Attracting and retaining quality residents is a crucial factor for the success of your rental properties. Every investor knows this, but putting it into practice can be a challenge, especially in a highly competitive Phoenix rental market. Finding the right residents isn’t always easy, especially if you don’t have a solid marketing strategy in place and a consistent screening process to follow.
With the right approach, attracting and retaining quality residents who pay on time, take care of your property, and renew their lease agreements isn’t such a headache. We know where to find them and how to inspire them to rent your property.
Here are our most effective Phoenix property management tips when it comes to finding and retaining quality residents.
Strategize Your Marketing and Optimize Your Listing
You won’t find a great resident if the great residents out there cannot find your listing.
A well-optimized rental listing helps your property stand out and attract quality residents. As you’re creating an online listing, make sure it’s inclusive of high quality photos and even walk-through videos. You’ll want to highlight key features, amenities, and benefits that can be found with your property.
Be clear about move-in dates, rental price, lease term, and other requirements. Indicate whether you’ll consider pets and what the security deposit is. Get this listing on all the popular rental websites, and make sure you’re sharing it on social media platforms.
Invest in a Rigorous and Fair Screening Process
Screening is an essential step in the leasing process, and a good way to ensure that you attract reliable and quality residents who are likely to renew their lease agreement and stay in place. Every solid screening process includes a check of:
Income
Credit
Background
Past evictions
Rental history
Verify identity and make sure that everything on the rental application matches up with what you learn in the background and credit reports. Consider reaching out to references to find out what kind of experience former property managers and property owners had with the applicant.
Offer Competitive Rents
Make sure you are pricing your property competitively.
Doing so will help you attract the best residents who understand the market and what Phoenix properties are renting for. Study the market rates for properties comparable to yours and set a competitive but profitable price. No investor wants to undersell their property. However, a rental price that’s too high may only result in a longer vacancy.
You can retain residents by keeping your renewal increases reasonable as well. Again - study the market and offer a renewal rate that’s at or just below what your property would rent for if you were listing it for a new resident. They’ll see the value, and if they’ve had a good rental experience, they’ll stay.
Finding and retaining quality residents takes effort, time and resources, but the results are worth it. The resident you place will have a huge impact on the investment experience you have and the profits you earn.
Working with a Phoenix property manager will always help you place and retain residents. We would be happy to tell you more about our own process. Please contact us at PURE Property Management of Arizona.
