I understand the best case scenerio is your new tenant moves in the same day your last tenant moves out.
I wonder how some of you landlords minimize the turn over time.
This mean you do showings while the last tenant was still occupying the property.
To me the problem is, during the last two weeks or so of a tenant leaving the property, usually the property interior is a mess. Packing boxes, stuff in semi state of packing unpacking, unwashed dishes in the sink, laundry piled up. Stuff taken down from the bookshelves, flat screen TV taken off the wall, torn and moldy shower curtains, streak marks on the toilet trap ways, closet doors jammed shut with filled boxes. You get the idea.
Does it really form a good impression to your potential tenant to show it in that state?
Plus since the tenant is in the state of packing, a lot of items are in a state of flux, with multiple showings, I just hate a tenant to blame something on my showings - "I had an iPad on top of the coffee table this morning, and it's gone".
So I typically wait till the property is vacated and I had a chance to clean it to show it, but I like to hear from other landlords who have showned their units during the last weeks of occupancy. Does it help or not?
I absolutely do show and rent with old tenants in place. This is the process. Tenants must give notice on the 20th of the month BEFORE the last month (that is Mar 31 is end of lease. Notice must be given before the 20th of Feb). This gives me the last weekend in the month before they leave and the first weekend in the month they leave to show. If current tenants are slobs it's a waste of time and do what you normally do. Good clean neat tenants with nice furniture make a place look nice and rent quicker. Usually 3-5 weeks before they move, they are not packing. Good tenants look 45-25 days before moving so this all matches up nice. Best tenants look the weekend before they give notice or the weekend after they give 30 days notice. Snag them while your tenants place is still in to good working order and it shows nice. I also find good tenants get a place before the last day of the month so if they give me the keys a few days early I return the unused rent and I tell the new tenants if they'll pick up the couple of days rent at the end of the month they can get in early. Never had any issues and has saved me thousands in vacancies. Things can go wrong, for example you have two tenants if the current one has some issue come up and the new tenant can't move in. It's a risk but when you consider the cost saved for all those that go well, it's really worth the risk to me.
I always start marketing and showing properties as soon as I know a tenant is moving out. I use the photos from the previous time I listed it (usually vacant) so that they can see what they're getting. There are occasionally problems with showing occupied units such as smells, disorder, etc. But I'd rather show it 10 times before it's vacated if it'll save me 15-30+ days of vacancy.
I also warn the prospective tenant before the showing that the unit is occupied and the current tenant is getting ready to or in the process of moving, so please disregard any messes or disorganization.
I absolutely do show and rent with old tenants in place. This is the process. Tenants must give notice on the 20th of the month BEFORE the last month (that is Mar 31 is end of lease. Notice must be given before the 20th of Feb). This gives me the last weekend in the month before they leave and the first weekend in the month they leave to show. If current tenants are slobs it's a waste of time and do what you normally do. Good clean neat tenants with nice furniture make a place look nice and rent quicker. Usually 3-5 weeks before they move, they are not packing. Good tenants look 45-25 days before moving so this all matches up nice. Best tenants look the weekend before they give notice or the weekend after they give 30 days notice. Snag them while your tenants place is still in to good working order and it shows nice. I also find good tenants get a place before the last day of the month so if they give me the keys a few days early I return the unused rent and I tell the new tenants if they'll pick up the couple of days rent at the end of the month they can get in early. Never had any issues and has saved me thousands in vacancies. Things can go wrong, for example you have two tenants if the current one has some issue come up and the new tenant can't move in. It's a risk but when you consider the cost saved for all those that go well, it's really worth the risk to me.
We have always had permission to do an open house.
The last one was 2 months before the current tenants were to vacate as they were trying to close on a purchase that was getting delayed. But the new tenants were willing to wait & the transition was great.
In the days of our 'rent to owns' we would do the same & schedule an open house as soon as we got notice of them vacating & we never had any problems.
However, last year we did have one very difficult, miserable, stubborn, mean, impossible woman who would not comply. But her husband let us sneak in a couple who were very committed because of the school district. I am sure she was amazed that we immediately rented the place 'sight unseen' in the middle of winter.
Very similar to what other have mentioned. We begin advertising as soon as we received notice from the current tenants (on an annual lease, the notice period is 90-days, for long-term tenants it is 60-days).
On initial contact from prospective tenants we send out our application guide & form, along with a floor-plan and additional information on the property in questions ... for those contacting via an e-mail address in our on-lines advertisements, this is handled by an auto-responder. In this package we provide the list of available viewing appointments and ask that they contact us to make their booking. This step eliminates the tyre kickers and leaves us with a pool of reasonably qualified applicants.
When then book viewing appointments with those who respond. When we are showing an occupied properties we book a few blocks of time with the current tenants a week (say: Saturday afternoon between 13:00 & 16:00; Wednesday evening from 18:00 - 20:00). We then schedule 15-minute viewing appointments starting every 20-minutes during those blocks.
We started doing this 18-months ago and last year our "student" properties were booked 3-6 months in advance {we had a 3-month window scheduled for renovations at two properties}. This year I have two groups of students on a waiting list to see if our newly renovated, energy efficient student house will turn-over in the summer {@Al Williamson are you reading this ;) }
Another scenario where we advertise before a property becomes vacant is when we have a term lease and we know the incumbent tenant will not be staying {either because they have informed us, or we have decided we will not offer them a new lease}.
I agree totally to show the property while the tenant is there still. If you wait the potential renter could find something else. Also, If you get the lease you save some money.
Hi Sam, I've never had a same day move-out/move-in (potentially stressful?), but have had next day move ins. It's great because I don't lose rent and don't have to deal with switching utilities.
If you have a good relationship with your current renter, it really helps with the showings and transition. Try to start advertising 45-60 days in advance. Many good renters are looking in advance and organized in their search.
As others have mentioned, the place is usually more organized and neater several weeks ahead versus two weeks prior to move. Many people don't mind seeing the moving boxes either, they understand the situation.
Two things to watch are transitioning the utilities and carpet cleaning/move-out cleaning. If the rental is vacant only a short time, you'll need to make sure these are tightly scheduled. I usually have the renter schedule utilities in their name at contract signing. This allows me to verify the service is set, and I can help the renter in case they have questions setting up the new service.
As soon as we hear a tenant plans to move out, we send them a move-out package - including the move-in inspection report, and tell them specifically what they need to do to get the place back to move-in condition in order to receive their security deposit back. The only time we don't show the place to a prospective tenant is if we plan to do some extended rehab after the current tenant leaves. Otherwise, we use previous photos when the place looked nice for the advertisement and we show it to them, explain it is occupied and the tenant is in the process of moving out, tell them the carpets will be professionally cleaned as well as other things we plan to do, such as replacing any appliances or other work.