What could your apartment manager do to keep you from moving?

* Reasonable rent
* Good response-time when I report concerns
* Flexibility with things like guests, pets, etc.
* Non-invasive rules (there should be some to keep the place nice, but not overly restricting)
* Good neighbors (if you manage multiple apartments, perhaps look at the screening process to ensure you get a good group of tenants that work well together).
* Good upkeep of building/apartment
* No unannounced visits (I know my landlord has a key, but as long as I pay and cause no concern, I believe I’m entitled to my privacy)

Assuming I could still afford the rent, the biggest thing would be taking care of problems/issues as quickly as possible and with a great attitude. I hate when my current property manager tries to make me feel guilty for not wanting a leaking ceiling or whatever.

I agree with everything wildflower said. And perhaps making your renters feel like you care about them as people – sending birthday or christmas cards out, having a suggestion box, etc.

Before I bought my house, I lived in my last apartment for eight years and the reasons why are the rent never went up, quick response when something broke, I remember one time I had a problem with one of the leasing managers and wrote to thier head quarters and got a good response and the manager had to make it right with me so that was great, they always gave me a bonus to resign my lease and every year it went up, I remember one year they tried to short change me on the bonus and I came to them asking if the rules changed not only did I get what I should have gotton but they added more money to it, they had a refer a friend program where if you got some one to move in they would pay you a signing bonus,they had a contest if you paid your rent early every month your name was put in a hat and you could win money, friendly neighbors, the maint. crew was very friendly and everytime they would come to you apartment to fix something they would leave candy with a report card so you could grade them, it was a great place to live and I would still be there today if I didn’t buy my house, they even let you use thier office supplies, the fax, and copy machines they had a notery free of charge cookies lemonaide coffee cakes everyday in there office I would stop by just to eat it was a great place.

I remember I had a problem with one of the maint. people my first year there my heat went out on me in the winter and he didn’t come for three to four hours, well he thought fixed the problem but it was short term so the next time my heat went out on me I didn’t call until the next morning when I woke up and when I told the manager when it happened she asked why I didn’t call sooner I told her I have to get my sleep because I work I can’t be staying up and waiting three to four hours for the maint. people to come after I call, she was so upset, that maint. person lost his job (what happened was he was on call and said the hell with me and let me freeze the first time even though he told me he was on his way) they responded quick to my problems I can go on and on and on, customer service is number one!! once you get that reputation people will come to your place to live.

I own a rental property (but it’s a duplex, and I live in the other half, so it might be different). We’ve had very good luck with our tenants, and I’d say it’s because we’re attentive, but not too much so, flexible, and try to sign tenants that we genuinely like.

Wildflower has an excellent list. I’d add “security” to it, that would be a biggie for me.

I was planning a move. The landlord revoked the $50 a month rent increase he hit us with in January (the second year in a row), and we stayed.

Thanks for the great ideas. We try to be really service focused. I’m going to print this post and give it to our property manager and resident managers (and Maintenance staff) so they can be reminded how important taking care of you really is. Keep the great suggestions coming!
In the industry they have suggested things like letting residents paint their choice of colors. What do you think?

Judi, we let our tenants paint it however they like. The contract states that it must be able to be covered by 1 coat of white paint. If it can’t be, they can repaint it white or they lose their deposit. So far, only 1 room has ever been painted a different color (a baby’s nursery). I have found that prospective tenants are always happy to hear about this, even though they rarely take advantage of it.

@Judi
Allowing tenants to personalize the space would go a long way too. Painting is a great idea, but even allowing for nails in the walls (yes, I know of landlords who don’t allow it!), change curtains, etc. is good too.

a parking spot is helpful and guest parking is nice. my mom used to live in a co-op with inconvenient guest parking, and if you parked where you weren’t supposed to you’d get the boot on your tire. i used to live somewhere that had a parking lot which was “residents only” after 6 p.m. that was convenient for guests.

The folks at our place told us when we moved in that at the end of our year lease that they were going to raise the rent $300 a month more. But we’ve referred one person who moved in, and we’ve cost them nothing in maintenance issues (didn’t even ask them to fix some of the things wrong when we moved in). We’ve always paid our rent before time. Two weeks ago we got a lease renewal They told us they love tenants like us, and are renewing our rent at the old price. Yaay!

How you handle pets can also help. I prefer a pet policy that’s firmly enforced. If your dog poos somewhere, you have to clean it up, or pay a hefty fine. This means that management has to watch to see who cleans up and who doesn’t, but if you allow pets, you really need to do this. I suppose that a pet deposit should include paying the folks who go around watching for infractions like this. Often the management can’t afford to pay someone to go around watching for people who don’t clean up after their pets.