6 Secrets From a Property Manager to Ensure Your Success as a Philadelphia Landlord
As the owner of a property management company, I try to find the best tips, hacks, and tricks to reduce the expenses and work of owning a Philadelphia Rental Property.It’s why I have a habit of asking other top property managers, across the country about their best tips and tricks for success in the housing industry. Plenty of the tips are time-tested classics handed down through the ages, while others are unique and different. However, they are all important.
The following are six recurring secrets I have repeatedly heard from other property managers. It’s an excellent summary of the things every Philadelphia property owner and landlord should be doing to increase their returns and decrease labor. The list includes direct quotes from real property managers, but their names are abbreviated.
6 Powerful Tips to Success from Seasoned Property Managers
Make Retention of Good Renters a Priority
As a rental property owner, tenant retention is vital to your success because turnovers are catastrophic to your ROI.
According to Bill, he familiarizes himself with his renters. He says that when his tenants move in, he ensures that he visits the property and have a regular, everyday dialogue with them. Bill believes that people tend to disregard landlords when they perceive them as an entity instead of an individual.
Owen believes that you should always accord your good tenant respect. People don’t enjoy the hassle of moving unless they have no options. Make them stay longer by creating good experiences.
For Susan, one way of making her tenants stay longer is to send them candies on Christmas.Dan thinks tenant turnover is the largest rental property expense after capital expenses. He believes that the best way to reduce tenant turnover is to offer the best rental property available in Philadelphia at his price point and treat good renters with respect and reward programs.
Be Thorough During Tenant Screenings and Minimize Vacancies
To minimize turnovers, you have to avoid bad tenants and keep good tenants.
John thinks that poor tenant screenings are the biggest mistake landlords make out of inexperience.
According to Andrew, his success lies in aggressive background/credit checks to make sure he is accepting tenants who place a premium on their financial status.
Shane says: “Show the unit before it being available. Get money lost to vacancy rate to $0.”
As for Keith: “Screen your tenants by looking them up on the county clerk of courts database for civil lawsuits.”
Don’t Go for a Property that is too low-end
Some Philadelphia rental property landlords have succeeded with extremely low-budget buildings. But they are an exception from the rule. As an average Philadelphia landlord, it’s not ideal to invest in low-end properties.
Heather advises that landlords should never buy a property they can’t live in. Why would anyone want to live there if you can’t?
Susan adds that “My two long-term rentals are homes I originally bought to live in, which means they are as nice as I could afford at the time. I generally get very good tenants. There’s more profit/higher ROI in the lower end of the spectrum, but a lot less hassle for me to be high end. It’s mostly been mailbox money, and I can sit back and watch my leveraged investments make me wealthy.”
For Matt, one factor critical to his success as a landlord is “GREAT Property that attracts tenants that have something to lose.”
Avoid A Rental Property that Is Too High End
Philadelphia rental properties have a particular threshold of appeal. If you invest in very low-end properties, you will have to deal with troublesome renters and lease enforcement. And you won’t gain much profit if you go for extremely high-end properties. As Theresa noted, it’s important to reinforce your properties for abuse when you invest in low-end properties, but this doesn’t always guarantee anything.
This quote from Nicole is worth its weight in gold: “All of our property management clients are in lower-middle-class areas. If there is a recession, people from higher-end houses have someplace to fall. We make our properties aesthetically beautiful, with everything squared away. Everything works look fresh and is easy to maintain. We bulletproof our houses by putting products that are at good price points but will last and stand up to tenant wear and tear. For example, we never use carpet but use a ceramic wood look tile which we get at huge discounts because of our volume. All of the products we use in our houses are exactly the same and have been tested and refined over time. My contractors know my expectations and what a bathroom and kitchen should look like without having to ask because they’ve done it hundreds of times. Pets are never a problem, because of this. Speaking of contractors, we pay them promptly so when I call them, they come running! We screen our tenants really well and fix things within 24 hours if possible.”
Enforce Your Lease
This point is an important factor if you want to succeed as a landlord. Don’t treat your lease as a simple piece of document that you forget after signing. You need to design it carefully to protect you from legal liability and your property from physical damage. But it’s not enough to have a well-crafted protective lease contract. You have to enforce it firmly like a professional property management company would.
Just like Sebastian said of his secret formula as a landlord, “kick A$$ lease that sets the standards, expectations, and fines if they break it. And holding their tush to it all!”
Regis adds that she has a tight lease which she abides by and she expects tenants to also stick to it.
Reward Good Behavior
One way to design your lease to protect you is by rewarding good conduct and punishing bad behavior.
Erin says that for 15 years, he has been giving renters a $100 discount when they pay their rent early (by the 3rd) and adds $100 to the monthly lease for late payments.
A Magic Wand?
No magic wand guarantees higher returns in property management; you need a systematic, holistic strategy in the management of your rental properties.The returns from your rental property depend largely on your ability to prevent huge, costly, interruptions such as turnovers, large repairs, tenant damage, evictions, and lawsuits.
In our property management best practices courses, our focus is on how to use a systematic approach to prevent and minimize these expenses. It means you need to have a system that allows you to act proactively.
And that’s what the quotes from regular landlords show us; Property management best practices build a system that helps prevent the huge interruptions and expenses that can eat into your ROI.
