The best tenants? Most often they’re the ones that are already living on your property. You’ve already marketed to them, qualified them, and have a guaranteed stream of rent coming in from the unit they occupy. It is, as we all know, so much cheaper to keep existing tenants than to recruit new ones, as detailed in this blog, The Real Cost of Losing a Tenant.

The trick question, of course, is this: How do we keep the tenants we’ve got from walking away? And, thanks to the nice folks over at Rent Roll, we might just have our answer. The company survey 4,600 former and current tenants to uncover the incentives for which they were most likely to renew a lease. Highlights from the results are as follows:

• Monetary incentive is what motivates tenants to renew a lease the most (52%)
• The majority age group of those with a preference for rent discounts is 25-34, with 49% of this group claiming discounts a favorite
• Of the monetary incentives tenants most like to receive, a discount on rent makes the #1 spot with 58%
• The other three financial incentives include: Cash (28%); Security deposit rebate (10%); and Gift cards to a popular retailer (4%)
• A significant number of respondents (27%) noted a preference for a  unit upgrade, making this the top non-monetary incentive on the list
• 11% of respondents said they would renew a lease if offered a free service as part of their monthly package, such as a gym membership
• 11% said they would renew if they were offered some sort of household item, such as a new television
• 35% of respondents said they would prefer a covered parking spot to a unit upgrade if given the choice
• The survey also determined that tenants prefer to know these offers will be on the table either when they first sign the lease (43%) or just before their lease is scheduled to renew (45%)

The takeaway? Money is best, space comes next, and gifts are always nice.