Hi all,

I've sent texts to renters for reminders- especially newbies. Trash days, go over how to pay rent, if somebody will be over to do work, etc...

Today after sending two texts to a renter, he texts back,"it's better to call me if you need anything. "

I'm not inclined to call because if they do not answer, they try to call me back and oftentimes, I'm not available to answer. Leave a voicemail and oftentimes I don't get the messages for awhile. I like texting because it serves as a reminder to both of us what was said. If it's quick, I feel a text message is sufficient. Today, I did not need anything. I just sent friendly reminders.

In the past, I may have changed communication methods for a tenant even if it wasn't convenient for me, but now I prefer texting.

Would you cater to his request or keep with the procedures that work best for you??

Texting is unprofessional and casual.

Texts cost me 20 cents a piece and a call costs me zero. If I don't have my glasses I can't read it. People use odd abbreviations and often I do not know what ur saying K?

It is hard for me to text back on a flip phone. I have to stop what I am doing and give my full attention to a tiny keyboard instead of talking for a few seconds. I hate texts and texters.

Texting IS NOT unprofessional and casual if it's done in a professional manner. I always end my texts to tenants with: Thank you, NE @ ABC Rentals.

I send an email then copy & paste that message to a text message. I HATE texting but in today's climate it's becoming a must. I've resisted as long as I can. I don't call anymore. No one has voice mail. And I'm not wasting my day trying to get in contact with a tenant waiting for them to answer the phone. With texting I know they are getting the message. I have 2 paper trails as well. It's my problem that they get the message; it's not my problem if they ignore it or don't acknowledge it.

And here I PREFER calls.

A text is too easy for me to be at a tenants "beck and call". If they want me they can make the effort to phone.

Im not an uber cab or a pizza service. Maybe im just getting old.

My tenants don't tell me how to run my business any more that I tell my vendors how to run theirs. They know not to call or text me. (Texting is turned off on my phone).

Texting makes it far too easy for tenants to communicate in a world in which we already over communicate. I can only imagine how many texts I would receive from family, friends, and tenants. As I said, it's way too casual and unwieldy. I also don't want to give the impression that I am always available.

I use e-mail, personal service, process servers, and certified mail.

It works for me.

Andrew, I just saw your post about the "beck and call" part. Yup!

Julie, outside of paying bills and maintaining our properties we set our own "musts."

AllyK - you nailed it!

I have entire conversations for the entire duration of tenancies on my phone ready to print at any time.

Priceless.

If they try texting me with goofy stuff at odd times, I simply tell them it's a 9-5 issue.

I don't have tenants who take advantage of being able to text me at all.

All my tenants texts are set to "do not disturb" so I don't know until I look at my phone.

I do both, but as I have posted, I do not like to have text conversations with strangers. Complex conversations are best suited to the phone in my opinion, and so are initial interviews with prospective applicants. I want to hear the smokers cough, the big dogs parking, the kids screaming obscenities in the background. Also, the calm voice asking just the right questions is nice.

J(Fl), that is exactly my experience with text queries from prospective tenants. I also hate getting a text from a tenant that is a simple picture. A picture of some white stuff on a pizza box(it was ceiling plaster) or a big mushroom(never did figure that one out). A tiny picture is not communication.

With existing tenants, I text a lot but call when there is too much to say. I will also text to request a phone call.

I get frustrated with tenant's who never acknowledge my texts, but want me to act fast on theirs.

Thanks for your responses.

There was a time I preferred calling tenants. I still prefer screening tenants by phone because you can learn quite a bit about an applicant, but that preference may change over time as well because it's time consuming. I prefer talking on the phone with my friends and family. I begin texts with "Good morning, Mr or Mrs Current Renter", and I explain without using slang, shortened words, emojis, etc. I always say thank you.

Often, issues such as notifying a tenant that a worker would arrive within the next day would be difficult if I called because I could not reach a tenant by phone in time. Usually, they were working and could not answer and hadn't set up voicemail or it was full. So I would text the message for them to see on their break/leisure.

By the way, he has called and missed me twice, but neither time has left a voicemail.

The answering system tells callers that text is much faster than leaving a voicemail.

I love my tenants, but I do not want to become entangled in their personal lives, which is much easier if you are talking on the phone. I will call them if I need to give detailed instructions, if I notice we are texting back and forth for more than 2-3 texts, or if there's a situation where we need to see if they are home etc. But for notices that require less than a caveman's grunt of acknowledgement, I do find it easier.

I will add that my own grandmother does not know how to text and if I ever had a tenant like my grandmother, I would have to call to reach them. I would do that for them out of respect.

Wait, the tenant has asked you to call instead of text. What is wrong with telling you the best way to get hold of hi. I don't see the problem my communicating with a tenant in a way they asked. How do you know he won't answer and you have to leave a message? Is this stuff you need to have a conversation or answer to or just a reminder. I tell people it is best to text me or email with requests and problems, why can't they tell me the best way to communicate with them.

Amy, you would call a tenant like your grandmother out of respect, maybe, just maybe there is a good reason this person has difficulty with texts and deserves some respect there.

No, I would not change the way I do business to what a tenant preferred. Especially if my requirement or preference was not unreasonable.

Lots of good answers and reasons why some prefer texting and others don't.

I prefer texting over phone calls. So that's what I'm going to do. Just like I prefer tenants who have bank accounts and agree to pay rent via Clearnow so they're the only ones I'm going to rent to.

My goal is communication. While the majority of my tenants prefer texting there are some who prefer email. Insisting that all tenants conform to my preference is counter productive. I eschew phone calls since I want a record of all communication.

Whatever works for you and yours. I use Voice-to-Text and then fix whatever bizarre word auto-correct chooses for certain phrases. I use punctuation and capital letters at the beginning of sentences. I even use smiley faces where appropriate LOL!

Yesterday I got an overdue water bill. Snapped a picture of it and sent it as a text to the tenant. She responded immediately OOPS and said she would pay it. Easy. 2 seconds and done.

I also use email.

When he calls me and cannot reach me, it goes to voicemail which he never leaves a message. During the process of application, leading up to lease signing we would both text, and we often would play phone tag and then end up

texting anyway. He can text, and he does text.

If he had never texted, and called and said he can't text or didnt know how (or like my dear grandmother was a very elderly person who it may cause undue stress to try to communicate via text), this would be a different story. He's a nice enough guy and I feel we have mutual respect at this point. But, it's not me who's trying to change the game plan.

When you sign the lease, here's a handy clause.

"TENANT's 1st preferred method of communication is __________________. TENANT's 2nd preferred method of communication is ____________________. TENANT agrees to check and respond to these methods on a daily basis, as needed, and to update LANDLORD if these methods change. If either method becomes unavailable, TENANT will immediately contact LANDLORD and provide an alternate means of communication." Have them initial next to it.

Fill in the blanks. Easy cheesy!

A thought on professionalism: Texting is here. To anyone under 30, it is likely they do nothing BUT text. Phone calls and emails are for "old folks" (40+). The crowd in the middle does both. It's here, folks, love it or hate it. For every call I receive on a property vacancy, I get 9 texts. Why would I purposefully eliminate 90% of my market by ignoring them or forcing them to communicate "my way?"

Like NE, I have texts that provide written record of everything. Google Voice puts a date and time stamp on it, so I can document who said what and when. Soooo easy! Try doing that with your regular phone. Transcriptions are fine, but if you're in a 2-party state you may be out of luck. With that in mind...

Professional text: "Thank you for your interest in the property at 123 Anywhere Ave. Please visit our website abcrentals for more information, to schedule a viewing, or to apply."

Unprofessional text: "Tnk U 4 your interest. Let me know if you wanna look inside...lol."

Btw, for those of you who don't believe that texting can be professional, once upon a time phone calls were viewing the same way. If you wanted to be "professional" when applying for a job or a rental, you physically walked into a business, dressed in your Sunday best, and with resume and letters of reference in hand. Tell me how much that applies in today's world?

Maybe you misunderstood his text :)

It's possible he was confirming that he got you texts and also wanted to let you know that if it's something important, you should call him instead of texting.

Refusing to accept text messages is hardly being "left behind." It also can't compared with phone calls of yore.

If you want to accept texts and phone calls, go for it.

I received two tenant phone calls last year and zero texts. Business is thriving for me in one of the best rental markets in the country.

Two things ...

1) WHY are you texting (or anything) to your tenants to "remind" them of things such as garbage day, rent is due, etc.? I don't unless I have an issue (such as I drove by and the garbage is out but it's the wrong day, etc). I then will call, text and if no result/answer I will post a note. That's because if it's garbage we get fined by the city/village for putting it out on the wrong day. If it's rent and they are late - they get a Marshal knocking on their door "to remind them".

2) If a tenant asked me to not text and to call them I probably would. I personally, prefer calls to texts although texts are sometimes easier. Texts also (sometimes) can get very unclear and read "wrong" with an attitude, etc. So depending - I would most likely pick the phone up and call them if that happened.

It might be as the others stated that this tenant doesn't have texting on their phone/plan so they are getting charged. Now you are costing them money.

I always ask the tenant their preferred method of communication. This goes on the front of their file, and in my cell phone memory.

I'm not nuts about texting, prefer email myself, but what the tenant pays attention to most is best.

Clarify- new tenant. Who put out trash way too early. Reminder of trash day/ city rules. Easier to have "reminder" now, rather than 6 months from now when we may have to go to court over it. He's never paid rent besides when he signed the lease and when I asked the person who went to signing what they had told him, they admitted they hadn't really gone over the procedure.

Not a reminder of rent being due. I don't do full time babysitting or handholding.

Charlie,

You made my miserable day today so much better!