If you own rental property in Portland Oregon one of the keys to success with managing a long-term, profitable portfolio of rental properties is without a doubt is effective property management.
Sadly, many people fail at property management miserably and struggle with such things as tenant acquisition, screening, maintenance, accounting and all other aspects of maintaining a long-term, profitable rental property. This is why in the coming weeks we will share with you our advanced guide to Portland Oregon property management so you have the tips, techniques and information at your fingertips for building a long-term, successful portfolio of rental properties.
In this article we will cover the key aspects of working with tenants including: tenant acquisition, screening, and a formula for building a great long term relationship with your tenants.
Tenant Acquisition
Tenant acquisition is without a doubt one of the most important parts of building a successful property management portfolio because, if you are unable to acquire tenants for your rental properties quickly after you rent the property, you will face higher costs, and lower profitability if you are not able to rent the property quickly.
Here are some of the best ways for you to acquire excellent tenants for your rental property in Portland Oregon:
- Research The Rental Market – This tip is vital because, as a property owner you must know exactly what the current rental market is like at any point during the year because, if you price your rental property to high you run the risk of turning off renters from choosing your rental property and if you set the rent to low you will ultimately lose money every month.
- Keep Your Rental Property Clean – Most property owners fail at cleaning because, not everybody likes to vacuum, sweep, dust, or do all the usual mundane tasks which involve getting a rental property ready for the next tenant. If you are unable, or unwilling, to clean your rental property yourself, you should always hire a professional cleaning company to come in and clean your rental property from top to bottom after the prior tenant moves out because, this will leave a positive first impression in the minds of the next potential tenants after they view your rental property.
- Create A Video And Take Pictures – Although it’s really easy for just about everybody to take a video on their smart phone and publish it to a website like YouTube, the reality is that most people are still only posting pictures when it comes to marketing their Portland rental property and this is a mistake because, video does a better job at selling rental properties than pictures do because everyone these days is more conditioned to watching commercials and video will help a potential tenants to feel like they “know” your property.
- Make Badly Needed Repairs – If your rental property is in need of repairs, you should not hesitate to make the repairs that it needs because, marketing a rental property that’s in bad need of repairs will only attract the wrong tenants, make property management more difficult, and paint a negative mental picture in the minds of some people that your rental property is not a place where they want to live so it’s better to start making those repairs now before you list your property for rent.
- Screen Prospective Tenants – After listing your Portland Oregon rental property the next important thing you should always do is properly screen tenants after they fill out your rental applications. Your tenant screening should involve a thorough background check, credit check and reference check since you never want to go “with your gut” and take a tenants word for something when you could save the time, money and hassle of choosing the wrong tenant by thoroughly researching them before you decide to rent them.
The “Formula” For Building a Great Relationship with Your Tenants
Once you have found the right tenants for your Portland Oregon rental property the next step is to build a long-term relationship with them, and you can do that by following these tips:
Tip #1 – Be accessible when your tenant tries to contact you and make sure that you’re available to answer them by phone, email or text message within a timely manner.
Tip #2 – Don’t make promises you can’t keep. This tip could be described as the most important aspect of building a great relationship with renters because, anytime an owner or property manager makes a promise that they can’t see they lose their tenants trust and make it easier for the tenant to justify searching for another rental property once their lease ultimately expires.
Tip #3 – Show your tenants that you care about them. If your tenant is renting one of your Portland rental properties for six months to one year, you should make a point, as a property management professional, of showing them that you care during the year by scheduling appointment with them at your rental property to make repairs that you know are needed and at the very least you could send them a card with a gift certificate at least once every six months thanking them for their business.
Tip #4 – Don’t raise the rent without justifying a rent increase. This step is important because in Portland Oregon we have one of the most competitive rental markets in the United States and one of the worst things that you can do is to raise the rent on your tenants without telling them why you’re raising the rent.
If you plan on raising the rent on your tenant make sure that you justify the rent increase by telling them why exactly you’re raising the rent. Make sure that your tenant knows you have to raise the rent because your costs are going up and once they understand that the next thing that you need to do is let them know that it’s actually more affordable for them to continue renting from you rather than searching for another rental property since the cost of moving anywhere these days averages out to be no less than $1000-$3000.
Get Portland Oregon Property Management
Save the time, money and hassle of managing your rental properties yourself with our Portland Oregon Property Management service. Contact Property Management (503) 515-3170 or click here to connect with us online.
