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Lease renewals a good way to retain tenants

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Homepointe

It is always a good idea to do whatever you can to retain tenants.  Especially good tenants.  I routinely review my portfolio of managed properties to see what leases are expiring (those reverting to month to month contracts).  Once I identify a lease nearing expiration, I review the market comps then make contact with the tenant to determine if they are interested in signing a new lease.  If they are interested in staying I communicate that to the owner and do the deal.  Lease renewals can benefit all involved:  the owner client has the security of a new lease, the tenant can avoid uncertainty with their rental and the agent can earn a nominal lease renewal fee to coordinate the deal.  In a growing economy the lease renewal can initiate a rent increase to meet market rents.  In this challenged economy some owners are even lowering rents in exchange for a new lease to retain quality tenants.  Nothing beats a tenant who pays on time and respects the property--make the effort to keep them!

James Safonov

jsafonov@homepointe.com

www.homepointe.com 

Betty Fletcher
Fletcher Property Management Inc CRMC® * www.FletcherPM.com - Little Rock, AR
MPM, RMP - Little Rock Arkansas Property Manager

James - It is absolutely easier and less expensive to the owner for us to to retain a tenant than to have to make the unit re-ready, search out and then qualify a new tenant.  Besides ya gotta love those re-leasing fees! :-)

Mar 21, 2009 02:38 AM
Wallace S. Gibson, CPM
Gibson Management Group, Ltd. - Charlottesville, VA
LandlordWhisperer

My leases are all fixed term and I advise owners in Nov that I will be renewing leases in Feb.  This year, I did not increase rents had over 90% of my residents are remaining which does save the owner money and wear and tear on the properties.

Since i am not increasing rent, I will be reducing expenses starting with no LEASING FEE for me since the property is not turning over.

Mar 23, 2009 04:46 AM
Thomas R. Martin Broker/Owner ICPM
Investors Choice Property Management - Sacramento, CA
Property Management the way it SHOULD be.

The local media is not doing us any favors by saying "now is a great time to negotiate a lower rent with your landlord". Still, less rent is better than none, so we have made a few minor rental adjustments where the market conditions justified a decrease.

I think fixed term leases are not as good for the landlord as open ended, or holdover clauses. Pushing the residents to renew the lease or get out sounds like a recipe for vacancy, but I suppose it depends on the market.

Apr 01, 2009 12:22 PM