All Topics / Creative Investing / What do you think of this idea

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 23 total)
  • Profile photo of ridiridi
    Member
    @ridi
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 24

    Hi everyone This is the my very first message ,I’v been reading lots of your messages there great not only I learn a thing or two but they can be funny.I hessitated to state a comment only because I’m such a b…. slow typer[blush2]
    Firstly If you are reading this Steve McKnight You are a legend you give poeple hope that there is another way.
    I’v been searching for answers on investing ,spent thousands on educating myself, reading till my eyes were poppy out of my head[confused2]…………but finally when I read your book everything was clear to me .

    I loved it that much ,one night I just had to finish reading it ….it was 4am!!!!!(payed for it the next day)
    Anyway I have a new lease in life because I now have an exiting goal.It’s amazing that even hub thinks my intentions are great and he is usually sceptical & sarcastic.Unfortunatly he doesn’t exactly shower me with help or encouragment so I have to find that inner strenghth and determination within myself which i feel I have but……………it’s nice to get some input or feedback every now and again so I thought I’ll get some net feedback!!![biggrin]
    Anyway what is your oppinion on this idea that I come up with to hopefully get better tenants.
    ( buy and hold method of course)
    What if you tell your tenants if they can pay the rent on time,damage nothing & keep the place clean that you will reward them with a free pizza delivery every month every body loves freebies !!
    I calculated this would cost about $100-$120 per year if you make a deal with Pizza hut.
    to me is’nt that cheap insurance for your property
    Unfortunatly there are certain types of tenants that won’t do “anything” without insentive.

    tell me honestly is that a stupid idea ??[blush2]
    Why not be differant !!!
    love to hear your feedback……hope you had a nice weekend [biggrin]

    Profile photo of FFCommFFComm
    Member
    @ffcomm
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 627
    Profile photo of MonopolyMonopoly
    Member
    @monopoly
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 1,612

    Hi and welcome,

    I must admit, your pizza idea does not appeal to me personally, but hey, if it works for you; knock yourself out!!!

    I would like to make one suggestion though, if you are going to “cut and paste” quotes, at least mark them in some way, or separate them from YOUR own comments, as it was a bit confusing trying to figure out, whether you were speaking or the person you were quoting!!!

    Cheers,

    Jo

    Profile photo of ridiridi
    Member
    @ridi
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 24

    Thankyou lucifer[evil4][snitch] and monopoly for your response
    But now that I think of it the pizza idea is stupid #1 it doesn’t look professional #2 the more the the tenants get the more they want!!!!
    thanks[thumbsupanim][thumbsupanim]

    Profile photo of Mortgage HunterMortgage Hunter
    Participant
    @mortgage-hunter
    Join Date: 2003
    Post Count: 3,781

    I have a similar arrangement with my tenants. If they pay their rent on time, keep the place in good repair etc then I allow them to live there hassle free.

    If they stop doing any of the above then no more Mr Nice Guy.

    Works for me.

    [biggrin]

    Simon Macks
    Mortgage Broker
    http://www.mortgagehunter.com.au
    0425 228 985

    Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.

    Profile photo of PropertyAngelPropertyAngel
    Member
    @propertyangel
    Join Date: 2005
    Post Count: 27

    The more tenants get the more the want?????

    OH MY GOD can you hear yourselves! I don’t want to be insultive but as a long term tenant/investor and self mananging landlord all I can read here is Greedy, undynamic, inflexible people talking.

    I was a tenant for 7 years before I pruchased the first of my investment properties. And I know if my landlord took the time to notice that I cared about his property as much as he did it would have certainly motivated me more. No all i got was lazy ignorant and rude property manangers and/or a landlord that didnt even care that the taps were leaking or that the blinds were falling off the house or that shower screen was broken dangerously. So inturn even though I repsect and value what you all are saying, I have to disagree, giving incentives and rewards are worth while, no matter how little or how unprofessional anyone thinks they are.

    If youre passionate about property you have to be passionate about people. If youre not passionate about the people who are going to be helping you pay off your investment then expect to get the worst from your tenants!

    Its all about KARMA! what comes around goes around!

    RIDI! I say good on you mate! If you ever want to talk about this further please please message me or email me! I’d certainly be interested in talking to you more about this. This is certainly a passion of mine when it comes to managing my own properties as I like to get the most that I can out of my investments and in turn I like to reward those who help me get there! it motivates them to do more! believe me, the single mum with 7 kids certainly adores pizza and a movie being given to her once a month. puts a smile on the whole families face and thats enough reward for me alone.

    Please email me or Private Message Me! Id love to chat!

    No Such thing as CAN’T!

    Profile photo of Paul DobsonPaul Dobson
    Participant
    @pauldobson
    Join Date: 2003
    Post Count: 1,196

    Hi Ridi

    I have to agree with PropertyAngel. I believe your greatest asset, when it comes to buy & holds, are your tennants. I therefore think your pizza idea (maybe pizza and a movie?) is a great one. Good luck.

    Cheers, Paul

    Paul Dobson | Vendor Finance Institute
    http://www.vendorfinanceinstitute.com.au
    Email Me | Phone Me

    An alternative way to finance your home.

    Profile photo of leilei
    Member
    @lei
    Join Date: 2005
    Post Count: 28

    Hi I have a friend that rents out two of his properties to single mothers. The week of mothers day they pay no rent and over christmas they have two weeks rent free. He has had the same tenents for 5 and 7 years.

    k

    Profile photo of RentMasterRentMaster
    Member
    @rentmaster
    Join Date: 2003
    Post Count: 85

    3 weeks rent free per year? That sounds quite generous.

    This reminds me of another idea I read somewhere (I think Graham Fowler wrote it). If you have some spare cash and want to do a bit of a makeover, and you have a good tenant, then you contact the tenant and tell them you have $500 to spend on the house, and how would THEY like you to spend it. But the important thing is to spend it on the house, and not the tenant. If you spend $500 on paint or new tiling or landscaping etc then the $500 improves the value of your property, and when the tenant leaves, you still have the benefit of the $500 expense. But because it was the tenant who told you how to spend it, they feel like they have benefited as well.

    Andrew
    http://www.rentmaster.co.nz
    Software for Landlords

    Profile photo of jkmtjkmt
    Member
    @jkmt
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 25

    Hi,
    I’m with RentMaster and PropertyAngel. I’ve been a tenant in the same house for 14 years (we love the place, not the landlord!). I would love my landlord to show some appreciation for the fact that we’ve been good tenants. While pizza doesn’t personally grab me, I’d still appreciate the thought it represented. What I’d really like is that when we do make a request for maintenance that it gets some attention, rather than being ignored and us having to solve the problem in whatever way we can/or just live with it. So for our landlords to actually ask us what they could do for the place would be bliss.
    With our own investment properties, I certainly tend to be willing to do/give a bit extra to tenants who’ve shown themselves to be valuable, even if it’s just a thankyou Christmas card with a gift voucher in it.
    Cheers,
    Jenny

    Profile photo of MuktaMukta
    Member
    @mukta
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 35

    Hi Ridi
    I love your pizza idea, can I use it too?
    Kind Regards
    Paula

    John and Paula

    Profile photo of gatsbygatsby
    Member
    @gatsby
    Join Date: 2003
    Post Count: 708

    Hi Ridi,
    Great idea (be it pizza, a weeks free rent, etc). I think though the best replies will be from tennants more so from landlords (although I realise some landlords may have the rental evidence to prove me wrong). All the time I’ve rented privacy from pesty landlords, rude landlords, absent landlords were things that are the most annoying. Incentives never were an option but would be a welcome one. Particularly for tennants who see their rental as a ‘home’ more than ‘a place they rent’.
    Cheers,
    Gatsby.

    Profile photo of kerwynkerwyn
    Member
    @kerwyn
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 145

    Hi All
    I have run my own business for 30 years dealing with all kinds of individuals and Ridi your pizza idea is not that bad.
    I have learned that if you give something free you get it back 10 fold. I had a Ski hire in the Snowy Mountains for 6 years in what people called a bad position, wrong side of the road for people coming from Sydney. I started to give little things like a free toboggan to the kids when their parents hired skis, this cost me $3 each child: but guess what! People told their friends and they started coming into my shop and before I knew it I had heaps of families turning up, my business doubled in 1 season.
    The trouble with most things these days is that people are too greedy. They try to ring every last dollar out of someone and forget that if you are in the service industry you should be supplying a service. Being a landlord is supplying a service you are supplying a place for someone to live, so you are in the service industry.
    95% of the time if you give a little something like a pizza it is really appreciated by the majority of people and they will do the right thing; but there are a small percentage of people who will not conform even if you gave them a new Volvo free: that’s the way it is with us humans.
    So Ridi keep thinking of the pizza ideas and you will get a bunch of happy tenants.
    Kerwyn.[biggrin]

    Profile photo of surreyhughes19905surreyhughes19905
    Member
    @surreyhughes19905
    Join Date: 2003
    Post Count: 204

    I’m with the idea of make the tenents happy by giving them a place they want to live in.

    I’m a tenent also and frankly I couldn’t give a stuff about the landlord or the prop manager. I pay for a nice place to live and I’d be most happy if the land lord kept it that way or improved it. I look after the property because it’s where I live and I for one don’t sh*t where I sleep. If the landlord thought they should reward me for being a normal person respectful of private property then the world is a topsy turvey place indeed.

    Pizza once a month? I’d rather a kitchen with better appliances so I can cook my own. A movie once a month? I’d rather a good aerial able to receive digital TV. How about a dual register power meter so I can get off peak electricity (no I’m not just talking about hot water). These are the things that work for both of us. I get a nice place to live and the landlord gets tenants and thus rent. I’m expected to keep the house in good order because that’s the proper thing to do and because that’s what I agreed to do when I signed. If I fail at that, I lose a place to live and lose a little self respect.

    So: don’t lease your place to people with no respect for themselves or for other people’s property. That’s where pre-screening comes in.

    Surrey.

    Profile photo of lealea
    Member
    @lea
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 26

    I read an investing book somewhere years ago (I think it might have been Anita Bell) and she suggested rewarding good tenants on a regular basis.

    I started this a couple years ago and WOW!! It really works!

    Basically, every Christmas, I take them all nice little baskets of goodies with a “Thank You” Card – not a christmas card. I thank them for being great tenants. I do the same at Easter.

    The beginning of July sees another thank you card and a personal visit from me. I tell them “it’s beginning of financial year time – what would you prefer I concentrated on the rest of the year til June”. They tell me. I work on it. All happy.

    The results are that I’ve had no missed payments from any tenants, no vacancies for several years now and two homes have had the tenants completely re-landscape the rear yards for me! Thanks guys!

    [thumbsup2]
    Lea

    Profile photo of Angel1Angel1
    Participant
    @angel1
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 2

    Great idea Lea
    I have found that most people appreciate the fact that they are not treated as a herd of sheep but that the landlord takes time to acknowledge them as an individual.
    Kind of like “random acts of kindness” but in a structured way.
    I have provided a welcome gift of a basket of fruit and a bottle of wine along with a welcome to the house card, when new tenants move in.I find it helps set the tone of the landlord / tenant relationship.
    Goodwill(from the tenants) is priceless.
    Angel1

    Profile photo of BofclarkBofclark
    Participant
    @bofclark
    Join Date: 2005
    Post Count: 31

    Hi ridi,
    I think that your idea has legs. One of the ways to make a loss from property is to have it stand vacant. Vacancy is death. I have always tried to look after the tenant. Be prompt in dealing with their requests for repairs and adding small items such as sensor activated door lights. One of my properties I have had for ten years. In those ten years the property has been vacant for one week only. Not all tenants will do the right thing by you but it should never be because you did the wrong thing by them.

    Profile photo of positive nowpositive now
    Member
    @positive-now
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 1

    Hi this is our first time in the FORUM. We have tenants in our house, they just happen to be juvenile family members(teenagers). If you could come up with a way and an incentive for them to keep the place clean and organised for more than a day or two at a time then i would love to supply you with a pizza every week.

    We think that spending on your structural asset is the better option . We send our tenants XMAS cards etc and listen to their requests. End of the day it still comes down to the tenants values and having a good landlord tenant relationship.

    Originally posted by ridi:

    Hi everyone This is the my very first message ,I’v been reading lots of your messages there great not only I learn a thing or two but they can be funny.I hessitated to state a comment only because I’m such a b…. slow typer[blush2]
    Firstly If you are reading this Steve McKnight You are a legend you give poeple hope that there is another way.
    I’v been searching for answers on investing ,spent thousands on educating myself, reading till my eyes were poppy out of my head[confused2]…………but finally when I read your book everything was clear to me .

    I loved it that much ,one night I just had to finish reading it ….it was 4am!!!!!(payed for it the next day)
    Anyway I have a new lease in life because I now have an exiting goal.It’s amazing that even hub thinks my intentions are great and he is usually sceptical & sarcastic.Unfortunatly he doesn’t exactly shower me with help or encouragment so I have to find that inner strenghth and determination within myself which i feel I have but……………it’s nice to get some input or feedback every now and again so I thought I’ll get some net feedback!!![biggrin]
    Anyway what is your oppinion on this idea that I come up with to hopefully get better tenants.
    ( buy and hold method of course)
    What if you tell your tenants if they can pay the rent on time,damage nothing & keep the place clean that you will reward them with a free pizza delivery every month every body loves freebies !!
    I calculated this would cost about $100-$120 per year if you make a deal with Pizza hut.
    to me is’nt that cheap insurance for your property
    Unfortunatly there are certain types of tenants that won’t do “anything” without insentive.

    tell me honestly is that a stupid idea ??[blush2]
    Why not be differant !!!
    love to hear your feedback……hope you had a nice weekend [biggrin]

    Profile photo of Clay AClay A
    Participant
    @clay-a
    Join Date: 2005
    Post Count: 33

    Hi All

    I think any incentive is a good idea, however, I believe that if you get to know what motivates your tennants and design an incentive to suit, you will really reap the rewards.

    I guess it’s easier to do when you only have a handfull, but I have gained some great insights on mine, just by chatting to them.

    Everyone likes to feel appreciated.

    Clay

    Profile photo of PrakmanPrakman
    Member
    @prakman
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 23

    Hello everyone, as a fellow investor & a real estate agent by trade, I believe that little incentives will do wonders for you. Most landlords who get their property managed by an agency often “forget” about their tennants until pooh hits the fan. Most tennants love it when you acknowledge their presents, one of my best fellow investors give tennants a $20 gift voucher every quarter (when the rental inspections are done) from a major shopping centre to spend on exactly what they like if they pay their rent DEAD ON TIME and KEEP the property in a prestine condition. Can you guess what happens next? The tennats often call up and ask when the next rental inspection is? And never late payments and very long term tennants. Happy Investing

    Prakman

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 23 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.