Treating Your Tenants as Clients

One thing I always teach my students is that they should treat their tenants as clients. What does this mean? If you think about it, owning a property is quite similar to owning a business. You are providing something and getting paid in return.

If this is the case, it is only logical to consider tenants to be your clients since they are paying for the service you’re offering. In this case, you’re offering them a place to live along with the whole experience that comes with it. 

There’s more to being a successful landlord than just owning a bunch of properties and collecting rent each month. You’ve got to treat it as a business to make sure your tenants are satisfied and that you have room to grow and scale your investments.

Why You Should Treat Your Properties Like a Business

If you look at the larger picture, every business owner aims to improve their offer or service to make sure their clients come back for more. It makes sense to look at property renting the same way. Your goal should be to provide the best possible experience so your tenants would stay longer and pay their rent on time. 

Let’s face it, no one wants to stay in a place where the landlord just doesn’t care about anything and it feels like the property is just going downhill. Good property management will make the tenants more satisfied with their overall experience and thus they will be more likely to stay longer.

Besides, the way you treat your tenants and properties will form your reputation. The word gets out fast when it comes to property renting experiences and you want the feedback to be positive. Thus, keep in mind that everything you do for your tenants now will help you grow your business in the future. 

Building a Relationship With Your Tenants

Besides making it a priority to always improve the living conditions and the overall experience in your properties,make sure to build proper relationships with your tenants. One of the most common mistakes landlords make is failing to communicate with the tenants in a correct manner.

If you look at most landlords out there, you will either notice the ones who don’t put enough effort into building a relationship with their tenants or the ones who take it way too far and become overly friendly with those clients. 

The best way to go about this is to create a balance between the two extremes. It is important to position yourself as the authority - don’t take off the professional mask. It is one thing being friendly and approachable in your relationship with the tenants but make sure not to cross the line between professionalism and casual friendship.

Many landlords become friends with their tenants, especially the ones who have been occupying their property for a long period of time. However, giving them this much freedom is not good for the business. If you position yourself as a friend, people are likely to take advantage of that.
Some might even start to pay the rent a bit later or skip some rents altogether because they are expecting your friendly side to understand their situation. If you want to run a successful rental business, you can’t afford any missed rents due to poor relationships with your tenants. Remember, you’re looking for clients, not new friends and acquaintances.

Providing Support

Any business that deals with customers needs to provide customer support. In this case, you need to provide good property management as a way of supporting the tenants who are occupying your rental space. 

So, what does good property management entail? Here are a couple of tips on how to provide the right kind of support and make sure your tenants are having a good time:

• Always start on the right foot - make sure to leave a good first impression and position yourself as a successful and confident authority in your field.

• Listen to your tenant’s needs - if the tenant has complaints or concerns regarding anything property-related, make sure to listen to them carefully and always provide a response or a solution where possible. Active listening can solve many future problems.

• Make yourself available - whether you’re the one in charge or you have employed a property manager, make sure there’s always someone available to respond to your tenant’s needs. 

• Treat the tenants the way they want to be treated - approach them with respect and you will get the same treatment in return. That way, you can avoid unwanted incidents with bad tenants. Besides, the happier the tenants are, the longer they are going to stay - meaning a lower vacancy rate and more money for you. 

One thing you should never do is ignore the property after you rent it out. When you find good tenants, you have to do everything you can to make sure they’re having a good time and they want to stay with you for as long as possible.

Moving in the Right Direction

To sum it all up, the best approach to landlording is to treat your tenants as clients because they are paying you for something that you provide. However, instead of just collecting the monthly rent and being a passive landlord, make sure to do everything you can to improve the tenants’ experiences. 

In other words, make sure they enjoy the stay and take care of their needs and concerns. Always treat your tenants with respect but try not to be way too friendly or take it too far as to go drink a beer with them. Set the boundaries and position yourself as the authority figure in this situation but try to be approachable and easy to talk to. Skip the corporate vibe and stiff communication.