Renting through Referrals
Last week I spoke with the manager of an apartment community in Charlotte, North Carolina. We talked for a while on the advertising his company uses to find tenants. I was a bit surprised when he told me that nearly 80% of their vacancies are filled from referrals. This means that existing tenants are recommending their apartment building to their friends and families.
This company used the information to employ a new strategy to keep their tenants happy. They decided that if they treat the tenants better, they will continue to get more referrals and spend less on advertising. While this referral rate may not represent every area of the country, it sure seems like a sound business policy to make your tenants happy. Your tenants are your clients and if they are not happy with what you have to offer, they won’t continue to rent from you. Getting off to a good start with your tenants, being responsive to their needs and keeping up with maintenance will help make your tenants happy to refer you to others. Just like professional property mangers, private landlords should sill rely on good quality advertising to find tenants. But if you can reduce your expenses by get some referrals, you will earn more profit in the long run.
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[…] The Wall Street Journal reported that rents in 29 US markets have dropped as more unsold houses and condos have hit the rental market during the 4th quarter of 2007. If this trend continues and it looks like it will, landlords had better be prepared to get their rentals advertised early and in lots of places to make sure they find tenants. Even one month of lost rent would cost more than paying for an ad on a handful of quality rental listing sites that would attract renters. […]