Best Ways to Communicate with Tenants

17 Mar Best Ways to Communicate with Tenants

Is Text Messaging, Emailing, or Calling the Perfect Way to Communicate as a Landlord With Your Tenants?

The best Niceville and Destin Florida landlords seem to be on top of everything. They provide maintenance to properties, collect rent, and continue to keep their tenants happy. Handling several things at once is easier said than done. This is why communication is vital if you’d like to be an incredible landlord. But just what is the best form of communication, with your tenants, to ensure that you have a cohesive relationship while still being respected?

Technology has made it possible to have numerous forms of communication at our fingertips. Gone are the days of only having a landline and fax machine. Now you can email, call, text message, and have chat apps all on one device. The difficulty now lies in the ability to juggle multiple text messages, emails, calls, and chats with your tenant. The more tenants you have, the more the difficulty grows. 

When communication is lacking, it can cost you time and money. Emails are great, but you have to rely on tenants to not only check their email, but also hope those emails aren’t being routed to a spam folder. You may decide to call your tenants instead. This method relies on the tenant having their phone on them at all times and not calling at disturbing times, making it challenging to reach them.

Text messaging may be the perfect form of communication for the active landlord. There are several forms of communication through text messages – directly through an SMS message, using Voxer or Telegram, or through a provided reliable rent collection app. The rationale behind considering using texting as the most practical form of communication with your tenants is important. 

10 Reasons to Communicate With Niceville and Destin Tenants using Text Messages

1. Texting is Faster

In an instant, your text message is sent and received. It is the quickest way to connect with your tenants. There are certain services and apps that will also allow you to see whether your tenant has received and read your message. You’re also much more likely to have a tenant check a text message they receive than to check their emails.

An email may be faster than a phone call, but this depends on your tenant checking their inbox. Phone calls are dependent on the amount of time you and your tenant have to talk as well as them being able to answer their phone. Those are some of the problems with emailing and calling as opposed to texting. 

2. Text Messaging is simpler

Just as you, as a landlord, can receive a quick response from the tenant when they text the tenant, the tenant can also receive a quick response from you when they reach out. This provides a more trusting relationship between you and your tenants. Hearing of your great customer service will lead to filling units easier and having less turnover.

Not all of your tenants will have the ability to sit down and email you back or call you when it’s most convenient for you. Some of your tenants may work odd hour jobs and have a busy lifestyle. 

3. Text Messaging is more than just texts

Text messaging is more than just words. Pictures and videos can be sent as well. Sometimes trying to describe a problem or situation can take much longer than necessary when talking. You and your tenant now have the ability to fix a problem much faster than simply talking.  This can save you and your tenants time and money!

Instead of trying to talk through a situation only to have to hang up and visit the property, pictures and videos can help you figure out what is wrong and solve the problem site unseen. Again, saving both you and your tenants time and money. 

4. The clientele wants it

These days, many people find it meddlesome and pushy if they receive a call without a warning. Even though it is incredibly helpful,  phone calls are something that younger generations are not accustomed or happy to make or do. Studies have even shown that they are much more likely to give up their ability to talk than to text message. So while it may seem more convenient to some, switching to the new trend now will help ready you for future tenants. 

5. Your time will stop being wasted 

You may be used to leaving a message after the beep, but only about 1 in 5 of your tenants will actually check and listen to your voicemail. 

6. Increased tenant action

Many people relate emails to work and text messages to something more personal. Texting will increase the response from your tenants without having to make a call.

7. It helps with record keeping

Text messaging isn’t just word of mouth, it can actually be entered into evidence in court as an electronic record of dialogue. A conversation is harder to record and is taken as heresy or word of mouth. Something that is much harder to hold up in court. Text messaging is treated as written proof. 

This is absolutely necessary when dealing with tenant disagreements and the possibility of filing an eviction. Unless you have a habit of deleting messages, your records will stay with you. 

8.  You’ll be less forgetful

Instead of carrying around a piece of paper with a note on it, communicating through text messages is like having an everlasting record on hand. Feeling forgetful? It’s easy to look back at your conversation with a tenant through texting and see if you have indeed forgotten anything. 

9. You can clear up problems 24/7

Being a landlord means that at times, communication after hours is sometimes necessary. In the case of an emergency, you will be able to respond to your tenants quickly and get any problems settled before they become a larger issue. If your employees are the point of contact after hours, they’ll be able to reach you as well.

10. Text messaging is worth it financially 

Many phone providers now include videos and images in your messaging bundle along with text messages. This provides a cost-effective way to stay in communication with your tenants. Some apps may charge a fee but the cost is small in comparison to the convenience that the service brings you. 

Will Using a Property Management App Help Communication between Landlords and Tenants?

Rental based communications when using a rent collection app are put together in one place instead of having to use multiple services and apps. This makes it easy to keep everything in one central place. When receiving messages from your tenants regarding maintenance issues, instead of having to open another app to get in touch with your maintenance company, you can communicate with them within the same app. Your tenants can also use this app to pay their rent and send messages. 

A rent collection app can also provide you digital records regarding payment issues, accounting issues, late fees and will help save you time by producing these records in one place. 

Simplify your property management by picking the best rental collection app that will provide messaging, collect rent, have maintenance requests and provide digital records on your phone or your desktop all in one. 

Need Help? Sound Choice is Here for You!

Sound Choice uses a professional software program that engages tenants through an online portal to receive and send communication – including text messages. We offer full-service property management in Niceville, Destin, Crestview, Fort Walton Beach and the surrounding areas.

If you’d like some help from our team of professionals at Sound Choice Real Estate please Click Here or give us a call at 850-389-8533 to Contact Us.