Showing Perspective Tenants An Available Unit

General Landlording & Rental Properties
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Showing Perspective Tenants An Available Unit

Charles Heistand
Investor · Germantown, OH · Member since 2021 · 10 posts · 8 votes

Hello Bigger Pockets!

My wife and I acquired a 6 unit apartment building in July of this year. Three of the units were empty when we purchased it. One of the three units was fully renovated and we rented it immediately after taking possession and the other 2 units needed renovating and have been working on one of them since. That unit is now ready to rent and will be starting to work on the final unit. We self mange the property which can be rewarding but can be very frustrating at the same time.

The most frustrating piece that we have run into so far is showing the unit to prospective tenants.

The first unit that we rented we did all private showings. We had 40 people reach out to us being interested, booked 15 of those people and only 4 people actually showed up for their appointment that they booked with only one application!

The second unit that we have that we are in the process of renting we scheduled an open house and tried to limit the number of private showings to those who couldn't make it to the open house to try to eliminate the wasted time we had the first time. The open house was a complete bust no one showed up and we sat there doing paperwork for 2.5 hours. (Good time to get paperwork completed) One of the private showings that we had scheduled because of not being able to make it to the open house didn't show up today.

Trying to get these two units rented has really shown us that people just don't follow through with what they schedule to do in their life. Both of us were raised that if you said you were going to do something you did it or gave notice that it wouldn't happen for a specific reason. I guess the world just doesn't work like that any longer...

The question that I have for everyone is what does everyone else do to show their properties to eliminate as many no shows as possible and to keep as much of your time as possible?

If you do an open house how long do you do it for and how far advance do you advertise?

If you do private showings how do you try to ensure that they actually show up? How long do you wait prior to leaving if they don't show up?

Do you collect the application and application fee prior to showing or after?

Anything that we should try different next time to have better success?

We are located in southwest Ohio which makes it harder to rent units in the winter which is why we are having some issues this time but the first unit we did was in July which I would have thought would have been a large rental month.

I would appreciate any help that you are able to give us to try in the future.

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Carson P.
Green Bay, WI · Member since 2017 · 30 posts · 21 votes
4y

We have struggled with this in the past. We now do a blended version of this to not waste time. When we post a new listing, we require a specific showing time. However, we give this showing time to multiple prospects. Say we have 6 people reach out for a showing. Our typically showing schedule will look like this: prospect 1&2 at 5pm. Prospect 3&4 at 5:15. Prospect 5&6 at 5:30. We then tell people when they get there that we are just holding an open house as we have so much demand for the unit, which is normally true. 

We find this weeds out a lot of people that are just wasting time and makes people commit to a time. It helps us though because we never have a wasted slot and creates a sense of competition too. Don’t get me wrong, we still have no shows but not nearly as much time wasted as before. 

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  • Jon R.
    Member since 2021 · 38 posts · 21 votes
    4y
    Originally posted by @James Hamling:
    Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:
    Originally posted by @Jon R.:
    That's the great thing about living in a country where I'm free to run my business the way I see fit. I own 33 rentals and manage another 360 for others. I also network with hundreds of professional property managers around the country, many of them managing thousands of units. Self showings with a lockbox are increasingly common, there are ways to protect yourself, and it's a legitimate option to consider. Or you can continue self showing, counting kids, judging people based on the car they drive rather than the data that matters, and even going door-to-door to collect cash rent because you're afraid of hackers. You do you.

    Could an applicant show a fake ID? Sure!@ They could also knock you over the head and rob or rape you during an in-person showing.

    Could an applicant steal the appliances or copper pipes? Sure! They could also scope the place out during your in-person showing, then come back to an empty house that night, break the window, and steal the appliances when they have more time.

    Everyone has to evaluate their own situation. What's the crime level in your area? Are you in a B-class neighborhood or a D-class? Do you know how to spot a fake ID? Do you have processes in place to reduce the risk of theft during self-showing?

    I know property managers that have literally done thousands and thousands of self-showings with lockboxes. I've only heard of one that had a problem with theft and the insurance covered it.

    YMMV

     Without doubt Remote Showings are the next evolution with a tech-driven real estate world. Just like countless industry segment's it's the "how" that takes time to sort out and perfect. 

    I see a time soon coming that utilization of cameras, digital locks all networking with a central system to verifies identity for self showings is soon to be "the way" and in short order become the standard. All of these exist, it's just a matter of networking all together well. Zillow has nearly perfected this in their showings already. 

    In truth and reality the only thing stopping anyone from doing any heinous criminal act at any given moment, is themselves. laws are for accountability, there is the fear of accountability and punishment although it is always a choice. How many times a day do people decide NOT to rob a bank, to NOT run a red light, to NOT grab items and run out a store. It's choice and far too little is noticed how yes, the vast majority of people in the U.S. are law abiding decent people BY CHOICE. 

     At least we can agree on something. Any technology that gets rid of property managers or meeting tenants is gold. It hasn't happened yet.

    And yet again I have to point out the entire point is the tenant is being interviewed. I have to SMELL them. (Just a few days ago I turned down somebody who said they don't smoke for a non smoking property because he smelled like a Vegas hotel room)

    0Reply
  • Charles Heistand
    OP
    Investor · Germantown, OH · Member since 2021 · 10 posts · 8 votes
    4y

    Thank you for all of the responses. It seems that there are as many ways of doing things as landlords out there! After reading through all of the responses I feel that we have some things to try for the next unit we turn. The biggest thing that we learned is that we need to do a better job of per-screening the preservative tenants prior to scheduling a showing.

    I agree that we are trying to rent a place in December and that will make it harder but it only takes one person to be qualified to be able to rent the unit and we just need to find that person!

    Our rent is slightly above the competition but the quality that we finished the unit to is far superior of our competition. We are in a solid B if not B+ area and are trying to attract the highest quality applicants in our area.

    The nice thing is that we only live 3 minutes from our apartment building so its not a far drive but I just hate wasting time like we have been. We investigated the PM route but in the area we are in being rural we don't have many PM's that want to travel there and if they do they want a mint for it!

    0Reply
  • Eddie L.
    Member since 2020 · 89 posts · 43 votes
    4y

    I use Rently for self showings in my single and multi-families. I have a PM for the multi’s and still find it more efficient to use Rently. The PM was getting burned a lot with no shows and this is now saving both of us time and effort. I still field calls generated from my listing site and syndications sites. If you’re interested, I’ll share my referral code and account managers contact info.

    0Reply
  • Arthur Schwartz
    Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2019 · 168 posts · 47 votes
    4y

    Order any pizza lately?  First thing they do is take your phone number.  Dont' show up in thirty minutes?  They call.  That's how they reduce no shows

    0Reply
  • Robbie Young
    Member since 2020 · 70 posts · 49 votes
    4y

    I’ll tell you what I do, but I live in a town of about 35,000 and rent houses. What works in a small town may not work in a large city as well and houses are more desirable than apartments so more competition for them.

    First, post lots of pictures and label them. Prospective tenants should have a good idea of what the entire property looks like inside and out.

    Second, post a diagram of the property layout preferably with feet. Usually I get this out of the appraisal but sometimes have had to sit down with graph paper.

    Third, if you decide to do a video do a couple pans around so prospective tenants can see the immediate neighborhood.

    Fourth, I ask prospective tenants to drive by the property. Because I’m in a small town a caller is usually only 5-10 minutes from the property. This probably wouldn’t work in a large city. I have found people who have already driven by are more likely to show up.

    I only schedule open houses or group type back to back showings when I have a lot of interest. I also have the tenant call me, not text, for a showing time. My opinion is the more personal connection it is the more likely someone is to show.

    You are going to have no shows. That is just part of the business.

    Okay, now let me address the whole lockbox type showings. If you are new and a small owner then I would stick to in person showings. I truly believe they are 100% superior. If you were to rent your personal car would you do it without meeting the person. Probably not for most people. However Hertz does it all the time. Why? Volume. When you have 6 units the time isn’t bad. When you are talking 100+ units it is a huge time commitment. Time is money. The potential loss across 100+ units compared to time value is small. It’s just the opposite for a small property owner. As you scale up, remote showings become more advantageous.

    1Reply
  • Fikret Sivac
    Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 25 posts · 24 votes
    4y

    @Nathan G. Yes screen them over the phone and on your posting. Tell them what you are looking for in a tenant like the credit score and the amount for the security deposit and if any pets. I can't tell you how many people I told over the phone that we have a no pets policy and their response was oooohhh no pets...I only have a small dog. It said in the description no pets. You might also be asking for renters at a bad time. It's not moving season, it's cold.

    0Reply
  • Jordan Parker
    Real Estate Agent · HI · Member since 2021 · 1 post · 0 votes
    4y

    @Charles Heistand here in Hawaii, I typically do open houses for 1-2 hours. Advertise usually 1 week out. We use Craigslist and Facebook market place. Making sure to renew the posts as often as allowed to keep the listing fresh.

    0Reply
  • Michael Noto
    Real Estate Agent · Southington, CT · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    4y

    I fill upwards of 7-10 apartment rentals per month here in Connecticut and here is the process I follow to save time and be as efficient as possible. This is a little in depth, but I think it will help people because this seems to be an issue people have here locally and elsewhere also.

    Pre-advertising

    • - Go to the property and get a sense of the overall condition
    • If the property is in rentable condition, take pictures, as many as possible to really give a good sense of what the property has to offer
    • - If the property is not in rentable condition tell the owner what in your opinion needs to be done to get top dollar rent. If you self-manage this will have to be something you decide on your own.
    • - Decide on a rent per month price based on all typical factors: unit condition, market comps, etc…
    • DO NOT commit to a rent per month price until you know what the unit looks like. Condition is a big part of what a unit will rent for.

    Advertising

    • - Advertise on websites where people are looking in your market, ours is CT. This may include Zillow Rental Manager which gets you on all the major sites, Facebook, MLS, Craigslist, etc. Where people are looking will differ based on the market, do your research.
    • - Make sure your listing description clearly outlines what costs the tenant is responsible for, the security deposit amount, the monthly rent amount, minimum lease term, pets or no pets, laundry or no laundry, parking and how much, etc.. Be very specific on what the rental has to offer and what is not allowed
    • - Pictures – they must be clear and uploaded properly, for most people this is the only part of the ad they even look at
    • - Minimum qualifications – should you post them in the ad? This is debatable, and I don’t think it matters as long as you are consistent. I personally let people know the minimum quals when they inquire about the rental because I don’t want to inundate them w/ too much info.

    Filtering leads

    • - Have a standard way you respond to leads and systematize it. If not, you will get overwhelmed and/or respond to leads in different ways which can get you in hot water
    • - For me, I only text leads back this way it eliminates he said/she said interactions and due to the volume of leads we get for our rentals it is not time efficient at all to call all of them. I have 2 times during the day (sometimes 1) that I contact leads and interact with them on text.
    • - In the initial text I send leads it clearly outlines the address, rent price, and amount of bedrooms for the rental they inquired about. Remember you are not the only rental they inquired about. It also states the minimum quals and asks them if they have any questions.
    • - From that initial text the lead either eliminates themselves or we schedule an appointment. I schedule appointments for time blocks usually 30 minutes in length. Lead can’t make the appointment time? They go on a list to contact for the next appointment block if the unit isn’t rented by anyone who comes to the block they passed up. I tend to schedule my blocks in the morning on the weekend or early evening during the week, from experience it seems this is when most people are available.
    • - After appointment date/time is confirmed I tell the lead I will be texting them the day of the showing to confirm our appointment. As an example, if I have 5 appointments sent for a block I text them all 2-3 hours before the showing confirming and telling them to respond if they confirm or need to reschedule. If I don’t hear back from any of the 5 then I don’t go to the property. This is a MAJOR time saver.

    Showing

    • This is the easy part! You just go there and open the door and answer any questions the people have.
    • Provide everyone with an application as they leave, for us that is our website link which is where people apply.

    We also have an in depth process for how we process applications, accept applicants, leases signing, and complete the move in process for accepted applicants, but since you just asked about showings I’ll stop here. Hopefully this helps because I know this issue can be a major bottleneck for people. I am always available via DM if anyone should have specific questions they don’t want to put on a public thread.

    1Reply
  • Todor Ialamov
    Real Estate Agent · Burlington MA · Member since 2018 · 114 posts · 142 votes
    4y

    @Charles Heistand

    I self manage part of my portfolio and for me renting was also the most frustrating part. I did it for almost a year and then found a local agent specializing in rentals. He does all the showings, background checks and selects 2-3 of the best applicants. I then meet all of them and pick one.

    Getting this of my shoulders was one of the best RE related things I have ever done!

    1Reply
  • Adam Christopher Zaleski
    Investor · Pueblo West, CO · Member since 2014 · 310 posts · 213 votes
    4y

    This personally frustrates me the most as a landlord. Every market is different. As a result, I don't really have specific advice, not knowing your market. You will learn from it and you will get better. 

    I do 4-6 hour time blocks on Saturdays & Sundays and book individual appointments every 30 minutes. For context, during my last rental showing in Fort Myers, FL in June 2021 which is a hot market that lacks affordable housing, I filled 24 spots in 2-3 days. Of those 24 spots, I had 8 no shows. I had about 8/12 show up on each day.

    Before booking an appointment let the tenants know your minimum application requirements (income, credit score, etc...). You don't need to verify anything at this point, but this prevents people from looking at the rental who you know will not qualify and meet your minimum requirements.  

    I get them to commit to a specific time. After booking the appointment, I ask them if they would be willing to call, text or email at least one hour before the showing if they know they won't be able to make it. Most agree. This doesn't eliminate the "no shows" but it does decrease it. If people give an explicit commitment to something, they are "more likely" to follow through and actually do it. 

    And most importantly, good luck!

    1Reply
  • Dan Maciejewski
    Realtor · PInellas County Largo, FL · Member since 2016 · 902 posts · 810 votes
    4y

    Yeah, I learned my lesson about private showings for prospective tenants.  My experience was just like yours.  

    Now, I set myself a window of 2-ish hours.  Generally on the weekend.  When they call, that's the appointment time they are given.  If they can't make it, generally they don't want/need the apartment.  If they need another time, that's the start of window 2, anyone after can have their choice of the 2 windows.  That way, I don't flip out over all the no-shows that seem to be trying to waste my time.

    In my area, I don't really have a problem with getting enough qualified applicants.  I have had to repeat for 2 weeks, but I also haven't had a turn in the last 2 years.  From what I see, it should be even faster to fill a vacancy now.  The caveat is, that out of the applications I give out, I maybe get 10% back -- BUT the ones I get back are like 50% qualified, so I usually get someone good on the 1st or 2nd wave of showings.

    0Reply
  • Mary M.
    Rental Property Investor · Portland OR · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    4y

    @Charles Heistand  - I manage my 20 units.  I generally dont have people flake on me altho it has happened twice recently.  

    My process is list the unit at the higher end of what the going rate is.  Get the best pics possible. Do a 3d/walk thru video via the zillow app. Put up a well written ad with all the specifics. 

    In my zillow add I list the times I am available for showings (usually after 2pm daily) 

    When a prospect contacts me I set up a time and then try to set all other showings around that time. I also try to always have a task I can be doing if the folks dont show up so my time is not wasted.  

    The most important thing I do is text the prospect in the morning of the showing and confirm they will be there. This has helped a lot and usually that is when I know whether someone will show up or not. 

    You will always have flakes and just be glad they flaked as they showed you who they were. Use the time wasted for useful tasks (cleaning the common areas, doing landscape work, etc etc etc) 

    ETA: my other most important suggestion is treat people like the customers they are: be friendly, call, text or email them back right away! Have your best customer service face on, and if you dont know how to do this, take some classes or read some books. "How to win friends and influence people" is the old standby. If people feel that you care they will (generally) care. I just rented 2 apartments in one day and have someone waiting for the next one why? because I treat people as customers and respond promptly to them. 

    Good luck! 

    3Reply
  • Jeff Small
    Investor · Sewell, NJ · Member since 2016 · 68 posts · 48 votes
    4y

    @Charles Hello. I have been a landlord since 1976. The last 20 years I have paid a former tenant to do all my showings. I pay her $250 if she shows it one time or 25 times. This system works for me. Good luck, as I know these people will waste your time.

    0Reply
  • Tiffany Youngren
    Investor · Billings, MT · Member since 2012 · 77 posts · 23 votes
    4y

    We time block showings like @Adam Martin mentioned, blocking out 3-5 hours at a time for 20 minute showings (appointments are set every 30 minutes during our time block to allow for people who are a little late or run a tiny bit over). If someone doesn't show up (or is too late), we'll only reschedule if we didn't already get solid applicants. Usually, we have 3-4 really solid applicants who DO show up, and we focus on them. It's worked very well so far :)

    1Reply
  • Zachary H.
    Rental Property Investor · Conway, AR · Member since 2017 · 146 posts · 75 votes
    4y

    @Nathan G.

    This is basically what we do as well. It works really well and saves a ton of time and headache for people who aren’t serious. We use the Kwikset Powerbolt which you can set a temporary code or a one time use code so they can’t go back in.

    It’s also nice because it works with the Kwikset smarktkey system.

    1Reply
  • Bud Gaffney
    Rental Property Investor · Boston, MA · Member since 2019 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    4y

    @Charles Heistand try and get a confirmation the day of. Unfortunately no shows are inevitable in this business.

    0Reply
  • Loren Clive
    Residential Real Estate Broker · Paia, HI · Member since 2016 · 479 posts · 311 votes
    4y

    Make them fill out an application before scheduling a showing. If they pay, they will not flake.

    Then text them the morning of and only show up if they text you back that they're coming.

    The Maui market is way different from yours, but what I do is schedule my first showing, turn it into a 30 minute open house and jet. The glut of people really shakes out who's serious. I had five people show up last time, rented it the next day. 

    Other red flags that indicate you should not show to prospective tenant:

    1. trying to negotiate rent upfront
    2. saying, "wow that's a lot" or "that's expensive"
    3. not listening
    4. their needs don't fit your property, i.e. they have a dog and the apartment has no yard
    5. being rude
    6. not having a car
    7. standing you up for an appointment already
    8. having way too many people for the occupancy of the unit
    9. wanting to sublease
    10. wanting to trade landscaping/maintenance for rent
    11. pointing out every little flaw at the showing, yeah you want that tenant

    Don't be afraid to be firm. Remember, life is a continuous interview process, and people are always trying to see what they can get away with.

    I always tell prospective tenants as well that when they can move in is a big factor in the decision, i.e. I'm more likely to rent to a qualified applicant willing to move in immediately versus someone who needs to give 30 days notice. You have to spell it out to them that they might need to pay double rent for a few days or weeks to get the apartment. 

    I'm always amazed how people are so self-absorbed, they want to tell you their whole life story, accommodate their schedules and measure rooms to fit their furniture, but don't know what really matters to landlords which is #1 paying on time and #2 not being a hassle. 

    Good luck and don't take any crap!

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