Are you tired of getting little or no return on  your collection accounts?

The following 10 steps will help your collection agency collect from your previous tenants. Any of the following could be the difference between getting an account paid or closing a file due to faulty documentation.
1.  Make sure that the tenant completes all information on the rental application. Personal reference are a gold mine.
2.  Do not stay in contact with the debtor after the account is listed with the collection agency. Refer all calls to the agency.
3.  Make sure you get all security deposits paid up front.
4.  See proof of employment. A pay stub works great. Photocopy the check stub for your files.
5.  Update any changes to your files. Make note if the resident gets a new job, car, etc.
6.  Use a "good" Co-signer Agreement, not just the rental application.
7.  Make sure that the "Move-In / Move-Out" Report is complete.
8.  Itemize all repairs on a separate piece of paper if the Move-In / Move-Out if full.
9.  Pictures, Pictures, Pictures. They speak volumes.
10.  Itemize abandoned property.

     You probably take pretty good care of your rental properties, keep them in excellent repair, keep common areas looking great, make the exteriors shine, and have a regular preventive maintenance schedule.
     You know what the only problem is? Nobody knows about it. Good landlords do lots or PM (Preventative Maintenance), but they rarely use the PM to generate good PR (Public Relations). Your tenants don't know what a great job you're doing unless you tell them. You could have the best preventive maintenance program in the world, but if you keep it a secret, you are losing out on a great opportunity - the opportunity of keeping great tenants.
     Great tenants are like gold. You never want them to move. Here you've done a terrific job making sure that only good tenants live in your rental properties, but you may not be doing everything you can to ensure that they stay. Since it's seven times more expensive to get a new customer then to keep the old one, doing good PR can pay big dividends. Letting your good tenants know what a terrific job you are doing for them out of the notion of moving just because they don't know how much you care.
     The best part - it doesn't require much effort to toot your own horn. Here are some things you can do:

• Tell them about your Preventative Maintenance program. Just send a letter to all your tenants describing what you do to keep their homes looking the way they do. They'll be proud to live in them.
  
• Send out a questionnaire asking for their wish list for making their homes even better. Be prepared though. When you get the replies, you need to take action not only to correct the problems your tenants are concerned about, but to let them know the time frame in which you will do it. Otherwise the good PR you worked for goes in the tank.
  
• Publish the results of the questionnaire for all your tenants to see. It doesn't have to be specific, only a general discussion of what your tenants said they would like to see happen.
  
• Do interior inspections two or three times a year and exterior inspections once
  

once or twice a month. Always use a checklist when you do the inspections. Then tell your tenants what you are going to do and when.
      Remember, being even a little bit better puts you head and shoulders above your competition in the minds of your customers. Doing good PR about your PM program is one of those ways to get your head a little higher then other landlords.
Robert l. Cain, Cain Publications, Inc.