How to Attract Top Quality Tenants in a Tough Real Estate Market
One of the keys to real estate investing success, whether you are investing in commercial or residential properties, is acquiring and retaining top-quality tenants. These are the people that will take care of the property, the people who always pay their rents on time, and are generally easy to deal with on a daily basis. They are the people who will help your investing business thrive and recommend your other properties to their friends and business partners. Of course, finding this type of long-term tenant is often easier said than done, especially during an economic downturn caused by a global pandemic.
But that doesn’t mean that you’re powerless to build a successful real estate business. If you’re operating in a difficult real estate market, there are some proven tactics you can implement into your strategy to appeal to the best tenants in the region and inspire them to reach out. Let’s take a look at the best ways to attract top-quality tenants–even when the market conditions are less than favorable.
Introduce technology into the living space
Technology drives the commercial and residential sectors forward, and there is no denying that business leaders looking for prime real estate are equally attracted to tech solutions as much as residential tenants who are looking for tech-driven homes. If your property looks and feels as if it belongs in the early two-thousands, then the time has come to upgrade the tech you offer in your contract. These don’t have to be any expensive additions–simply look to upgrade certain areas of the property.
Start by upgrading the internet plan from a traditional copper-wire type to a super-fast and reliable fiber-optic internet package. After all, businesses and residential tenants love constant uptime. Next, try to weave smart technology into the setting and create a more connected interior with IoT devices like programmable lighting, smart appliances, smart thermostats, virtual assistants like Alexa or Google Home Hub, and more.
Focus on tenant satisfaction
Ensuring tenant satisfaction should be one of your top priorities if you have properties for rent–simply because happy tenants tend to stay longer and tell their friends and colleagues about their amazing landlord. To that end, it’s imperative to take tenant satisfaction seriously, and you can start by running a simple survey. Tenant satisfaction surveys allow you to address any problems that your tenants might have without taking too much of their time or making anyone feel uncomfortable.
Make these surveys a monthly thing, and your tenants will gain a sense that you care about their happiness and well-being. And besides, much like you would conduct due diligence on an investment property, you can be sure that potential tenants will do their own research, and one of the main points will be if the landlord takes an active role in improving tenant satisfaction over the long term.
Opt for energy-efficient and sustainable improvements
During an economic shift, the last thing tenants want is to pay exuberant fees, rents, and bills. There is no way around it–if the running costs of your properties are too high–you are going to have a difficult time acquiring and retaining good tenants. While it doesn’t make sense to lower the rent, it can be extremely beneficial to green up your property to reduce these costs over the long term.
For example, going solar is a great investment and is something that commercial and residential landlords have been doing in high-rent regions like Hong Kong for years now. By investing in solar panels and a reliable solar inverter to maximize the efficiency of the clean energy you collect, you can effectively the reduce energy costs of running your property. These changes can result in lowering the tenants’ expenses and incentivize them to stay longer for the financial benefits alone.
Offer additional services
In this fast-paced world, people seek properties and landlords that will make their everyday life as stress-free as possible. So, the more additional perks you can offer, the better. For example, serviced apartments and office spaces are becoming commonplace because certain services are included in the lease that makes the tenant’s daily routine more manageable. Try to include as many complementary features and recurring services like cleaning.
Reward existing tenants for referrals
Lastly, people love hearing about amazing rentals from other people, especially in thriving urban hubs or sustainable suburbs that have tight-knit communities. Consider implementing reward programs for your existing tenants whenever they refer a great new tenant to one of your properties. This is a great way to acquire quality tenants, and it’s also an effective way to keep the existing ones engaged and happy.
Wrapping up
Investing in real estate is one of the best ways to build long-term financial independence–but sometimes it’s not easy to generate a positive ROI when the market conditions are unfavorable. With these tips in mind, though, you should have no problem attracting the best tenants to your doorstep and building a thriving real estate business.
About the author: Mike Johnston is an avid blogger and content writer with a focus on real estate, home improvement, and the construction industry. He is a regular contributor to the Smooth Decorator blog.
