What keeps your tenants from moving out? They’re a good tenant, they paid their rent, they’re always pleasant. Then at the end of their lease they see another apartment that costs $25 less per month and is a mile closer to work. What? You’re moving out?
Do you match their rent? Give them a free carpet cleaning? Sure, you can, but these create only tenuous relationships. And then they tell their neighbors and you’ve created a community of renters who know how to negotiate with you.
When we buy software, more and more we’re paying a monthly or annual fee for it. Microsoft Office, Quickbooks, CRMs. The cost of the software each year is no big deal and we’ve built it into our budget. But tell us to switch off of products we like and move to a new tool, forget it. Who wants to make that big change, so we keep paying the fees.
Your apartments can be run the same way. Look for services you can provide them. Cleaning and dog walking, for example. You get a cleaner in to clean 10 or 20 apartments at a time, your cost per unit is very low, much lower than any of us could get a cleaner who comes to our home only to clean our home. You pass that low low fee on to your tenants. And it’s the same trustworthy cleaner that they see each time – monthly, biweekly? And they clean what your tenant says for them to clean – just the bathroom and kitchen? Or everything? This is not a profit center for you.
They love their dog but don’t have time to walk it every day. What if a dog walker walked their dog every day – the same dog walker every day, showing up reliably at the same time. Their dog gets to know this person. Tenants would pay for this, and pay a lot less than if they went through Rover.com or another service. The dog walker shows up and walks several of the dogs on your property every day.
When a tenant acquires these services, don’t they become more attached to your property and the team managing your property? Absolutely they do.
And studies have shown they are much more likely to renew their lease because of this connection they have with this apartment community. An emotional connection. You’re not making money from these amenities (what???) but actually you are, because they stay with you, they tell their friends, and they absorb your rent increases.