Ep014: What Does Your Property Manager Expect from Your Tenants?

Chris McAllister: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Landlord Profitability Playbook Podcast. I’m Chris McAllister and I’m here to help residential real estate investors maximize their returns, enhance their property management practices. So joining me today are my co hosts, Laci LeBlanc and Gretchen Mitchell, who is our Director of Property Management at Roost Real Estate Company.

So good morning, ladies. 

Laci LeBlanc: Good morning. Good morning. 

Chris McAllister: This is part seven of our series called what to expect from your property manager. And today we’re diving into tenant relations, a crucial aspect of protecting your investment, ensuring consistent rental income and minimizing costly turnovers. So we’re going to talk about how different property management companies handle tenant relations and why the approach you choose.

Can make or break your properties profitability. And if you have multiple properties, how it can make or break, uh, your entire folio, so we’re going to talk about some strategies to improve tenant relations, some questions, and some tips on how to recognize if your property management company is truly acting in, in your best interest and give you some framework to understand, uh, the kind of tenant experience.

That can drive long term stability and better returns. How’s that for a word salad this morning? 

Laci LeBlanc: Well, first of all, you expressed it beautifully. Not one single flop, so no editing is going to be required, you guys. But I wanted to hone in on the phrase recognizing If your management company is truly acting in your best interest, because it occurred to me that this is one of the scenarios in business where acting in your client’s best interest is not only, you know, morally the right thing to do, but it’s actually for the management company.

It’s totally aligned with your profitability, right? As a management company, um, in property management, the client cannot be, the property owner cannot be Profitable if you’re not profitable and vice versa. So I thought that was a really, I think we’ve probably talked about that before, but that really, like when you said that, that resonated with me this morning.

Chris McAllister: Yeah, it’s it. There is a, uh, it has to be a mutually beneficial relationship, right? If your property manager is not profitable, they’re gonna have to do what they have to do to have food with their meals. And sometimes that can come with the expense of your portfolio. Um, you know, so this is one of those things where everybody has to, um, you know, You know, do well, so to speak, and but when it comes to tenant relations, we always have to keep in mind that the only reason we have these properties is because we have tenants living in them that that pay the rent, which in turn covers our mortgage payments or taxes or insurance or repairs or upgrades, and in many cases, our lifestyle.

So there’s two approaches that that we see. With different property management companies when it comes to tenant relations and on the one side of the property management tenant relation spectrum, there are companies that try to eliminate as much tenant interaction as they possibly can because that’s, uh, they believe that ultimately that’s easier and cheaper.

So there’s many companies, several here in Columbus, where they want everything done, all tenant communication they want done through automated texts, different online systems, whether it’s through, uh, at folio, property mill, tenant turner, you know, whatever they happen to use. Um, and the goal is to have as little human contact as possible.

And, you know, this includes that they keep, you know, Keeping private offices that may be licensed, but these, these offices are closed to the public. So it’s not like a traditional real estate office where, you know, people can come in or tenants can stop in or even owners could come in. And in the extreme, you know, some of these companies will not see a tenant face to face.

Even by appointment, they’re, they’re operating their company for maximum operational efficiency, and they’re doing their best to, to drop overhead. And quite frankly, they’re not investing any time or money on, on relationships with, with, with the folks that are making this all possible for us. 

Gretchen Mitchell: Yeah. To me, I feel like that.

I get it, but it’s, it’s kind of crazy to hear because so many things get resolved if you just invite someone into the office or you pick up the phone and have a quick conversation. I, I can’t imagine ever not having a conversation one-on-one with a tenant. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, I, I’m, I’m with you. And, you know, you would think that this approach would result in lower costs for the owners, but you know, I, I, when I.

And I research everybody in town. Quite frankly, I want to know what they’re doing. I want to know what I can learn from them. I, you know, it’s just, I feel it’s part of my job to get a feel for what’s happening in the industry. But when I look at these companies and I look at their Published fee schedules.

I never see that these companies are passing along any savings to the owners versus what quote, you know, a full service company might or a more traditional company. So if there is money being saved in in in this strategy. I’m not seeing that that is ever being passed along to the owners. So even with a leaner model, any efficiency gains aren’t necessarily translating into financial gains for the owners.

In many cases, it’s efficiency for the sake of the management company, and sometimes it’s just efficiency for the sake of efficiency, and it’s not necessarily in the best interest of the owners. They serve and quite frankly, because, you know, I’m listening to myself talk and clearly I’m biased about this.

But, you know, I can tell you where this approach really, really breaks down is when you’re working with lower income tenants and those on Section 8. 

Gretchen Mitchell: Yeah, I 100 percent agree. 

Chris McAllister: And those people do need, they tend to need more support, more communication. I don’t know if I want to use the word hand holding, but they, they do need more counseling.

That’s the word I’m looking for. Yes. So on the other side of the spectrum, you know, you’ve got companies that recognize that tenants are not just occupants, but they are the customers. And, you know, they, they believe in treating tenants with respect and maintaining clearly communicated expectations. And that’s key is clearly communicated expectations.

You know, what does it mean to be a good tenant? You know, with their company and I, you know, this approach to me is not about sacrificing efficiency. It’s about ensuring that efficiency doesn’t come at the expense of customer satisfaction. So we serve a lot of stakeholders in this business and we’ve got to do the best we possibly can to make this a great experience for, for everyone.

And, you know, as Gretchen said, you know, at our company, you know, we welcome our tenants and applicants into the office because Cheers. You know, quite often when they do come in, it’s, it’s sort of their last resort, right? If, if the system has broken down anywhere along the line, for whatever reason, whether on our part or the applicant’s fault or the tenant’s.

fault, the ability to come into an office and actually see somebody or be able to talk to somebody. It’s, it’s just, sometimes it’s the last chance to have their voices heard. And it’s our last chance to solve a problem before it gets away from us. Because if it gets away from us, it got away from the owner too, because that’s, that’s what we do for the owners.

So it it’s about recognizing that for our tenants. This, this isn’t just a unit, this isn’t just about building a vacancy. This is about home and, you know, as a company and as a brand and, you know, that’s how we do business. We respect that and we celebrate that. And that’s why for me anyway, and I think for Gretchen and everybody else here, it always comes back to, you know, roost equals home.

That’s, that’s who we are

now. Of course, there are always. That 1 percent is maybe some months. It feels like more than 1%, uh, 10%, whatever. You know, we have to be realistic that. You know, sometimes there are tenants and there are applicants that, you know, act in bad faith. And, you know, of course, no matter how respectful our approach, you know, our approach to tenant relations may be, we are not going to change, uh, we’re not going to be able to change the minds of bad actors or people who are out to take advantage of a system.

And that’s why, you know, we are. I feel appropriately aggressive, um, that when tenants fail to live up to the terms of, of their lease that we Evict them. 

Gretchen Mitchell: Yeah. And we have a, the system to where, you know, they know Marcy and if Marcy or Shannon get into a situation where they feel like this is going sideways, they know they can go to Tina, the property manager, or they know they can go to me and then they’re out of that uncomfortable situation and they have that support.

So nothing will go unnoticed and not taken care of. They have backup for that. 

Chris McAllister: And I just want to make it clear, you know, it’s not like it’s always sweetness and light with our tenants. I mean, we’ve got, you know, Quote, tough tenants and, and, but our job is to, is to deal with that, treat everybody with respect, but if they’re not following the rules or they’re not living up to the terms of their, And then we have to, uh, we have to ask them to leave.

And in some cases we have to get the law involved.

Laci LeBlanc: And how great that owners don’t have to do that themselves. I think that’s, I think I’ve said this before too, but, you know, when it comes to Nana or my friends that own properties, they recently had to go through an eviction and their property management company, they hired a property management company to manage part of their properties.

And the ones they chose for them to manage were the more problematic ones that right. Yeah, that attracted, um, over and over again, uh, tenants who were maybe more difficult to deal with. Um, and it could have, it could be the area, um, could be the property itself. But they did not get that support from their property management team.

And we had a conversation, this happens to be a good friend of mine. And we had a conversation just the other day about how, you know, if I wanted. To put a tenant in a property who wasn’t going to pay the rent, who wasn’t going to, you know, treat the property well and keep it up, um, who was going to mistreat it, then I can do that myself.

I don’t need to pay somebody X percent, or I don’t need to pay somebody every month, um, to, for, for that, because that’s not a service to me. So that just reiterates to me that these difficult things, um, you know, that you can’t avoid, no matter how good you are with tenant selection, um, are the reason that people.

I think we were talking about that earlier. If you’re not doing your part. You’re not going to hire property management companies in the first place. So if your property management company. Isn’t effective at those things. Having the hard conversations and ultimately evicting tenants who are not doing their part.

Then you’re with the wrong property management company. I think. 

Chris McAllister: That’s very fair. I mean, we. Yeah, we. We talk about, you know, sometimes you’ve got to do those hard things. You got to have our conversations. Sometimes you got to swallow the frog or shoot the puppy, right?

Gretchen Mitchell: I hear that all the time from owners like, oh, you know, I emailed a handful yesterday, you know, this one hasn’t paid, this one promised to pay that it didn’t come in. They’re like, oh, thank goodness we have you. Cause I couldn’t do it. I don’t have the heart to do it. 

Chris McAllister: I think this whole idea about multiple stakeholders, stakeholders, it’s important to keep in mind when, when you are evaluating.

your current situation or whether to hire a property manager or, you know, making a change. And many people think that there’s a conflict between being loyal to the property owner and being responsible to the tenant. But that’s, that’s just not true. There, there, there is no conflict there as licensed property managers in, in all 50 States.

Uh, I’m pretty sure it’s all 50. You have to be, I think Maine’s a little. And I haven’t, uh, I need to investigate that, but you have to be licensed by the state in order to, to perform property management services for, for another, then it’s licensed property managers are fiduciary duty. is to our owners.

It’s to our owner clients. Our loyalty is to them legally, morally, any way you want to look at it. And it’s our job to ensure that their properties are well managed and their investments are protected. On the other side, we also have a legal duty per licensing law. To our tenants and our tenants are our customers.

They’re our owner’s customers, and, and with that responsibility and legal duty comes a level of service and respect that has to be shown to these folks. And, and that is just flat out non-negotiable. You know, at a minimum we have to provide a safe and functional home. We have to respond promptly to maintenance requests and we have to communicate clearly and respectfully throughout their tenancy.

And more than that, quite frankly, we’ve spent, we have to spend a lot of time educating our tenants as to what it means to be a good tenant in the fact that we expect them, you know, when they move into a property, when they when they move out that we expect that property to be an as good or even better condition than it was when they when they moved in.

So these responsibilities, I don’t believe they’re in conflict. Gretchen, I’m sure you don’t either. Lacy. And in fact, they complement each other. Happy tenants lead to longer tenancies, which means less turnover, fewer costs, and better returns for the owners. If you meet tenants needs and you fulfill your fiduciary, you are fulfilling your fiduciary duty to owners if you’re taking care of the tenants.

So I am a little bit passionate about this because I just see and hear so many property managers and owners and landlords who quite frankly disparage their tenants and just assume that, uh, you know, they’re all out to get something for nothing. And that is just flat out, not true. And I. I absolutely believe that that’s a, that’s a recipe for failure with that attitude.

Gretchen Mitchell: Yeah. I’ve been hearing a lot of that lately, especially with some recent owners and, you know, costs of turns have gone up and the owners are a lot of the time blaming the tenants. You know, they did this, they did this, they did this. Well, a handful of it probably, but a lot of it is normal wear and tear and things.

So that’s another thing is, you know, giving the, the security deposit back is a big thing. You have to make sure that you’re charging them appropriately, but. We as a company try to think we want to give the security deposit back. We want to leave on a good note and make the tenant happy. But you’re right, fiduciary duty is to the owner clients, but there’s still that legal duty to the tenant to make sure that they were even moved out correctly, even after the tenancy is over.

Chris McAllister: Well, and we, you know, it is a legal responsibility to the tenant that we charge them when they did. damage to the property above and beyond general wear and tear, and we are absolutely going to do that. On the other hand, we’re not out to try to, you know, keep every dollar from every tenant who has a beta security deposit.

And sometimes it feels like, um, from a tenant perspective that some of these property management companies and some landlords are literally trying to do just that. 

Gretchen Mitchell: So, 

Chris McAllister: so our goal is to treat our owner’s properties as if they were our own, right? So this brings us To another important thing that I think it’s worth discussing here today is the difference between a self managing owner and what a third party property manager does.

So there are, there are ways you may be approaching. If you’re managing, if you’re self managing, there are ways that you’re approaching the process right now, that’s going to be different than the way a licensed third party manager is going to approach the business in the process. So in fact, many self managing owners.

are more successful at building strong tenant relationships simply because their incentives are so clear, right? If you’re, if you’re a self managing owner and this is your job, if you don’t keep those properties occupied, you know, they’re, they’re going to feel that financial pain instantly and directly their loyalty to themselves, their business, and their tenants is immediately.

evident, right? If they feel to keep their tenants happy, you know, they, they fail to be able to collect the rent and obviously that directly impacts their livelihood. So it always, I just shake my head when I hear owner occupant, uh, self managing investors. disparage their tenants. And with that attitude to me, it’s no, I feel like I’m preaching.

So forgive me. But with that attitude, it’s no wonder that they’re having problems. You know, for third party management companies, there’s a layer of separation between the owner and the tenant. And that doesn’t mean the care though should be any different. So at our company, we strive to treat The properties we manage as if they were our own and we approach each property with this perspective that tenant satisfaction is essential not just for tenant retention but for maintaining the profitability of the company of the property and of course those two things go hand in hand.

So the key message here, at least for me, is the goal of any property manager that you interview or work with should be to be proactive, to address concerns quickly, and to keep tenants happy, not because they have to, but because it directly serves their owner’s best interests. The fact is a well cared for tenant means a well cared for property, and that’s a win for everybody involved.

So, here is Here’s here’s four questions. Here’s here’s four key interview questions I want to give you when you’re talking to either your current property management company or a future one. So here’s what I encourage you to ask and just ask these simple questions. Number one is what is your approach to tenant relations?

Do they have one? Do you encourage in person interactions? And maybe the, maybe the other side of that coin is, do you discourage in person interactions? Excuse me, knowing that at some point there needs to be a safety valve there. And the third one is, how do you ensure tenant concerns are addressed before they escalate, right?

If you’re an owner, And, uh, you know, somehow those, uh, concerns are getting to you and, and not getting to the, uh, property manager first, that that’s an issue. So how do you, when you ask these property management, uh, companies you’re considering, how do you ensure tenant concerns are addressed before they escalate?

And more importantly, how do you balance, this is my favorite question. How do you balance your fiduciary responsibility to me, the owner with your legal duties and responsibilities to your tenants? I think that’s the million dollar question right there, because it’s going to help you uncover whether a company sees tenants as just part of the operational process or as partners in creating, you know, creating a successful rental experience.

Efficiency is valuable. We’re always striving for efficiency, but it can’t get in the way of connection. And the real goal is to create long term stability and profitability. For your for your properties and again, that means taking care of the tenants, not just as a strategy, but as a fundamental value of the business.

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, I think that these questions. I imagine if you ask many property management companies, then the answer will be, uh, uh, Um, and they probably do have a strategy, like everybody has a strategy, right? They do, they deal with it in a certain way. They just don’t have, um, have it, you know, systematized, they don’t have a process, they don’t follow kind of a rulebook, or they don’t have this mantra, this overarching goal that that Roost has.

So, you know, they’re not able to elaborate on it. 

Chris McAllister: I need to interrupt you before I forget, you know, you said rulebook, but let’s bear in mind too that You know, this isn’t just all sweetness and light. There’s also fair housing concerns here. And if you don’t treat, uh, you know, your tenants as a rule with dignity, respect, and, and, and treat them as customers, you know, the moments there’s even a whisper that somebody is going to accuse you of something from a fair housing perspective, you know, you’re, you’re going to be presumed guilty.

So first of all, don’t do anything that’s going to get you to run a foul affair housing. And secondly, don’t do anything that’s going to, um, you know, potentially cause people to want to, to hurt you, so to speak. That makes sense. 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah. I mean, and if you can’t, if you don’t have it. If you can’t speak about it, you certainly probably don’t have it documented in any way.

And if it’s not documented and you do 

Chris McAllister: have a problem, you’re, you’re, you’re going to have a hard time. 

Laci LeBlanc: Exactly. Exactly. So I just think that these questions, if you can get an answer to them, then that’s a really good indication that you’re in the right spot. Um, and then if you can, if the company can provide some documentation for it as well, um, then that’s another really good indicator, regardless of what the answers are, right?

You just want them to have answers first. So that’s the first step, because I’m sure there are lots of amazing property managers out there that do treat people with respect and, but if it’s not documented, if it’s not systematized, if all of their employees don’t do the same thing, if all of their tenants don’t have the same expectations, then it’s just going to be really hard to be consistent about it, and consistency, I think, is at the heart of a good property.

Um, tenant, property manager, owner relationship. 

Chris McAllister: Agree. So I want to, I want to go ahead and talk about how, how we do it at Roost Real Estate Company because that’s, that’s what we know. And, and, uh, you know, while it may sound like a commercial for Roost, I can’t really help that, but it’ll give you something to compare it to.

And obviously we only work in a handful of markets in Ohio and Florida, and I know we’ve got people listening from, from everywhere. So we have a document and it’s available on our website and we’ll include it in the show notes. And this document is called Rent with Roost. And it’s a brochure that we make available, um, to our tenants and we make it available on the website with, without a, uh, a, uh, email wall.

Basically you click on it, you get the PDF and this document, the overall tone sets the expectation that we expect our tenants to abide by. The, the terms of their lease, we expect them to pay their rent in full and on time every month, and that when it’s time to move out, that they leave the property in as good or as better condition than it was when they moved in.

Now, setting those expectations up front, You know, guarantee that every tenant is, is, is going to do that. We’ll have zero problem tenants. No, but I think it does set the tone for our team, for our company, and 99 percent of the tenants that we, we, we do approve to move into our owner’s properties. And I think the cover letters, you know, sort of sets the tone so that we have a Uh, a letter in this brochure from from Gretchen, our director of property management, and it leads off with have we earned a five star review today?

And our goal at Roost is to ensure we earn five star reviews from great tenant customers like you every day. If our tenants are not satisfied with their experience renting a home or apartment with Roost, then the owners we work for will not be satisfied. Either we help hundreds of residential real estate investors from all over the country, lease and maintain their properties.

We don’t own the properties we manage, but we strive to treat them and the people who live in them, like we do. And we want to be, we tell them this right up front. We want to be the best property management company you ever work with. We also want you to be the best tenants our owners could ever wish for.

And rent with roost is how we work together to make that happen. I’d like to say that everybody reads that before they apply or they sign a lease. Maybe if we can get some tenants to listen to this podcast. So I want to go through quickly what’s in this brochure. So we, the first thing in here, we have, what’s called the pick me application.

You know, we make the application process as simple as possible. Prospective tenants can apply online. They can submit their pay stubs online. They can allow us to qualify them quickly and get them into their home. You know, without hassle, we want to make sure that our tenant experience starts off in the right foot and as smoothly as possible.

And then we talk about the roof roost reference check. We run comprehensive credit and criminal background checks and confirm references with current and past landlords and employers. It’s important for us to get this right to ensure that both tenants and owners are set up for success. Now these, these are the things that we give to our tenants so they know what we’re going to do and why and what we expect from them.

The third thing on this, in this brochure is called the Certified Rental Home. Before any tenant moves in, we conduct a detailed inspection to make sure that the home is ready. We review the results with tenants so they know the home’s condition on day one. We believe transparency fosters trust, and that’s the foundation for a positive relationship.

Now, having said that, to our owners, you know, there are situations where, you know, depending on the house, depending on the owner’s current situation, you know, whenever there’s a turn, we always offer our owners You know, two possibilities and two, um, strategies, right? And the first strategy is, Mr. Owner, you know, this property is in pretty decent shape.

You know, we’ve got a, you got a little bit of things that we’ve got to get out of there. We need to do a deep clean. Um, but we think if you do those things and those things alone, which is obviously the most cost effective, then we think we can get that property rented and, and, you know, maintain the rent that you’re currently collecting.

But the second choice we give them is. Okay, Mr. Owner, we think that, uh, if you, you know, get these things trashed out, you do the deep clean and you replace the ceiling fan in the, uh, in the second bedroom. And I think at this point, it’s, it’s been three or four years. I think it’s time that we go through and do some paint.

And oh, by the way, you know, there’s some tough carpeting in there. We might be able to shampoo it, but maybe it’s time to at least put, uh, uh, plank flooring in that room. Right. So we, we give them two. Oh, and oh, by the way, if you take the second approach, we think instead of, uh, you know, a thousand dollars a month that you’ve been getting, we could probably get you 1100 now.

So the reason I bring this up in this context is. There are there are properties that you know that we market for rent that are freshly clean and painted and you know, just look like a new build. And then probably at least 50 percent of the time, maybe more, you know, we have a property that is absolutely clean, functional, ready to move in, but again, it’s a condition that’s appropriate for the for the neighborhood and for the price range that these folks are in.

Does that make sense? 

Gretchen Mitchell: Oh, yeah. And you can also say, you know, with option one, you probably won’t be able to do section eight. Option two, you could. And that’s, you know, we have that conversation, but yeah, those two options are wonderful for owners because they just know exactly what they’re going to get for what they pay for.

Chris McAllister: So certified rental home means it’s certified for what it is, what it’s priced at. And the type of property it is. So it may be one that looks like a model home. It may be one that doesn’t look like a model home, but it’s absolutely safe, fairly priced and clean. So the next thing that’s in this brochure is we call it the pet plan.

So we understand that pets are part of the family and our single family homes, we allow up to two cats and one dog with some restrictions. We make our pet policy clear up front so that tenants and owners both know what to expect. So. This is interesting too, because I just switched insurance companies and they don’t come out and say no vicious breeds.

They basically say that for my properties, that any, um, uh, dog bite whatsoever, the insurance policy isn’t going to cover it. And my guess is that’s become pretty well standard across the board for everybody’s insurance policies these days, just because of the state of the insurance industry. What, what, what, Gretchen, what do we do to You know, make sure that, you know, we’re not gonna load up a house with a pack of Rottweilers or anything else.

How do you approach that conversation with tenants? 

Gretchen Mitchell: Up front when they apply and they have an animal, um, we’ll explain to them there’s a 300 non refundable pet deposit. There’s a monthly pet rent. Bring the dog in and we’d like to meet the dog or send a picture of the dog. Um, you know, if we’re in the neighborhood, we’ll just drive by the house just to see how it’s going from the outside.

If it looks. Like something’s going on, then, you know, we’ll, uh, we’ll have to go in and address it, but, um, a lot of times we would get complaints from, from neighbors. I say a lot of times, but I guess it doesn’t happen that often. It happened a few months ago. One time, um, a neighbor called in and this tenant had nine puppies in the backyard, I think.

We had to address that and she did get rid of them as promised. She did well. Um, She neglected to tell us her dog was going to have these puppies when she moved in, but, you know, we gave her a proper letter that said, you know, you’re going to have a 300 nonrefundable pet deposit for each one of these nine puppies in the backyard.

You know, you’re going to have pet rent for each one, but she worked with us very well. The communication was great and she did get rid of them as promised, but 

Chris McAllister: good. Good, good, good. The next thing on a brochure is called the utility solution, and we make it clear that tenants in single family homes must have utilities placed in their names before moving in.

We verify that they have the, the, uh, utilities in their names before they get the keys because the last thing we want is for an owner to end up continuing to pay for utilities when the tenant has already moved in. So it helps clarity, helps avoid misunderstandings down the line. So that’s the utility solution.

The next section is called the never pay Late Secret. So remember, our audience here are prospective tenants, so paying rent on time is critical. We encourage our tenants to build up a rent cushion. To get a month ahead of possible. This not only reduces stress for tenants, but also ensures the owners receive rent consistently.

It’s a win win. So again, is this a magic bullet? No, but I can’t, I can tell you in my experience and Gretchen, I’m sure you can too, that there are people out there in the world who want to rent properties. And nobody ever. suggested to them and it never occurred to them that maybe a goal in life should be to get one month ahead on rent.

So we at least try to put it out there. The next thing is the fix it request. Maintenance issues can be frustrating and we get that we’ve made it made it easy for tenants to report problems through www dot roost repairs dot com. So whether it’s a routine issue or an emergency, we’re committed to responding quickly and effectively.

So that’s our promise to them. And the final one is the move out walkthrough. Finally, when tennis decide to move on. We conduct a move out walkthrough to ensure everything is in good shape. We want to refund their security deposit in full, and we make it clear what’s needed to make that happen. It’s about closing the chapter on a positive note, and leaving the door open for a great reference in future opportunities.

And just as a side note, this isn’t in the brochure, but Gretchen and I were meeting with an owner this morning, and I think we decided that, uh, This is, this is a new policy for, for us, but basically we are flagged, uh, Brenda, our, um, leasing manager is flagged when a lease is, uh, going to expire in 60 days.

And, you know, in the past, I think we’ve sort of had the mindset that, okay, if they’re in there and they’re paying the rent, we want them to stay. No questions asked. But, you know, we’ve, we have seen an uptick in, in issues lately with Tenants ability to pay, make ends meet and take care of their property.

So that 60 day now for us is a flag that somebody on our team is going to do a walkthrough on that apartment. And based on how that walkthrough goes, a couple of things could happen. One, it could be that. We’re not going to offer to extend their lease based on what we see. If we walk through and the property’s in good shape and the people are happy, you know, really what we need to do is ask them, you know, what would make you happy?

What would you like to see happen for you to feel great about staying for another year? And sometimes that’s as simple as, boy, you know, that ceiling fan in the bedroom just makes so much noise at night when it’s hot. Is there any chance I could get a new ceiling fan? Well, I don’t know about you, but as an owner, If that’s going to get me, you know, a few extra dollars a month, and the peace of mind knowing that another lease is going to be signed for another year, and I get to upgrade my property with a better ceiling fan, I’m going to make that deal.

Gretchen Mitchell: And you’ve got a happy tenant that’s taking care of the house. 

Chris McAllister: Exactly. I’ve got a happy tenant, happy owner. But that move out walk through It’s critical because it puts the tenant on notice, but it’s also critical for us that that whole process is a chance to make sure that that tenant is doing what they need to be doing.

And so doing is taking care of our owners, and it gives us a chance to do whatever we need to do in case there’s something bad going on before we say, hey, go ahead, sign up for another year. So the next thing that we have really gotten specific about communicating with our tenants is how to get your security deposit back.

So we have one more document we give to tenants when they sign a lease, and it’s called how to get your security deposit back. And again, our goal is to educate, And eliminate surprises for our tenants. And more importantly, our owners, when a tenant chooses to move on. So we’ll put a link in the show notes as well, and you can download and see exactly what our document, um, how to get your security deposit back looks.

It’s like so rent with roost. Overall, it’s our approach. It’s about treating tenants. Well, setting clear expectations and providing support every step of the way. And this commitment to service isn’t just about tenant satisfaction again. It’s directly supports our owners by reducing turnover and keeping properties in great shape and making sure that they get a steady return on investment.

Laci LeBlanc: And that they leave a great Google review. 

Chris McAllister: And that they leave a five star review. Yes, yes, yes. People say, why do you have so many five star reviews? So for us, it’s either, uh, it’s almost always a five star, and then once in a while, you’ll see a one star. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten a two, three, or four star review.

It is. We only ask for five stars, so people just automatically hit the five star. But, um, you know, I’m guessing the 

Laci LeBlanc: people who don’t hit the five star based on the fact that I, you know, we all see them all come through every time, um, they did not understand the expectation is. That’s 90 percent Constantly what it is.

They did not read the Rent with Ruth documentation in advance. I think they did not read how to get your security deposit back. But I do think that managing expectations for everyone involved is is so key. And that just It really takes care of a lot of problems before they even happen. Um, Yeah, but 

Gretchen Mitchell: I mean, something we’re, we’re going to start doing too now is when they give a notice to vacate, we’re going to send them this, how to get your security deposit back, you know, so it’s 60, 30 days to begin with it.

Chris McAllister: Exactly. Oh, I know what I was going to say. I just flashed on this. I didn’t have it in my notes, but another, uh, interview point for the owners listening is. Google this property management company and see what their Google’s reviews say. You know, that, that says a lot about what’s going on with the company.

And, you know, I see them, Gretchen sees them. We look at these Google reviews whenever they come through, and you’ll see some upset people on our site. I think we’re running a 4. 8 across the board these days, which I’m super proud of. And the vast majority of them are five stars. Incidentally, they love our maintenance guys, and they love Brenda, and they love Marcy.

Um, you know, so that’s great, but every once in a while we’ll get a one star review. And I think it’s important that you, you look at how the company responds, not just to good reviews, but how it responds to bad reviews. And I can tell you, you know, Gretchen knows this, if we get a one star review. Um, you know, it’s a fire drill for us.

You know, what the hell happened? You know, who are these people? Who talked to them? You know, are they in the system? Are they even a tenant? We’ve had people to have given us a bad review that we didn’t have on a lease. So there are some things that happened that, you know, we can’t figure out why they did that.

And there are some situations where we did something that we could have done better. Um, I guess, you know, I hesitate to say we did something wrong, but whenever there, whenever something goes off the rails where we did something wrong or we could have done better, we do our very, very best to own that, um, own that, take the responsibility for that, own it, apologize for it and make it right.

And we do it right there in public when we respond to those Google reviews. So, you know, that’s another relatively easy thing to, to check the background of your property management company is check those Google reviews. And, uh, you know, we’re happy to have you do it for us as well. So as we wrap up, I just want everybody to remember that tenant relations are a cornerstone of successful property management, the way you or your property manager and acts with tenants can significantly impact your bottom line.

By focusing on clear communication, respect, and proactive problem solving, you create an environment that keeps tenants happy and your investments profitable. So if you found today’s discussion valuable, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode and also share this podcast with your fellow investors who might benefit from these insights and you can check out our website, investwithroost.com for additional resources and uh, we hope you’ll stay tuned for the next episode. Gretchen, anything else? 

Gretchen Mitchell: Nothing else. You said it all 

Chris McAllister: Laci. 

Laci LeBlanc: Nope. That’s it for me. 

Chris McAllister: All right. Thanks everybody. 

Gretchen Mitchell: Thank you. Next time.