Good communication with your tenants is a critical key to being a successful Lynchburg rental property owner. But in actuality with multiple options available, which is the best method of communication? Landlords are now finding new convenience in the ability to text, email, and call their tenants, however, are all of these options the most efficient way to go about staying in touch? It’s an excellent question for the reason that the means you contact tenants with isn’t just about keeping them really comfortable and better informed. There are actually real financial and legal issues involved with your chosen method.
Texting
Plenty of tenants and property owners do like the ease and convenience of texting. And for the small stuff or just for keeping in contact, texting can be the right way to keep the lines of communication with your tenant open. According to what messaging platform you use, it is also possible to send more than just text messages back and forth. Tenants can send photos to help you schedule repairs, and you can send links and attachments back.
There are disadvantages to texting, however. One of the most crucial ones includes the ability to track and save your conversations. As a property owner, it’s relevant to document your interactions with your tenant in the event of disagreements or certainly when legal issues pop up. You’ll need to ensure that you save the entire history of your messages back and forth while texting.
Together with saving messages, a few tenants may additionally abuse the privilege of texting you whenever they want. If you use a personal or business cellphone for your conversations, tenants may expect that you will immediately respond to them at all hours and get upset if you don’t. These real issues should encourage you to think and plan carefully before using texting to contact tenants.
Phone Calls
Calling tenants on the phone is a favorable strategy to be more direct and personable with them. There is no substitute for hearing someone’s voice and having an enjoyable verbal conversation in real-time. By making conversation with your tenants on the phone, you can help promote a positive working relationship with them and more clearly communicate your care and concern over their comfort and satisfaction. This, in turn, could lead to tenants staying longer in your rental.
Identical to texting, the top issue to use the phone to contact tenants is the problem in documenting your conversations. Precisely if you discuss liability issues or sensitive information, you will need for a way to record your discussions if a dispute arises. You will also have to ensure to answer your phone once your tenants call. Getting a landlord’s voicemail when they call will discourage your tenants from contacting you in the future, making phone calls a less useful communication mode.
Email provides a middle ground between texting and phone calls. It is a likely convenient method of communication, as plenty of people do use and are comfortable with email. Moreover, it furthermore provides you with a simple approach to document your entire conversation with your tenants considering that quite a lot of email programs easily allow you to save email chains for months or even years. A particular nice advantage of email is that it gives you time to think and write carefully before responding to a tenant’s question or complaint. You can send documents and other attachments more smoothly with email, all of which are date-and-time stamped, so you know what was sent to whom and when. This can all be very valuable if you ever need records of your messages at a later time.
But on the other hand, email isn’t as fast or convenient as texting, and tenants may not like it best to write out every message in an email. A few people may not particularly like using email or may not check their inboxes habitually, resulting in delayed responses. Email is also more impersonal, and it can be quite difficult to manage your tone so that you sound warm and friendly.
On a final note, you may want to put to use various methods to make certain that your tenant communications are frequent, friendly, secure, and competently documented. But above all, it’s also best to work with your and your tenant’s communication preferences to look for a way to stay in touch that you both favor and will actually utilize.
Tenant communication can be a real challenge and, admittedly, a toilsome part of owning rental properties in Lynchburg. But, we promise Real Property Management Cairn can help! We can contact tenants on your behalf and make sure your tenants have someone they can rely on when issues arise – without disturbing your daily schedule or your good night’s sleep. For more actionable information, contact us online or call us at 434-215-3028.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
