How much do you stand to lose by refusing to cater to your San Diego tenant’s demands?
There is lots of debate over catering to renters, and many San Diego real estate owners underestimate the value of it.
Renting out homes is a business and you shouldn’t be slave to your tenants, at their beck and call for everything 24/7 and have to make constant, unnecessary improvements to make them more comfortable than what they signed up for when they did the walk-though and executed the lease.
However, failing to cater to good (and even bad) tenants can be very costly, to an extent far more expensive than most San Diego real estate investors imagine.
Making small exceptions for otherwise great tenants is often smart business. Putting in new window coverings if they’ll last and will keep a tenant long term can ultimately be profitable, even if unnecessary in some cases. The same goes for making allowances for occasional tardiness in paying rent.
More serious recently has been the demand by tenants for property owners to provide increased home security. In most cases tenants should have a good idea of what the neighborhood they are moving into is like, or at least have the tools at their fingertips to find out on the web in a few minutes. However, many neighborhoods are changing and while many are improving and seeing new life with great residents and better kept communities as the housing market rebounds others are seeing rising crime and are going downhill.
Many landlords including professional San Diego real estate investors are resistant to forking out a penny they don’t have to and this is one area they really don’t want to spend on. They may get away without making an effort, even though better doors, locks and security systems aren’t that expensive today. However, what most forget is that they also have an obligation to provide safe housing.
It isn’t just a moral obligation either. If a tenant is hurt or a rental property broken into and belongings stolen after a tenant has requested increased security measures and have been denied they could well have a case for suing the owner for all types of damages as well as psychological damages and distress incurred by everyone they know that was worried about them.
Needless to say that isn’t going to be cheap and is going to cost a lot more just to defend against in terms of legal fees than most alarm systems. So before you grumble and slam down the phone next time a tenant calls, do the math.
