7 Ways to Encourage Resident Retention

By Christine Ascher on November 19, 2017

As a property manager, you’re probably keeping in mind the importance of both bringing in new residents and of keeping your current ones. In order to establish a good reputation for student housing, you’ll need a good resident retention rate.

While great management and general upkeep are essential to ensure that your students are happy with their living situation, going the extra mile will help you to ensure that even more residents stay in your property for the duration of their college experience. To encourage your current residents to renew their leases, try out some of these seven tips.

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1. Update your units

A good way to encourage your residents to continue living in your building is by offering some updates to your units every so often. By cleaning up and refreshing your property, whether it’s by updating the appliances or just replacing the old carpet, your current residents will have even more motivation to renew their leases with the promise of a spruced-up apartment awaiting them.

Try to gather some feedback from your current residents to find out what updates would be most popular, as this will ensure that the money you spend will be well worth it.

2. Free parking for continuing residents

Especially for students, the cost of parking can add up. One major perk that you might want to consider offering to your continuing residents is free parking or a reduced parking rate. This means residents will save some money compared to if they looked elsewhere for housing, and it will offer them an extra reason to renew their leases. It will also ensure that your continuing residents feel appreciated, which will make them more satisfied with their housing on the whole.

3. Create a community

One good strategy to encourage resident retention is to make sure that your property has a community feel. Residents will be more reluctant to move to a new building if they already feel at home where they are, so the more that you can get to know your residents and the more that they can get to know each other, the better.

Try holding events every so often and make an effort to talk to your residents individually. Just getting to know them by name will make them feel more comfortable and appreciated in your building, and they’ll be more likely to want to stay. In addition, this will give students the chance to get to know their neighbors. Chances are, if your residents have friends who also live in the building, they’ll be reluctant to move away.

4. Offer a discount for renewing

Money is a major consideration for college students, so offering a special deal for the residents who decide to renew their leases will go a long way in terms of encouraging them to stay. Even if you can only offer a small decrease in the rental rate for current residents compared to that for new ones, it will make a difference. If your residents feel like they’ll benefit financially by living on the same property for multiple years, they’ll likely take advantage of it.

5. Update your amenities

Like with your individual units, updating the amenities that your property offers will provide another draw to encourage residents to remain in your building. Chances are, if they liked your amenities before, they’ll be even more incentivized to remain if you perform some basic updates over the summer. If your property has a gym, consider adding a couple more machines or repainting the walls.

If it has a pool, try investing in some new deck chairs. Any small ways that you can improve your property will go a long way in encouraging your residents to renew. Make sure you advertise the planned updates so that your students know what they can expect.

6. Address feedback from your current residents

One of the best ways to ensure that your student residents will want to remain on your property is by paying attention to their concerns. Ask for feedback every so often from your residents, whether it’s in the form of a survey or just by paying attention to any complaints that are raised.

If there are any issues that are consistently brought up, make sure that you address them. Ignoring the problems with your property will definitely make some residents consider moving; conversely, if you listen to your residents and address the concerns that they raise, they’ll feel more valued and will appreciate your attention. They’ll also be more motivated to renew their leases once any concerns that they previously had are resolved.

7. Offer perks when leases are renewed

To encourage resident retention, it’s a good idea to offer some incentives to residents who decide to renew. Whether it’s something small, like a gift card for any resident who renews their lease, or something more expensive, like a new TV for the first couple of residents who renew, you’ll give students an extra reason to stay. Plus, you’ll probably have more students renewing early the sooner you start advertising.

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