Texting
Most tenants and property owners are totally liking the ease and convenience of texting. And for small matters or just for keeping connected, texting can be an appropriate way to keep the lines of communication with your tenant open. Determined by what messaging platform you use, it is rather easy now to send more than just text messages back and forth. Tenants can send photos to help you schedule repairs, and you can send links and attachments back.
There are disadvantages to texting, though. A serious one includes the ability to track and save your conversations. As a property owner, it’s critical to document your interactions with your tenant in the event of disagreements or especially when legal issues emerge. You’ll need to ensure that you save the entire history of your messages back and forth while texting.
Added to saving messages, some of the tenants may likewise abuse the privilege of texting you whenever they want. If you utilize a personal or business cellphone for your conversations, tenants may presume that you will immediately respond to them at all hours and get upset if you don’t. These concerns should encourage you to think and plan carefully before putting to use texting to contact tenants.
Phone Calls
Calling tenants on the phone is an excellent technique to be more direct and personable with them. There is no substitute for hearing someone’s voice and having a verbal conversation in real-time. By discussing with your tenants on the phone often and regularly, you can help promote a positive working relationship with them and more aptly communicate your care and concern over their comfort and well-being. This, in turn, could lead to tenants staying longer in your rental.
Much like texting, the utmost disadvantage to putting into service the phone to contact tenants is the difficulty in documenting your conversations. Primarily if you discuss liability issues or sensitive information, you will have to really find a way to record your discussions if a dispute arises. You will equally have to make sure to answer your phone any given time your tenants call. Getting a landlord’s voicemail each time they call will discourage your tenants from contacting you in the future, making phone calls a less useful communication mode.
Email is often the middle ground between texting and phone calls. It is a quite convenient method of communication, a majority of people use it and are comfortable with email. But more than that, it as well grants you a convenient way to document your entire conversation with your tenants given that some email programs get you to save email chains for months or even years. Another enticing merit of email is that it enables you time to think and write carefully before responding to a tenant’s question or complaint. You can send documents and other attachments more effortlessly with email, all of which are date-and-time stamped, so you know what was sent to whom and when. This can all be very beneficial if you are needing records of your messages at a later time.
But as it happens, email isn’t as swift or convenient as texting, and tenants may not at all enjoy writing out every message in an email. Several people don’t want to use email or may not check their inboxes consistently, resulting in delayed responses. Email is likewise more impersonal, and it can be tough to manage your tone so that you sound warm and friendly.
All in all, it may be ideal to make use of various methods to be certain that your tenant communications are frequent, friendly, secure, and successfully documented. But on top of that, it’s great to work with your and your tenant’s communication preferences to learn a way to stay in touch that you both like best and will apply consistently.
Tenant communication can be a challenge and even a rather stressful factor of owning rental properties in Allen. But certainly, Real Property Management Focus can help! We can contact tenants on your behalf and make sure your tenants have someone they can rely on when issues arise – without disturbing your daily schedule or your good night’s sleep. For more beneficial information, contact us online or call us at 469-820-0088.