How to Establish Trust With Your Residents

By Danni White on January 23, 2017

Image via Pexels

Almost every business rises or falls on its customer relations and service. Managing property is no different in this regard. Building good relationships with your residents is crucial to the success of your property operations and is always worth the time and effort.

A good working relationship between property managers and residents helps to determine the success of the property operations. Effective communication and common courtesy and respect build trust and encourage residents to stay longer. It even protects physical assets as residents are more likely to request maintenance instead of leave.

You might want to consider establishing trust with your residents because you can always take a proactive approach when any negative situation might occur or potentially happen. Additionally, this can assist in decreasing unnecessary costs and increasing profit. Finally investing in the latest technology and processes to keep things in order can help streamline daily operations so you can focus on maintaining good relationships.

With that said, here are some ways you can establish trust with your residents.

1. Be excellent at treating your residents like the unique people they are.

Matthew D. Summers of Kaplan Management Company said “residents should be treated as if they were living in a five-star hotel.”

“Unparalleled customer service is the key to having happy residents who stay put and refer others,” Summers said.

It is easy to extend courtesy and professionalism when you’re just showing someone new your place before they move in. What is really important is to maintain that same attitude and attention to their need throughout their stay. People will always need a place to live and the service you provide could be the difference between someone staying at your property and the other guy’s place.

Showing continued appreciation goes a very long way. If you would write a bad review about a company who mistreated you as a customer, just think how someone else doing that about you could affect business. Try not to put all people into one box. Treat them individually and on as personal a basis as you can, kind of like a small town where “everyone knows everyone.”

Jenna Varrone at Sunflower Management said, “if you want your residents to respect you, then you must show them respect.”

2. Get good with being proactive.

Proactively addressing residents’ concerns before they have to bring it up is one of the best approaches to reducing emergency situations. Residents will appreciate someone who thinks ahead and plans ahead. This reduces unwanted disruptions in the front office and at the residents’ apartment. And it will save you money on must-have repairs.

Proactive property managers check and double-check their properties frequently to ensure everything stays in good condition.

3. Stick to your prices fairly and as much as you can.

The cost of a new place is one of the top deciding factors for residents, especially for college students and their families. Make sure you stick with the price you advertise unless there is a legitimate reason to increase it. Every resident wants fair treatment.

To help with this, you can inform residents of the going rates in your area.

Aimee Miller, Vice President of Marketing at AppFolio, said “[this] is a powerful rental retention tool that can also be used to improve relations. On the off-chance that a resident’s renewal rate is higher than their original lease rate, make sure that you give them a respectful and valuable reason.”

If you can, offer a monthly price that is slightly less than the market value. Honesty and fairness will help you to do well and gain a good reputation.

4. Be big on open communication.

No matter how proactive you are as the property manager, every now and then an issue will arise. When this happens, you must think and then respond in a prompt, clear, and open manner. This means saying what you mean face-to-face, in an email, or on the phone, both effectively and efficiently.

It is a good idea to have a preset process in place for this. Perhaps a forum only open to residents and you. Albeit a little impersonal, if everyone is comfortable with it, you can use text message. The goal is to communicate when it is necessary and needed.

Be accessible as often as you can. Residents will begin to think you’re a fraud if you’re never around especially when they need you. You can post up hours and times and keep residents informed. When you leave town, leave someone in charge who can handle business just as professionally as you would.

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5. Address complaints ASAP.

This could be connected to the previous point, but it is such a huge issue. When I moved with my family to our first apartment in Texas, the attention to complaints by management was horrible. We would tell them something was not working or needed fixing and it would take weeks for them to correct the issue. You can imagine how frustrating this was.

It is the same way for all people. Generally, residents don’t like to wait.

Summers stated, “Residents expect to be received with a compassionate ear and a receptive disposition. As long as the site staff accommodates this expectation, there are very few problems that can’t be handled at the site level.”

Even after you fix a problem, follow up and follow through. This will show that you truly care about the residents, not just about getting their money and getting them off your back.

Building trust with your residents is a very simple but mutually beneficial experience for you as the property manager and for your residents. It helps to build an environment where everybody is happy. And as they say, “It’s the little things that make life big.”

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