how maintenance is handled. 

This is not a great way to lose your tenants.

Instead, keep them in place by providing a positive and responsive maintenance process. For emergencies, tenants should have a way to reach you right away. They’ll need all of your phone numbers, or the phone number of your property manager who responds 24/7. You want to make sure they’re safe in the event of a flood, fire, or other catastrophe. You also want to get repairs started right away so the home remains habitable and further damage is avoided. 

For routine repairs, we provide an online system so tenants can make requests at their own convenience. They can even include pictures of the problem with their description. Then, we get in touch right away, even if we can’t fix it for a day or two. 

We recommend that you do something similar. Communicating with tenants throughout the process, working with reliable and respectful vendors, and following up with residents after the work is completed will create a lot of tenant satisfaction and protect the condition and value of your investment property in Humboldt County.

Improving Tenant Communication

A great way to ensure high tenant retention numbers is to improve the way you communicate with tenants. You want to be available and accessible. Share our expectations with tenants early, before the lease is even signed. When tenants understand their responsibilities and requirements, they’re more likely to succeed and less likely to shy away from asking questions or reporting concerns. This is an important part of developing and maintaining good tenant relationships. 

There’s no reason not to be helpful, supportive, and friendly. 

We have always rejected this outdated perception that the landlord/tenant relationship has to be adversarial. We work well with our tenants because we communicate openly and transparently. We expect the same from them. It helps our tenant retention numbers and it creates a good rental experience for everyone.

Make it Easy to Move into Your Property

One of the things that residents today prize over almost anything else is convenience. 

They want the convenience of online payments. They want the ease of online maintenance requests. 

Moving is stressful, and when you can make the move-in process as stress-free as possible, they’re going to appreciate the help you’re providing, and they’re not even going to think about moving out until they absolutely have to. 

Be available to support your tenants and offer any resources they may need, whether they’re moving into one of your properties from out of state or just down the street. This helps with tenant retention because there are fewer conflicts, disputes, and misunderstandings. 

During the move-in, we go over the entire lease agreement and welcome any questions. We collect the move-in funds, help tenants with utility accounts and information about their new neighborhood, and stand by to answer any questions or respond to any early repair needs. We explain how they can pay rent online and what they’ll need to do when maintenance is needed. 

Rental Increases Must Match the Market

You also don’t want to chase your tenants away by raising the rent too high. In California, this is nearly impossible thanks to rent stabilization limits. But, you’re still going to raise your rent a little bit at renewal time. Rental increases are normal and expected. Keep the increase aligned with what the local rental market demands. Take a look at what similar properties are renting for, just like you did when you established the rental value initially. 

Bonus Tip: Are You Allowing Pets?

Pet-friendly properties do a better job of retaining tenants than those properties that don’t allow pets. 

The logic is pretty easy to follow; tenants with pets know that not all rental homes will welcome their furry friends. So, once they’ve found a place to live that does allow pets, they’re unlikely to leave, unless they’re having a bad experience. Plus, they don’t want to pay another pet fee at their next rental home. Those are usually non-refundable, and it doesn’t make sense to pay a new pet fee at a new place every year.