Atlanta Buckhead Midtown
Thankful Tenant Note Makes My Day
Getting any expression of gratitude is a wonderful experience. To receive a delightful, hand-written note brought us a lot of happiness at the office.
A bit of back-story ---
In addition to Listings and Selling, we offer Clients to manage rental property. We will rent to people just graduating from college and starting their first jobs. Some real estate professionals consider this a risky population but with the proper agreements, and maybe a parent co-signer, it has always worked well for us.
First and foremost, the two-month deposit must be paid. Our farm area of mid-century home rentals usually are 3/2 or 4/3 and go for $4000 to $5000 per month. They generally have solid oak hardwood floors and higher end appliances.
The higher deposit works for several reasons. Just repairing damage to a hardwood floor can be a $4000 to $5000 expense. A one-month deposit won't work to cover other aspect of the homes. For example, broken window glass can be expensive to replace on older homes as no sizes are standard.
Before moving in, they must have all Utilities in their names and have secured a Renters' Insurance Policy. The insurance data becomes an Exhibit in the Lease. An additional Exhibit lists prices for items within the house if they are damaged or completely broken. Best to have everything clearly presented before Move-In.
Second, all of the group must attend the Lease signing in person at the same time. We go over EVERY ITEM on the Lease. They each have a hard copy to initial as soon as we finish reviewing the individual pages. Hard for them to say that they "didn't know" something if we have the initialed ODAT Realty copy of the Lease and they each have initialed their personal copies.
Since we want them to be a successful living group, we try to rent to individuals who have rented together in college in previous years. By then, they know each other's habits. We ask each of them to be the Account Holder for a single Utility. One person with all Utilities in that person's name is asking for trouble we have found over the years. If each has a responsibility, the chance of one person always "not ready" to pay a fair share is decreased.
To verify that all is going well, we require a group meeting twice in the first year. One at one month and the second at the three month mark. Best to straighten out any wrinkles in the beginning.
After all that, we keep out of their daily lives which they appreciate. They know that our vigilence is a given before they even move into the home. Being both businesslike and strict in the beginning seems to work well.
Our goal is a renewal of the one-year Lease. We want them to stay more than one year to keep down the expense associated with repainting etc. for other people. Not to mention that vacanies are costly.
And the time passes by so quickly! Since they are starting new jobs, and since finding the right place is so time-consuming, multiple year stays are really the norm with this population in our area.
While we knew that the Tenants had been happy in the house, the warmth and sincerity of the thank you note was a heart-warming surprise, not a text or an online message, one actually written out by hand.
Entry in the 2025 November AR Thankfulness Challenge.
Card design by Dale.
AI Doo-dad by Lynn B Friedman via NightCafe.
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