Policies about customizing apartment vary from property manager to property manager, but it seems being flexible with changes offers its own advantages.
I think everyone’s been in a situation where they were renting out an apartment long-term and found something they wanted to change. This could be the paint color on a wall, a light fixture or decorating a back balcony.
The majority of apartment managers I’ve dealt with were fairly flexible on the changes we could make to our apartment, but they always expected us to revert the changes upon leaving the apartment.
It sounds like this flexibility in decorating an apartment can be advantageous not only for the tenant, but for the property manager as well.
Laren Shanesy, a writer for multifamilyexecutive.com, commented on this, referring to a number of interesting points, the biggest of which is “While property managers say making such changes hasn’t been found to be a noteworthy source of revenue for their companies and, in fact, is often offered at no charge, the benefits are found in the increased retention that comes with allowing tenants to make a space their very own.“
So basically, allowing clients to change their surroundings into something more homey also helps them stay grounded in the apartment longer. From a business standpoint, this can turn into long-term revenue increases.
Some property managers even assist their tenants with the apartment remodels. Stephanie Williams, who is the president of the Bozzuto Management Co mentions this saying how her company offers to help tenants with the remodels.
The result?
“It actually helps build a relationship with that service person, which I find, again, encourages someone to stay,” says Williams. “That’s a really important relationship too—the one between the customer and the service staff.”
Though the property manager may not gain any revenue from assisting the tenant or giving them a wider range of options for remodeling, it keeps them happy and helps them grow more attached to the unit. This attachment could lead to the tenant staying on board for years to come.