Tenants moving out. When to start advertising/showing property?

Question

Ok so my tenants are getting ready to move out.  They fulfilled their lease and were great tenants. I truly hate to seem them go but they want something a lot cheaper and I cant go down that far. They have until the end of April to move out.

In the mean time, I wish for the house to be vacant and short of a time period as possible.  When do you all start advertising that a house is available? The house will need to be cleaned and painted and I might take care of some smaller things since no one will be there.

Should I try showing the property while the tenants are still there? Should I take applications now? Put the sign out front? Flyers online saying when available?

Just trying to see what others do. Last time I just waited until the tenants moved out then advertised. Was only vacant for a couple weeks but still thats about $425 I lost out on.

Thanks you guys are awesome. I am learning so much on this site!

Kimberly T. · Answer

Each landlord has their own method, there is no "wrong" way to do it.

Personally, we always wait to advertise until the unit is vacant, clean, and ready to be viewed.  Even though our tenants are generally fairly clean, I don't want a prospective tenant to see the occasional dirty dishes, pile of toys, etc., and think that we don't care how a tenant maintains the unit.  We only want them to see it in ready-to-rent condition so they can't come back and claim "but I saw how the last tenant left it, I thought this would be ok!"  The new tenant will not know that you may have taken money from the previous tenant's deposit to do cleaning, so I don't want them thinking we have low standards. Since you plan on painting and doing some other work, you don't want new tenants thinking that it's ok to leave the walls all scuffed and marked up - they won't know it has perhaps been many years since it was painted.  We also don't want prospective tenants turned off by how the current tenants keep the place (smells, hair in the tub, etc.); no sense in driving away someone who would be glad to take it if they'd only seen it once it was clean and painted.

Also, I don't want to let strangers inside my tenant's unit that I will not be able to hold accountable if something breaks or goes missing.  You never know if they might be a clutz or a clepto, regardless of how they appear.

This is just how we operate, obviously not every landlord does it this way.

Val Csontos · Answer

John, How is your market?

If there aren't enough units, i would start showing your place now as a little dirt / mess  won't stop the interested ones from signing a lease if you promise AND do clean up! (often they need the place so bad they even let me clean up while  the are  getting organized, so ofter we only have one or two half a day to do it)

If they market is not as hot, just offer two weeks of free rent if they sign lease now,  and while they live in the unit for free, make the improvements to the unit.

ps even if you want to give them free rent, make sure they pay your full month of rent deposit etc... and just "pro rate" the following month to be on the safe side!

Good Luck!

John Nisewonger · Answer

The tenants are really nice but they keep the house kind of dirty in my opinion.  Plus they make some foods that smell bad to me (a lot of fish and Mexican foods). I think if would be off putting to many people. So now thinking about it I would want to put off actually showing the property unless maybe I explain to the tenants that I will be showing the property and they need to keep it tidy???

So I guess still advertise but tell these people you can check it out on so and so date? I plan on using a site to do credit checks that the tenant signs on and pays for it and I can view it.  Would I put off the credit checks until the house is ready and maybe just pre-approve these people???

Just seeing what others have done and trying to avoid vacancy for a long period of time. Thanks guys...and girls!!!!

Colleen F. · Answer

You can show it when they are there if they are clean and neat tenants. I would make sure you are showing to only good candidates so you don't bother the current tenants for weak prospects.   Just be clear on when it would be available. I would also line up the trades to do any work for immediately when they vacate.  I lost time due to floors in one place because the person I use was busy by the time I called them.

Dan C. · Answer

Hi John - I base this decision entirely on my judgement of the current tenants.  If they keep a relatively clean, neat apartment, if they are courteous & reliable , then I definitely go ahead and show the apartment while they are still residing there.

Eric Black · Answer

Hi John,

Why aren't you advertising yet?! You should start advertising the minute you find out your tenants will be leaving.

As far as showing the property, in most places it is okay to show the property while the previous tenants are still in there but you have to give them proper notice and can't frequently inconvenience the tenants. Maybe show it once or twice a week. Be sure to check your state and local regulations as they may be different.

But as far as advertising I would start right away!

Best of luck!

Eric