 Good evening and welcome to episode 321 of the Private Property Podcast. I'm your host, Uzama Doha Qumalo. It's the Wednesday edition of the Private Property Podcast. If you're joining us for the first time, welcome to the only daily property podcast in the country helping you make better property decisions. It doesn't matter where you are on your property journey, whether you're looking to buy, to sell, to rent or to build. We're certainly here to help you along the way. And all our regular viewers from Facebook to Instagram, as well as YouTube, welcome to it. You know how we do. Every single weekday, you and I have an appointment at 7pm. We are always in conversation with a property expert who helps us tackle a hot property issue and certainly aids us in being able to make better property decisions. And talking about making better property decisions, you know that we love making the property circle bigger and bigger. We are running our road to 1 million followers on Facebook. And of course, all you have to do to be able to participate in that competition where we give away 500 grand cash every single evening is to engage with our page as much as possible. Make sure that you comment whether it's on this live or any other of our posts. The more you comment, the higher the chances of you being a winner. Make sure that you share the lives, whether it's this show or the other great shows that I will be telling you about in a little bit. Or of course, make sure that you give us a review on Facebook. Let us know how you are liking the page and the amazing content that we get to bring to your screens. And doing all of that puts you in a position to be one of the winners of our competition where you can walk away with 500 grand in cash every single weekday. Now, the big thing to note about entering the competition is if you know you've entered, you know that you send us those green hearts or you ask us questions and comments, you've given us a review, you certainly share the lives, watch the show. Every single evening at 7 p.m. watch the show because every day halfway through the show we share who the lucky winner is and you have to be watching us live in order to claim your prize. And the moment you text us down here below, then you will be walking away with that cash. If we do not get somebody who raises their hand in time, then the money rolls over. That's exactly what happened for the past two nights. We've had money roll over in the money bag and the money bag is currently sitting at 1,500 grand. So if you know you've entered, you know that you've been participating, then you definitely want to make sure that you watch the show until the end and want to claim your prize. And you, of course, can walk away with that 1,500 grand. Well, I did tell you there was a whole host of other great shows that you can look forward to here on private properties of social media pages. It's Wednesday, so it's the class and later on is going to be bringing you the first-time home buyer show, which is always in conversation with people who can only walk that first-time homebite and journey but have gone on to grow their property portfolios from string to string. So if you know that you want to learn from people who grow their property portfolio, their different strategies that they use, and also the lessons that they've learned along the way, then that is a show you don't want to miss out on this evening at 8 p.m. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have award-winning farmer Umbalino who brings you the farming podcast, all of your agricultural needs. So do make sure that you tune into that one as many of you who watch the show know I love the farming podcast, especially because I'm growing my own garden at home and it's such an important thing to be able to do certainly for me. I miss growing parts of my food, something that I did a couple of years back, so really looking forward to what the fruits of my labor are going to be. And every Monday and Friday, as the child brings you the home shopper's show, they always take us through incredible properties that you can find on www.privateproperty.co.za. And if you want to get a snapshot of what you can expect from exquisite properties in different states, so of course, those that many of us can actually afford, then that is a show that you do not want to miss out on. And then of course, it is our conversation this evening. I do hope that you're not plugged in, you're already loved seeing all the great love that you always send us down here below, so I want to see the green hearts that you love showing on and see who is marking the register for this evening's show. As we kickstart a conversation about how do I increase my resident retention? If you know that you're a landlord, this is one of those pressing issues that you always want to be able to answer. How are you retaining your current tenants? What factors that you have control over, can you better in order for you to be able to keep your tenants? And of course, give them value for money. I see some of the love that we're already getting. I see you, Abida, Albertine, Gloria, Mateba, as well as Utabo, Mateba. And these are some of the new names that I never call out. So of course, if you want us to give you a shout out live on air, do engage with us down here below. You can use that hashtag, the live podcast. If you use the hashtag, one million followers to engage with us on our Facebook page. But this evening, I'm in conversation with Udali Swashabalala, who's a sales consultant at Nong Wealthiness and also an estate agent. Ulisa, good evening, and thank you so much for joining us on the show. Good evening, Zama. Thank you so much for having me on the show. And we were talking off air about how important, particularly now in the economic climate that we're finding ourselves in, that landlords understand the importance of not just generally retaining their tenants, but what actually goes into being able to successfully retain your tenants. I think before we go into the nitty gritties of what you can do, what you shouldn't do, if you have current tenants and whatnot, then let's look at firstly just an overview of how landlords should best be looking at their tenants' strategy. Because I think some landlords still don't quite know what they're doing. Some may not do it themselves. Some work with a rental agent. But they still don't quite have a good sense of what exactly is going on. What kind of strategy or outlook rather should a landlord be focusing on when they know that they want to best service their tenants? Okay. Thank you, Zama, for that question. I think to maybe start it off with what you are saying, some landlords prefer to manage their properties by themselves. So now what you need to understand with managing a property by yourself is you are essentially employing yourself. And that's going to be a full-time job that you now need to take on to actually see to it that all the needs of that tenant and that property are always taken care of. So you can either take that route or you can take the route of using a rental management agent which is then going to assist you in that process. So they do that as a job that they take on. So when you use a rental management agent, you then take the duties from yourself and to the agent that's going to be assisting you in that. So there's essentially those two routes and in one, you pay for an agent to see the process through professionally. And in the other, you try and save some money and you try and see your whole process by yourself. And one of the great things I like we need to understand how differently that retention strategy, if we call it that, is going to look if you are a DIY landlord who manages your portfolio yourself and essentially that's a responsibility that you need to be aware of. It's a 24-hour responsibility. So 24-hours even, you're on call versus when you work with a rental agent and how that can make a difference substantially. I want us to look into that really. So when you work or when you do this by yourself versus when you work with an agency, what are some of the things that you won't have to think about when you're working, for example, with an agent versus if you do it yourself? Because as you've pointed out, some landlords might think, look, there's a cost factor. If I work with the rental agent, it's going to eat into my bottom line. Maybe it's not so much of a big deal. Let me just do it myself. But we know that it's not just about, I lose out that $100 every month. It goes beyond that. So what are the benefits really when you work with an agent that you know you're just not going to have to deal with if you are to work with yourself? Okay. So I want us to start from the moment when you need to procure a tenant. You can try and market your property by yourself and potentially get someone that will want to come rent that property. Firstly, if you do get that person, how are you going to make sure that you have all their background information in terms of screening them to see that when they move into the property, are they even going to be able to afford to live in that property? Estate agents or rental agents have such strategies in place to assist you at any given time if they come across anyone who's interested to come spend the property. So it's definitely not a problem. Let's get you pre-approved first. If it means the estate agent is going to call the potential client, the potential tenants, previously landlord, they will do that in order to make sure that they have all the information that will assist you in essentially having a tenant that will also be beneficial to your business, a tenant that will not ruin your property, a tenant that has a good paying history. Some tenants don't mind paying on the 15th and then on the other month they pay on the 6th and then on the other month. And such things you can't really find out until you are in the deal if you are not going to be assisted in getting all of those records. Then you can see, okay, this person this month paid 3,000 rents. The other month they paid 3.9. So all information just from procuring the tenant is necessary and you cannot get all of that by yourself. Now moving on to when you actually now have the tenant, we spoke about things like communication, always being there to take a call and be like, I'm on my way, that gives us broken. We work full-time jobs and as much as you work a full-time job, your tenant also has a full-time job. So your tenant is working from home and they need the electricity but you are at work and you can't do anything. So now that would also affect how your tenant now goes forward with the deal because it's almost as if you don't care about them or you can't make the time to fix their problems when in a matter of fact you are not even supposed to be doing that there is someone who is professionally designated to be assisting you with that. So it's, I could say it's small things that we want to look over but now those things will affect ultimately the experience that you have with your tenant and how much you get to grow your business because now if you're spending so much of your time running around different properties, let's just say you own six investment properties and trust me, there's going to be something with this one, the other methods, that one, you can't be doing that. You cannot be doing that. So you need professional help and as much as you wouldn't want to be in a, I'm just trying to think of an example, you wouldn't want to go to a hospital and tell them, me, I'm trying to save the money so I'm going to be my own nurse for today. I love that example, because it's an example that another case is actually used before that when you work with a professional agent you get the benefit of somebody who does this for a living. It's not a thing they're doing on the side, the way that you perhaps might be doing it on the side. And even when you're looking at some of the things that your tenant may have, it actually even made me think about some of the tenant issues that I sometimes face. And I manage a bulk of a certain portion rather of my portfolio and part of the reason why I wanted to manage it was to be able to get that experience. So when I started off, I actually worked with a rental agent because I knew I don't know what I'm doing. I'd rather first cultivate that relationship and not have to do things like sourcing my own tenant and the likes. And once I got to grips with that, I was able to then manage my own portfolio. And when you realize that a geyser bursts at one o'clock in the morning and you might be asleep at that time, it's fine. When you wake up, you need to be on the ball with contacting insurance and making sure that your tenant understands that you do in fact have their best interests at heart and whatever issue they raise, you're going to deal with it as efficiently and as quickly as possible. I want to find out from the views at home, if you're a landlord, are you managing your portfolio yourself or are you using a rental agent? And once you experience with managing it yourself or even with managing it via an agent, if you've done both, which one do you prefer to share with us down here below? So are you DIY landlord or are you working with an agent and what has your experience in that regard been? I see some of the love that we're getting on our Facebook page. I see that there's Uyan Martapuli and Moe and Troi. And they're also showing us some love there as well as to me, Sot and Grovu. We absolutely love, love, love hearing from you at home. Remember you can keep engaging with us and that's going to certainly increase your odds of standing a chance to walk away with 500 grand every single day in cash. This evening the money bag is sitting at 1500 grand. Let's find out who that potential winner of the 1500 grand is. And there you see it. We've got Amanda Kroet who is this evening's winner. And Amanda Kroet, firstly, you need to make sure you text us down here below. So get in the comment section, drop us a message in order to claim your prize. The only way that this prize is going to land into your banking account is if you claim it before the end of the show. The money bag is sitting at 1500 grand. So Amanda Kroet, make sure that you message us so you can get it. And more of your comments and comments on Facebook, we've got a great one here from Chanel Ferri who says, you get horrible tenants, too damaging property and so on. It makes it difficult for good tenants, which is a really, and that's such an important thing to note that sometimes it really does make it difficult to manage when you get good tenants, especially if you've had experience with not so great tenants. And I think that's a particular strain for DIY landlords whereas as Uko Liza pointed out, when you're working with an agent, this is their job. So even part of their books, their tenants are not so great and they are great tenants. So they know that there's a variety of different tenants. So when you manage your own property, by the time you deal with one really bad tenant, it kind of puts you off dealing with other tenants in the future. Now, when we then look at what landlords can do to better their odds of retaining their tenants, what are some of those things? And I want us to be clear because we're even seeing this off here, we're not going to look at the tenants who change where they live based on, let's say they now have a different job in another part of town or another province where they really do have to leave. Your place is not too far and so it's not going to be convenient. So we're not looking at external factors that causes your tenants to leave like change of location. We're looking at factors that a landlord can manage and mitigate and make sure that it's probably even part of their value proposition for how they better manage their tenants. So Polisa, what are some of those things then should we be focusing on as landlords that are going to better our odds at retaining our tenants? Okay, thank you so much Emma for that question. I think the very first and the most important thing I could say would be very beneficial to any investor out there looking to retain and is get management company on your side. That's if you decide to use a management company. I mean if you don't and you are comfortable that you can do it that way, I would say both the trust with the tenant and said clear expectations and all of that in terms of the fact that you're doing it by yourself and this is how everything is going to go. But if you're going to be using a management company, make sure that whichever management company you choose to go with is going to be able to service your property in a very distinct way because rental management companies are different and as much as estate agencies in general are different. Don't go with the very first rental manager that you come across. Take that time to do your research on which rental agent is working where because now you don't want to use a rental agent that is working in a totally different area to come manage a property in another totally different area. They don't know all the markets. They're not familiar with the place in general. So like do your research in terms of who exactly you are working with so that even going forward you can bring them back to saying Mr. Rental Agent so and so you said you will be able to offer this to me. So that's when they do not actually do that for you. Number two, I would say the lease agreement is very, very important. So this is also something that your rental agent could also assist you with. Sorry, please excuse me. No, we're still able to hear you very well. Luckily we know that these things sometimes happen when you are in a live and people make a noise in the background. It's just the nature of unfortunately what we find ourselves in. So don't worry there. I think I'll take it to a few of the comments that we're getting from our viewers at home as we look at how do I increase my resident retention this evening I'm in conversation with the Gulli Swashabalala who's a sales consultant at Nongwath as well as an estate agent and really getting a better understanding of what the difference is when you manage your own property portfolio versus when you work with a rental agent and the value you get from both. I think there's certainly quite a bit of value you get even when you manage it yourself. Maybe you want to be closer to tenants, you want to understand tenants in a particular segment or in that particular area and you want to use that experience perhaps in the following year or even thereafter when you then build a relationship with a rental agent. So both sides certainly have their value and a lot of us want to always get a bit of sense of how we can do better. But more than anything how we keep our tenants especially the good tenants. We talk so much about the difficulty of getting good tenants the importance of maintaining a good relationship with those good tenants and how the cost of losing a good tenant because you didn't service them adequately. So those are some of the key themes that we've already spoken with. And of course earlier on in the show, I asked you at home, are you managing your own property portfolio or are you perhaps working with the rental agent? And if you're working with an agent or managing yourself how is the experience like? Do share with us down here below. We've got Oma Mochuan on Facebook saying that I'm a DIY landlord. Mama, I'm Kidya from you. How was the experience going? What made you choose managing it yourself even if it's one property? This is working with the rental agent and we've got Oma Mochuan saying I'm a landlord myself and I told my tenants to stop paying for two months because I knew how hard things have been for all of us. And I absolutely love that we've spoken about this so much that when landlords understand we'll say that economic and even the social pressures that we find ourselves in and you know that you have financial space to give your tenants whether it's a discount when it comes to rent relief or in your case saying you can go without paying rent for two months especially last year when we're seeing so many people's incomes being affected that's a way to build trust and rapport so that in the future your tenant also would probably take care of your place even better because you're not just thinking ah it's this landlord often in my life only and they don't care about what is happening if I'm even two days late I'm already getting all sorts of things from them so building that relationship is so crucial especially because so many tenants are also staying for longer periods in some places so you really do want to make sure that as they stay in your place they don't damage it and look after it as much as possible now also you're you know saying earlier than the before we got disturbed because it's the nature unfortunately of you know these live broadcasts you know you're talking about then the value that you get with working with a rental agent and the importance of understanding things that are in the lease agreement because they can speak to you know that mechanism that you're able to use when you want to retain your tenants when we look at some of the things that landlords can do better you know what can a landlord do better that can help them keep their tenants as much as possible okay just to take it from what you were just talking about now with keeping good good tenants and making sure that they stay with I think it's also very important that we acknowledge the fact that there are disruptive tenants that you will come across and that's just the reality of the whole process so when you do come across a tenant that you do think that it's not going to work out between you and them because of things that you've seen or they are they are they are credit they are they are screening credit history or whatever may be the case I think in as much as we would like to retain tenants let's also remember that if you do come across someone that you really do believe that you cannot work together do not want to take that tenant and keep them and hope to try to get them to to to behave in a different manner or anything like that if you do find a tenant like that deal with them if if needs be because they are going to cost you in the future I think one of the comments came through that spoke about how tenants can can absolutely damage the property I've had to sell a property that was on a market value with about one million rents but we had to sell it for about 700 000 because the tenant that was living in that particular unit had literally damaged most of the things and the owner now didn't have the money to fix it up so that we sell it in a better condition so you got the tenant yes they were with you yes they were paying rent but now when they leave you they're going to leave you with a much bigger problem in terms of of your finances so if you do come across someone that you genuinely believe that you cannot work with do not want to bypass all those files that might be so I'm not quite sure whether we're we're we're having bad signal with Ukelusa or myself but I suspect that it may just have been going to be successful we do apologise for that of course this is a given in conversation with Ukelusa Shabalala who is a sales consultant at Long Laf as well as a state agent and you're looking at how do I increase my resident retention I hate it when you know our signal sort of loses us especially till the end of our conversation but I've got my colleague here you're telling me that it's on her side it's not on my side this evening and I think we're going to take the last bits of your comments and questions this evening as of course we look at retaining our tenants giving good value for our tenants because they ultimately are a customer and there's a service that we're providing for them and it's so beautiful that as landlords we understand that and we brought here Umenzi butelezi Menzi I'm seeing more and more of you in the comments section I absolutely love that do you keep engaging with us Umenzi saying I have an agent that manages my apartment that admin and logistics are very stressful and I can attest to those they can be quite stressful I'm very bad with admin and so I tend to like to not do as much admin as possible or get a resource that is able to assist with admin it's such an important thing to be able to have and it's important for you as a landlord to know what you're good at and what you're not good at the reality of property from an investment perspective and having tenants is that there is going to be admin so if you know it isn't quite your strong point put in systems that either you know as make it easier for you or of course a resource that can assist in that regard I see we're still having some issues with the Kuala Lumpur Shabalala so we're going to unfortunately wrap our conversation before hearing the last word from her signal is not too great at the moment but really the core of our conversation with Kuala Lumpur is understand the value that you provide as a landlord whether you're doing it yourself and if you're doing it yourself you need to understand that there are things that you're going to have to do that are not your job especially because a lot of landlords you have a full-time job you know you have a family and all kinds of responsibilities versus when you're working with an agent who does all of the legwork for you and the importance of understanding what the lease agreement says also helps you in facilitating retaining your tenant and of course also mitigating risks as much as possible I think some of what certainly come out from the viewers at home is around meeting your tenant not even halfway but really building rapport and a relationship with your tenant and that's such an important skill to have you know one of the listeners was sharing how she gave her tenant you know two months off to not pay rent because we understand that we're in very financially difficult times and that kind of relief for a tenant can have such a huge impact for them in the long run well that's certainly it from myself as I'm going to walk around this evening on the private property podcast unfortunately we haven't had Amanda to wait claiming that 1,500 grand meaning that money goes into the money bag and tomorrow the price is going to be sitting at 2,000 rounds so remember if you're engaging with us sharing you want to watch the show until the very end you want to also make sure that you send you comment down here below in order to claim your price well it's a Wednesday so later on Esti Klassen is coming to your screens I'll be back on your screens on Friday tomorrow evening unfortunately I will not be with you so I'll be back on your screens on Friday at 7 p.m the show is continuing though so don't think the show is not continuing of course we're going to have the show tomorrow evening Matasina will be holding it down and until then certainly do hope you're going to be staying home and staying safe