When making your New Year’s resolutions for 2018, eating healthier and going to the gym might be on your list, but don’t just stop there; include some resolutions that apply to you as a landlord. Here are a few essential landlording habits you can adopt in the new year.

Be proactive about understanding tax policy.

With the passing of a massive tax plan in the twilight of 2017, there are going to be some substantial changes to how you and your properties are taxed. As with most legislation, it’s complex and will require the analysis of varied experts to understand who it will affect and how, and it’s safe to assume that there will be consequences for property managers. For your bottom line and your stress level, one of the best landlording habits you can adopt is to diligently make sure you’re doing your best to stay in-the-know as the impact of the tax bill is digested. There’s already been some analysis as it pertains to landlords, but more is certain to follow. In what seems to be one of our mantras here at Innago, remember that local is always better: consult your local landlord association to make sure you’re not the only landlord in the neighborhood operating on dated information.

Double down on social media.

As video continues to become increasingly dominant in the world of social media, don’t get left behind. Brainstorm how you can still get your property listings out there as videos are comprising more and more of people’s social media feeds. Creating a video for a single property might prove difficult, not to mention a potential misallocation of resources, but promoting a collection of units under a single roof or housing complex could be a wise investment. Even just making it one of your landlording habits to post twice or even once a week can go a long way. Possible post topics include events going on around town, new appliances or features your adding to your units, or some of those holiday bonuses your spreading around. Grab the attention of those scrolling dutifully downwards through the social media feed and let everyone know how great your properties are. We’ve talked before about how to make your property listings stand out, and those pointers apply to social media as well.

Develop a strong tenant screening process and stick with it.

With such high current demand for rental properties, the chief concern now for many landlords isn’t merely getting tenants in the door – it’s getting the right ones in the door. Sifting through the applications to find tenants that are responsible and likely to stay the whole lease without any issues is more important than ever. Practice due diligence in the tenant screening process will not only save you many a headache down the road, but save you money as well – tenants moving out, breaking the lease, or getting kicked out means vacancy periods and lost revenue for you.

Let no issue go unresolved.

Maintaining a proactive attitude towards addressing issues with properties and tenants alike is essential to staying on top of your business. If you have a smattering of property issues at the end of 2017, make it a goal to not be in the same situation this time next year. The longer an issue goes unresolved, the worse (and more costly!) it will get. Negligence or even delayed responses to these sorts of fixes can hurt your reputation as a landlord and will make your tenants less likely to re-sign for another year. Don’t let issues pile up like you may have done in the past!

If you make a point of adding these landlording habits to your daily, weekly, and monthly to-do, you’ll be in better shape at the end of 2018 than you were at the beginning.

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