Resident retention is always important, however, during the spring and summer months where most properties have the majority of their lease expirations is the time of year where your efforts really pay off. With the improving economy several of our properties are now asking for substantial rent increases on renewal. If you want them to stay you must be providing your residents with superior service. You avoid the expense of re-renting the unit and the associated turnover costs involved when residents renew their lease....This is a big savings to the property.
A percentage of your residents are going to leave due to purchase a home or a job transfer. No matter how good your service is there is no saving these residents. However, there is a portion of your residents that will renew if they are happy with the property and its service. Industry data indicates that excellent maintenance is the #1 most important item residents want at their property. Conversely, poor maintenance is #1 reason residents choose not to renew their lease.....So make excellent maintenance of the property your top priority!
There are several cost effective ways to offer little incentives to residents at renewal time. Carpet cleaning and lighting fixture upgrades are very popular among our properties. In addition, with the high price of gas right now, pre-paid gas cards can also be a nice gesture. Does anybody have some other good ideas?
As mentioned earlier, many of our properties are getting large rent increases at renewal. Because of this there are times where a resident will resist renewing because of the increase. This is a great opportunity to expound upon the value your property offers such as its great location, its resort style amenities, or its top shelf maintenance staff! If price is still an issue you can educate the resident on all the costs and the hassle associated with them moving from your property. When a resident factors those costs into the equation, the rent increase you are asking for may not seem as big as they previously thought. Does anybody have any other ideas on overcoming objections to rent increases?
- Team Jamaica (Jeff's Team)
Thank you for the great info. We are struggling a bit with resident retention this year ourselves and have been trying to think of ways to keep our good residents from leaving. Instead of hosting 2 big events this year, we will be hosting a smaller event each month in an effort to keep the personal connection that you sometimes lose when everything is done online. So far we have had s'mores night, which was a huge hit. This Friday is movie night. We were also thinking about hosting an ice cream social, a potluck, bingo night, etc. We have also started a coupon exchange in the office in hopes of getting residents to stop in a little more often. We want our interaction with the residents to be positive and hope that adding a little fun will help with that.
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