Show Appreciation for Your Tenants - They Pay Your Mortgage!

Make your Renter Feel Appreciated
The current real estate market is flooded with vacant houses for rent, so it is very important to retain a good tenant once you have one. As the rental property owner and landlord, it would be wise to show respect and appreciation for your tenant in order to retain the tenant long-term. It is much more cost effective to retain a good tenant than to try to gain a new tenant as this requires much advertising, showing the property, cleaning and preparing the property for a new tenant, preparing of paperwork, etc.

How to Show Appreciation for a New Tenant
Once the prospective renter has been approved and has signed a lease with you as the property owner, it is important to make them feel welcome. To you this might be an old rental house that you are very familiar with, but to them it is their brand new home and they are very excited about moving in. Show them around the house providing details on all of the appliances, how to shut off the water in an emergency, where the electrical breaker panel is, and any quirks there might be in the house, such as not overfilling the garbage disposal. Provide your new tenant with a contact list with your name and phone number as well as local utility and emergency telephone numbers.

Realize that moving day is a very stressful and exhausting day, particularly if there are children involved. Offer to be present on moving day to help receive deliveries and as moral support. However, do not be intrusive as some tenants will value their privacy on moving day. Instead, you may wish to stop by on moving day with a disposable Styrofoam ice chest filled with cold drinks and a basket of fruit. The following day you could bring over a welcome basket filled with the makings of one night's dinner. For example, spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce in a jar, a loaf of French bread, as they will likely still not have unpacked the kitchen items and certainly will not feel like cooking. These small gestures are not expensive but will show your new tenant that you appreciate them, and in turn they will likely desire to respect you as their landlord and pay on time and take care of your property.

How to Show Appreciation for a Tenant Renewing a Lease
Never forget that your tenant is paying the mortgage for you! You are benefiting from the monthly rent payments, and they are also temporary caretakers for your property. If you have found a good tenant, it benefits both parties to renew the lease, and as the landlord you would want to show particular appreciation for a good tenant who renews a lease. The best way to show appreciation for this existing tenant is to provide something to make living in the home more pleasant. This could include new carpet, new flooring in the kitchen, a new appliance, a new storm door, and new window coverings, a new bush or tree for the yard, new heater, etc. Of course, these are all items that will only benefit you as the owner of the property as you are upgrading and maintaining the value of the property. Also these items may be tax deductible as business expenses so be sure to check with your CPA or tax attorney. If your tenant is a family with small children, a new washer and/or dryer would be greatly appreciated and not soon forgotten. Generosity and kindness are qualities that will grant you the respect of the tenant.

How to Show Respect for a Tenant
Another way to retain a good tenant is to show respect for the tenant. Although you are the owner of the property, it does not benefit either party to continually remind the tenant of this. The tenant likely is unable to afford to purchase his/her own home and thus is renting, so it would be kind to respect the tenant and while they are living there, let them feel like it is their own home. Do not visit unannounced to inspect the property. Allow them to have privacy as if it were their own home. If you must make an inspection or a repair, call first and make an appointment. Do not feel free to use your key to access the house at any time to inspect or fix some problem. This should only be used in an emergency such as a house fire or a medical emergency. It is not to be used to freely come and go just because "I own the house."

If you show respect and appreciation for your tenant, you will be able to retain them long-term and this will benefit both parties.