The holiday season is a upon us and for most of us, that means sending Christmas cards and perhaps singing carols and buying presents, but if you’re managing investment property, it also means saying Happy Holidays to your tenants. While it’s not mandatory, it is certainly a nice thing to do, and it will help to boost your landlord-tenant relationship. There are also a few different ways you can say happy holidays but your tenants are likely from a mix of religious and ethnic backgrounds, which leads to different preferences and meanings behind the holidays. The following includes an overview of how you can wish your tenants Happy Holidays.
Sending Cards
Cards are always appreciated, and you can find some tastefully religion neutral (Happy Holidays rather than Happy Hanukkah or Merry Christmas) cards to send out to everyone. Greeting people by name on the card is important. You can sign your name and your company name to ensure that they know who it’s from. You can also include a message alerting tenants that you will be available to handle emergency holiday requests, and include a brochure on fire safety for Christmas lights and Christmas trees, or candles, at the same time. If you’re on a low budget, you can send an email, but nothing has the same impact as a physical card.
Giving Small Gifts
Small, inexpensive gifts are a great way to show your appreciation to your tenants, but it’s important to go about it correctly. The experts at Sterling Johnston & Associates recommend avoiding using rent reductions as a gift, because it tells your tenants that you don’t need the rent, and could cause problems later. In addition, you’ll want to avoid giving gifts that could cause issues. Alcohol may be a good gift for friends and family, but not usually to strangers because you don’t know if they can drink alcohol, they’re a recovering alcoholic, or if they’re trying to stop. In addition, candy is an insensitive gift to diabetics. Unless you know your tenants well, you should avoid these types of gifts. Instead, offer tickets, gift certificates, or something small like a fruit or bath and body basket.
Throwing a Christmas Party
If you have a large number of tenants in a single building then a Christmas party may be a great idea. However, it can be expensive if you have to supply everything yourself, and if you don’t have a good community in your building, people might not show up.
Decorate
Spending money on small decorations like Christmas lights and neutral wreaths is a great way to add holiday cheer to your building, which is almost the same as saying Happy Holidays.
Upgrades
If you don’t want to give gifts, you can inspect your apartments and see if there are any small upgrades you can make that you can offer to tenants as a gift. For example, upgrading door knobs or cabinet handles, changing faucets or sinks, or other small unit upgrades can make a tenant feel appreciated, and that you care. You can look for affordable supplies at local hardware stores.
There are dozens of ways to say happy holidays to your tenants, but it is important to keep in mind that your tenants could be from any number of religions, and it’s a failed effort if you end up offending them instead of making them happy. For that reason, focusing on politically correct efforts is a great idea.
If you need help with your property management, contact SJA Property Management for a free quote. Happy Holidays!