Mastering Housing Provision: The Four Keys to Success - Part 2

In my last article, I wrote about the first two steps to being a great housing provider to help comply with fair housing while saving time and money! If you missed that article, I suggest reading it HERE.

Next, Let’s set some expectations! I believe one of the biggest issues in communication is the wrong expectations we set or assume. Being a housing provider involves a lot of communication, which is why we need to set clear expectations.

We start setting our expectations in our ads marketing the property. This continues with our process of showing the property. We repeat this again in our pre-interview to make sure the applicant understands. We explain that we are not in the business of collecting application fees; we are in the business of helping people find the right home for them.

Once we have an approved application, we move on to the lease review. This is done over Zoom and takes an hour to an hour and a half. YES, this means we talk about what they will be signing. Pushing a lease in front of them and asking them to sign doesn’t help a few months later when they have a problem and you expect them to comply with the lease. Everyone needs to know what’s in the lease and what is expected of each party. We do not sign the lease at this time. In fact, we’ve had people decide they were not right for our property based on the lease. They realized we actually enforce our lease and expect our residents to take care of their home with our support.

After the property is inspected and the lease is signed, we exchange the keys and money. The wrong thing to do here is to hope and pray to never hear from your residents again! We want to keep a great relationship going to support their stay while preventing issues. This could mean picking up the phone and talking. I know many people want a fully automated business, but we are still humans dealing with humans. This has shown our residents that we truly care, which encourages them to stay a long time and take care of their home. It’s not uncommon for us to drive by a month or two after they move in and see that they have decorated and made it their home!

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