Tips for Managing Your Property & Tenant:

Alright, let's dive into managing your rental property effectively. It's not just about finding a tenant; it's about creating a smooth and professional experience for everyone involved. Here are some key areas to focus on:

Setting Boundaries for Tenant Communication

Tenant communication can easily become overwhelming if you don't establish some ground rules. You need to decide on your preferred methods of contact. In my experience, email works best for non-emergency situations. It provides a formal record that's easy to track and search if needed later. For true emergencies, a phone call is obviously the most direct and efficient way to communicate.

I personally try to avoid getting into text message conversations with tenants. It can become too casual, conversational, and frankly, too convenient for them to reach out about every little thing. Sticking to email for routine matters helps maintain a more professional tenant-owner relationship.

It's also crucial to pre-establish and clearly communicate your definition of an emergency with your tenants. Often, what a tenant perceives as an "emergency" is really just an inconvenience. While I agree that all maintenance issues should be addressed promptly and professionally, true emergencies need to be clearly defined upfront, and expectations need to be set. In the property management world, we often consider emergencies to be issues involving fire, flood, or blood. Seriously though, things like a fire, significant water intrusion, a complete AC failure in extreme heat, no heat in freezing temperatures, or the inability to lock and secure the property are what we'd consider true emergencies. These situations warrant a direct phone call followed up by emails documenting each step taken.

Best Practices for Collecting Rent

Let's face it, most people today expect convenient and modern ways to pay for things – and that includes rent. Cash and checks? Not exactly modern. I highly recommend setting up a Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal account specifically linked to a bank account dedicated to your rental property. Simply share this information with your tenant and have them make payments this way.

Now, a word of caution: be careful about accepting partial rent payments. This can often create an unwanted precedent with the tenant, leading to a more casual or lenient understanding of their rent obligations. Additionally, it can complicate things if you ever have to serve a notice of default or pursue an eviction.

How to Handle Maintenance Issues Efficiently

To keep maintenance requests organized, ask your tenant to report any issues through your pre-established communication method (likely email). When they first report an issue, make sure they provide a minimum set of specific information. This should include:

• A clear description of what they are experiencing.
• Their best guess as to what the issue might be.
• When they first noticed the problem.
• A photo or video of the issue they are currently dealing with.

Additional helpful information they could include is their availability for repairs and how urgently they feel the issue needs to be resolved.

Implementing a proper and consistent preventative maintenance program can save you money in the long run and improve the experience for both you and your tenant. All properties should have a plan in place to address routine maintenance items before they become bigger, more costly single issues. Depending on your property and what your lease agreement outlines regarding tenant and landlord responsibilities, this could include things like replacing out-of-reach light bulbs, changing smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector batteries, maintaining common toilet and plumbing components, basic HVAC maintenance (like filter changes), inspecting and patching window screens, and clearing water drains.

Performing the Lease Renewal Process Strategically

A common mistake I see landlords make is starting the renewal process by simply asking the tenant if they want to renew. This isn't the most effective approach for a few reasons. If you implement the right renewal process, you'll significantly increase your chances of retaining your tenant at the current market rate.

Here's my recommended approach:

• 45 days before the lease expires, conduct a market assessment. Gauge the current rental rates for properties similar to yours. This will depend on your property's size, the time of year, and recent economic conditions. Consider your current rental rate and how much of an increase your tenant is likely to be able to absorb for another lease term.
• Draft an email to the tenant. Express your enjoyment of their tenancy during the current lease term and your desire for them to renew for another term. Explain that you've recently done market research and have observed adjustments in rental rates. Present them with an offer to renew for another lease term at the new rental rate. Request they make a decision by a date that is 30 days prior to their lease expiration. This gives the tenant two weeks to decide and positions you to anticipate them moving out if they choose not to renew.
• If the tenant renews their lease, great! Draft the renewal paperwork and send it over.
• If the tenant decides to move out, you have a couple of options. First, you can follow up and ask them what terms they would be agreeable to. Or, second, you can begin preparing to relist and lease the property at your new market rate.

Conducting the Move-Out Process Smoothly

When your tenants are getting ready to move out, you want to stay ahead of any potential surprises. This will make both the move-out process and the subsequent re-leasing experience much smoother. It's a good idea to provide your tenants with a move-out inspection checklist. This checklist is similar to the move-in one but also includes some important reminders for the tenant, such as:

• Please forward all mail to your new mailing address.
• Please keep all vital utilities active and operational through the last day of your lease term.
• Please provide your forwarding address to the landlord for the proper and timely return of your security deposit.
• Please remove all household garbage and recycling from inside the home.
• Please remove all garbage and recycling from the curb bins (if applicable).
• Remember to remove all personal property from the property upon vacating.
• Please remove all mail from the mailbox upon vacating.
• Please set the AC to 78°F or the heat to 68°F upon vacating (a comfortable temperature to prevent issues).
• Please leave all keys, fobs, access cards, and garage door openers on the kitchen counter.
• Please send a confirmation email to the landlord when you have vacated the property.

Completing this list of items will make the move-out process much easier for both you and your tenant.

I also recommend that the landlord transfer all vital utilities a couple of days early or put in a reversion request with any utility companies that offer this option.

Refunding the Security Deposit Correctly

The number one rule when it comes to refunding the security deposit is… don't send it back too soon. Trust me, it happens.

Once the property has been thoroughly inspected, it's best to have all necessary work completed before determining what charges will be applied to the tenant and what will be considered routine maintenance or normal wear and tear (which is typically the landlord's responsibility). It's possible that as repairs are being done, the financially responsible party for certain damages might become clearer.

Finally, and this is crucial: it is strongly recommended to review the tenant-landlord real estate laws for your specific State, especially the laws surrounding processing and returning a tenant's security deposit. These laws vary significantly from state to state, and if you don't follow them precisely, you could be required to return the full deposit to the tenant regardless of the property's condition.