Our conversation today is about how to reduce tenant turnover, and one of the most important things you can do (and the easiest) when working with tenants is to show up when you are needed.

If a tenant calls with a maintenance issue, do whatever is needed to take care of it.

Responding in a timely manner to tenant requests is key to keeping a tenant happy and in place.

We like to use a software system so that when a tenant puts in a maintenance request, a text message goes out immediately to the people who need to know and respond.

Another thing you can do to keep your tenants around is to answer their questions right away.

If tenants ask you something or need information, provide a response as quickly as possible.

Some questions might require a bit of digging and you won’t be able to turn it around immediately, but you can assure them that you will find their answer as soon as possible.

If there is a question about rent or yard work or the neighborhood, give them an answer so they feel like they are important and heard.

You want your tenants to take pride in the property, so treat them with respect and be responsive.

Make sure you handle any security concerns.

If one of our tenants has their home broken into or there are issues at the property and a request for security lighting or door locks are made, we take those requests seriously.

We make it a top priority because we don’t want our tenants to feel unsafe in the property.

There are easy things you can do to improve security such as lighting and new deadbolts.

According to the lease, we could probably ask tenants to pay for these things, but as owners we believe in keeping our renters safe, so we think paying for these security upgrades is the responsible thing to do.

Finally, treat your tenants professionally.

We like to treat tenants the same way we treat our property owners; as business associates.

They are paying rent, we are providing a place to live and there is an agreement in place.

Make sure it’s a business relationship.

Treat all of your tenants professionally, even if you have tricky situations, such as tenants who are late rent payers.

When this happens, communicate what is expected and what your contract states.

There is no need to yell, threaten or berate anyone.

When tenants feel like they are being listened to, treated fairly and respected, they will stick around and you will not have to worry too much about frequent tenant turnover.

If you’re looking for the best property management company in Salt Lake City, contact us today!

Are you a property owner in Salt Lake City, and want to know how to effectively advertise your rental unit?

The goal is to minimize vacancy and increase your overall tenant quality, and there are four ways to market and advertise your rental property effectively to achieve this.

1. Clean Units Attract Clean Tenants

The first thing I tell people is when you are getting ready to market a unit, you need to really clean it well.

As we say in the industry, “Clean units attract clean tenants!”

It’s going to look better for the pictures, and also look better for showing.

It might seem obvious, but a lot of times we see less than clean units when we take over.

2. Professional Photography

The next thing is an added expense, but we think it’s well worth it– hiring a professional photographer.

For the cost of a professional to come in, and when you reduce your vacancy by just two days, you can usually pay that off immediately. Plus, you can use the photos over and over again each time the unit is vacant.

So hire a professional, have them take some good pictures and you’ll be a lot happier!

3. Base Rents vs. Full Price

The next thing is how to advertise the rent level. What we generally say to folks is make sure you are advertising base rents, and that means to not include the cost of utilities or HOA expenses in your rent.

You want the tenant to be able to compare units “apples to apples”.

If the unit next door is advertising base rent, but you are advertising rent + utilities, the tenant will think they’re getting a worse deal. Then they may go with the neighbor’s property.

4. Online vs. Yard Signs

A lot of times people want signs in the in the yard, and really push to just have your advertising online.

There a few types of neighborhoods where a yard sign might work, like near universities and such, but really what we have found is that yard signs can lead to other issues like vandalism, breaking and entering the vacant property, and other situations.

The people that we’re looking for to rent these places have a smartphone, and that’s how they’re looking for their next rental.

If you would like to discuss advertising your rental, or managing your property in Salt Lake City, tap here to contact Advanced Solutions Property Management.

It’s a subject that many investment property owners deal with, but don’t often enjoy talking about– difficult tenants.

You know, the ones who create damage, are late with their rent payments, or straight up break the lease.

Today, Principal Broker and Owner Bob Mack shares some insight into dealing with difficult tenants, and how a rental house management company like Advanced Solutions can help.

Q: How can property owners prevent tenants from damaging the property?

A: The most important thing to have with any tenant situation is make sure that up front you have a very strong lease. We have a very strong lease that we use for tenants that has been developed over years.

That lease is going to allow you to act on infractions more efficiently than a weak lease.

Another thing that you will use to make sure tenants aren’t damaging the property is that you want regular scheduled inspections, including both external and internal inspections.

We like to do external inspections monthly, and that’s just a drive-by to verify the property condition, and to make sure the tenant is taking care of the outside. Generally, if they’re taking care of the outside, they’ll be taking care of the inside too.

We also like to do internal inspections on a regularly scheduled basis- either once or twice a year.

You’re notifying the tenant of entry, making entry, and then recording the results of that inspection.

Any time you find any infractions on the inspection, you want to make sure you act on that.

Most of the time, you’ll be using the “Comply Or Vacate” notice, which will notify the tenants of the items they have to fix, and then you will go and inspect after that notice has been used.

Many times, an inspection and a “Comply Or Vacate” can fix a problem that you encounter.

Advanced Solutions Property Management can make this easier for owners through our proprietary method with procedures and processes in place that automatically do these things on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, and we’re able to act on these to make sure tenants are behaving in accordance to the terms of the lease.

Q: How can property owners make sure tenants pay on time?

A: Again, it starts with a solid lease. You want to make sure you have a clear lease, with clear late fees. Once you have a tenant in the property, and you find there is a late payment situation, ymake sure you act accordingly and act the same way every month. Have policies in place to ensure to tenants can expect a “Pay Or Vacate” when the rent payment isn’t posted on time.

We have automatic rent reminders that go out on the first and the thirds of each month, and we allow our tenants to set up auto-pay, so rent is automatically withdrawn from their account at the same time.

Q: How can investment property owners best deal with out of control tenants?

A: This is also mitigated with a strong lease that allows you to take action within specific time frames. If we have a non-payment situation, and the tenant is unwilling to make payments, then obviously we are going to use the 3-Day “Pay Or Quit” on the same day every month for every tenant.

You want to keep those interactions business-like, you don’t want to use emotions in these situations.

Then after the 3-Day “Pay Or Quit”, you will move into the court action. It’s very important in these situations to record all tenant conversations and communications in writing. Phone calls are easy, but they’re hard to present as evidence in a court of law. We cover these situations in our free e-book

Q: How does a property management company handle difficult tenants differently than a landlord?

A: First and foremost, we don’t let emotion enter the scenario.

When it’s an individual landlord who owns the property, their emotions are tied directly to that property because that is an asset that they worked very hard to purchase and maintain, and so it’s very easy for a landlord to become emotional during these situations.

With a residential property management company, we keep the transaction very business like, and although it can be hard with difficult tenants, we make sure that we’re handling it in a professional manner, and not letting the situation escalate.

Also as stated before, we use processes and procedures that treat all tenants the same, so that every tenant understands what to expect from the management company in every situation.

Q: What makes ASPM better than other PM companies in Salt Lake

A: It’s the experience we have as a staff!

We have over 65 years of experience managing properties.

Also our managing team are investors themselves, so we manage properties as though we were managing our own properties.

We have very low staff turnover, and that allows us to manage more effectively.

We are certified commercial advisors, which allows us to work with owner investors, and make sure we maximize the return on investment that owners bring to us to manage.

If you’re interested in learning how a Salt Lake City area property management company like Advanced Solutions can help take care of the landlord tasks, so you can enjoy being a property owner… get our FREE “Property Management Pro Tips” e-book here.