Landlords and their subordinate property managers are typically viewed as important figures in the lives of renters. After all, they can evict tenants at their will, be accommodating or not-so-accomodating of renters’ needs, and engage in other potentially life-changing behaviors.
As such, communication between renters and property managers is essential for solid relationships to form. Considering that property managers often have hundreds of units to oversee, property managers are more often than not likely to be distant to renters, rather than the contrary.
Understanding how the average renter prefers to communicate is essential to hitting it off with tenants.
Recent statistics show that the United States was home to some 126 million households in 2017.
According to the always-reputable Pew Research Center, the proportion of renters to homeowners in the United States is more in favor of renters than ever before, with statistics from 2016 indicating that roughly 43 percent of those 126-odd-million households rented their places of living, rather than outright owning it or paying a mortgage against its ownership.
Further, adults between the ages of 18 and 35 were found to rent more frequently than any other age group.
Why does this last statistic matter?
Common knowledge and research alike indicate that younger populations are more likely to use technology than their older counterparts. The aforementioned Pew Research Center found that, in 2012, 97 percent of people aged 18 to 29 in the United States used the World Wide Web, with the next three age groups – 30 to 49, 50 to 64, and 64 onwards – using the Internet less than younger people.
Since property managers inherently oversee rental properties as a part of regular work, combined with the fact that younger generations rent more frequently than older age groups and are also more likely to show affinity towards the World Wide Web, communicating with renters through technological means is unarguably well worth the effort.
What can property managers do to best communicate with tenants?
Using automated marketing software is essential to keeping in touch with renters. Considering that most renters, by a large margin, use the Internet, it only makes sense to take advantage of such technology.
Promoting a true open-door policy is also essential to good tenant relationships. Property managers should consider hosting digital comment boxes that renters can anonymously provide feedback through.