Hey Moguls, take a stroll down memory lane with me…
Back in the day when you moved into an apartment or rental property, you were handed a stack of papers that welcomed you to the property and spelled out the rules for living there. Remember?
You were expected to keep the papers for the length of your lease. Other than the obsessive-compulsive people out there, how many of you actually kept those documents for very long?
I know I didn’t. In fact, I know many people who didn’t even it ‘em.
Fast forward to the 21st century. Now, thanks to the advanced world of today, we can make great welcome packages for our tenants that they’ll actually read and are easily stored, customizable, and accessible.
Packages that…
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Stay with the tenant forever if you email it to them or post it on your website
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Can be updated and/or customized for each tenant, unit or building
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Communicate lots more than just the rules or all they ways the tenant can be kicked out
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Are environmentally friendly and cut down dramatically on printing costs for the landlord
In this tech lesson, I want to give you some ideas of what you can do to really make your welcome package stand out at minimal expense to you.
Intrigued?
The package can really help train your tenant to pay the rent on time, keep the place clean, and generally do things the right way. Not to mention it can “wow” the tenant with lots of useful information about the local area that makes the tenant feel great about renting from you. Win/win, people!
Let’s get to it…
Making a Professional Presentation
You’ll probably want to edit the document in Microsoft Word, which has great features to create a great looking document. ‘Pages’ on the Mac also has many of those features.
Cool, helpful features:
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Use the ‘headings’ features under the Home/Styles menu in Word to add headings to each section. Not only does it make your sections look professional, but then you can also use the References/Table of Contents selection to automatically create a table of contents. Then, when you edit the document, your table of contents is updated automatically as well.
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Insert lots of pictures into the document to make it easier to read. If you don’t have your own pictures, you can use free pictures from sites such as Free Images or Free Digital Photos. Just be careful about copyrights and follow the directions about giving credit.
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Save the document as a PDF file (just use the ‘Save As’ command and choose PDF), so the tenants can’t edit it or can’t say, for example, that they never received notice that they could not smoke on the premises.
But, if you really want to have a fancy layout…
Head on over to Fiverr and pay someone $5 (or more) to design the appearance of your welcome package.
You may also want to google ‘tenant welcome packages’ or something similar to see what professional management companies have for their layouts.
The Money-Making Stuff
First and foremost, you want your tenants to know and follow the rules. Communicating with them up front means there won’t be confusion later if/when they break the rules. That’s why it’s good to have tenants sign a copy of the rules saying they understand them before handing the keys over.
Here are some good rules to have:
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Acceptable Ways to Pay Rent:
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Snail mail address or drop off the payments – even provide SASE envelopes that they can just put the rent in and drop in the mail.
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Electronic methods of payment – use services like Paypal, Erentpayment, or Rentpayment. Or maybe use management software that can accept payment such as Appfolio or Buildium?
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Types of payment – checks, money orders, cashier checks – all okay. CASH is not okay.
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Include penalties for bounced checks such as processing fees and requirements to have cashier’s checks for future payments.
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Eviction Procedures:
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Date to pay rent or eviction starts
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Explanation of what eviction means for future chances of renting a nice place
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Maintenance Requests
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Hours for normal requests
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Emergency requests
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Basic maintenance that the tenant can do
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Stuff the tenant SHOULD NOT do – like pouring Drano down drains or changing outlets
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Contact names, emails and phone numbers of contractors if you want the tenants contacting them directly
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Move-In/Move-Out Checklists
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Recommend that the tenant take pictures and possibly shoot video for their own records
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You should consider taking a video of the place at each tenant changeover – they are great for resolving disputes
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You can also google a ton of good checklists to use that are developed by lawyers
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Utilities
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Provide phone numbers for tenants to contact their utility provider directly if there is a power outage or they have questions
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Utilities should be set up before the tenant moves in
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Explain in the package how the tenant can sign up for an appliance guarantee service from the utility. Here is an example of one. It’s becoming more common for landlords to ask tenants to pay for this service.
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Ask utility providers to notify the landlord if the tenant switches their name out of the service (…as in they are about to move out without you knowing). Many utility companies offer this service and will email or mail you letting you know.
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General information – garbage collection/recycling day, water softener procedures, furnace filter change out, etc.
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General Rules
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Smoking
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Being courteous to your neighbors (drunkenness, loud noises, etc.)
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Snow shoveling responsibility
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Grass cutting responsibility
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Acceptable parking areas
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Illegal activity
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Renter’s insurance requirements
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Maintenance Requests
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Move-In/Move-Out Checklists
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Utilities
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General Rules
Those Little Extra Steps
It’s also great to set yourself apart from your competition with some extras in the welcome package.
The really great landlords have no problem finding tenants…
Many times, they will have tenants come back and rent from them again or refer friends who are also good tenants.
By treating your good tenants well, landlords can quickly lose the ‘slumlord’ nametag and actually save on a lot of expenses and headaches. Here are some ideas for little extras you can put in your welcome packages.
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Area Attractions – New tenants may just be moving into the area. How about a guide to local attractions? Check out Groupon for good deals you can show your tenants. Googling ‘things to do in (your area)’ might yield some great ideas as well.
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Restaurants – Everyone wants to know where the good dining is. Head on over to Urban Spoon to find a list of restaurants in your area. Just copy and paste the list into your welcome package. If you email the package or put it on your website, you can leave the links to the restaurant websites intact so the tenants can just click on them.
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Public Transportation – Your city should publish bus and train routes on their websites. You might want to highlight the specific buses or trains that leave from the stops or stations near your properties. It might be a good idea to ask your current tenants what routes they use the most to make sure your information is relevant for future tenants.
The Bottom Line
Training your tenants right from the start as well as creating a good first impression is extremely important. And using technology to create a great welcome package can be an easy (and smart) step in that process.
What do you Think?
Do you have something particular that you always include in your welcome packets? Or maybe you have a tech tip that can help others take their welcome packets to the next level? We’d love to hear from you. Share a little, won’t you? Comments section is below.
Create a Great First Impression – Think through how you welcome tenants into your rental properties. You want to let them know they will be very happy with their experience just as long as they follow the rules. Are you creating that impression?
Recall the Bad Tenants – What did you do wrong with them? How could you have prevented those experiences? Make sure you have those preventative measures in your welcome packages and set-up procedures.
Search Around – Look at the welcome packages and procedures of property management companies and other landlords. Do they have things you are missing? Other landlords and property managers are usually happy to share their techniques. Everyone wants good neighbors.
JP Moses
is a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, with experience ranging from land lording to note buying, rehabbing, and wholesaling. However, wholesaling is the area that he enjoys most and where he bring the most experience and expertise to his students.