For years property managers used written correspondence as a method to communicate with their tenants.  This method was expensive as it involved costs to produce the correspondence and make copies and then was labor intensive as the property management staff had to hand deliver it to every apartment.  If the communication was mailed, the costs greatly increased due to the cost of the stamp and envelope. 

Forward thinking property management companies are taking advantage of technology to reduce costs and improve their communication with tenants.  Here are three cost effective ways to communicate with tenants.

Text Messaging

With the abundance of cell phones today almost all tenants have a cell phone and are familiar with text messaging.  Property management companies and landlords can keep tenants up to date in real time using electronic communication such as text messaging.  Sending a text message is free and can be sent instantly to 1 or 1,000 tenants.  The only disadvantage of text messaging is messages are limited to 160 characters.

Email

Another cost effective way to communicate with tenants is sending emails.  There is no cost to send emails.  Unlike text messaging, there is no limit in the size of the email that is sent.  Emails can be used to send newsletters with information about upcoming events and other information. 

Website

Updating a website can incur costs as it requires someone with web knowledge to update the site.  This can also be labor intensive.  Websites require the tenants to manually visit the site to see the updated information.  For this reason a website is be suited as a marketing tool.

If you are sure which method to utilize the consider asking your tenants.  When you accept new tenants in your apartment building, make sure to collect their email address and cell phone numbers so you can communicate with them.

Property management companies can use a combination of these methods to communicate with tenants.  Each method has its own pros and cons.  Text messaging can provide immediate communication to tenants and can be used in emergencies.  Emails allow you to send more detailed communication.  Utilizing technology can be a way to greatly reduce costs in managing a property.