Should you show the place if it's being fixed up?

Question

...came home to find that the guy who plans to paint the place took out all the doors!! And the guy working on the floor is 1/8 way done!! I promised to show the place this Sunday.  Do I reschedule or go ahead with the showing?

Matt Motil · Answer

If you are the one showing it, I say show it! Just make sure you are excited about what is being done and enthusiastic about how amazing it will look once it's finished. I wouldn't rely on someone else to convey that to a potential tenant/buyer though.

Colleen F. · Answer

Just make sure the tenant knows it is being worked on before they come. You don't want them showing up with little kids or in their sunday best.  Give them the option saying my painter has started already. I am still showing to people who wish to see it but I know some people prefer to wait.  Should we keep our appointment? Implying  there are others looking even if you don't have other appointments makes them  realize  you are not putting off the showing, they are.

Marcia Maynard · Answer

Our rental market is so hot, tenants are even willing to move-in before we have put on all of the finishing touches. Case in point, we purchased a house earlier this year, rehabbed it and had it rented before it was done. We were finishing the interior the same week the tenant moved in. We even gave the new tenant the phone number for our contractor and had them work out the finishing touches for the house interior, while we went to Northern Europe. I had to leave in mid-August, so we allowed her to start her tenancy the day before I left and gave her the half month of August rent free.  If we had waited until it was 100% done, we wouldn't be collecting rent for Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec! We offered her a great value and she offered us her flexibility. She knows we still have plans to improve the landscaping, tear down a dilapidated garage, pour a new driveway, carport and patio; she is willing wait for the finished product and is super excited to be settled into her new home.

Pat L. · Answer

My wife reluctantly showed one that had the bathroom stripped to the studs with exposed pipes & the kitchen was completely gone. The floors were stripped to the bare plywood & we had 2 windows removed & boarded up waiting for the new installs. Every door & frame had been removed pending new white 6 panel upgrades & a new steel entrance door.

One end of each bedroom was stripped to the studs for the installation of 3x8 closets that didn't previously exist. All the walls & ceilings had one coat of KILZ primer to hide the disgusting drywall of the past 15 years.

Given the higher rent we were asking my wife simply laid out the plans we had for it & they took it paying 1st, last & security. We completed it in <25 days & they have been great tenants.

Ned Carey · Answer

Presuming this is a rental I say show it. The people who are turned off will have found another place by the time yours is done anyway. If you can have someone ready to rent the minute it is done is best. That  can only happen if you show it before it is done.

Andreas W. · Answer

I stopped showing my place before it is at least almost ready because I never received a rental app. from potential tenants walking around paint buckets.

Jacqueline Carrington · Answer

Depends on how well you can convey what the finished product will look like. A lot of people can look past what the current state looks like and can determine how the space will fit their needs. Others will see the current space and be turned off or ask "is this going to be done, is that going to be done? can we get this? etc".

If you plan to show it, just make sure the prospective tenants know it is still being worked on beforehand.

Sean Ploskina · Answer

Meg K.  I would show it as well.  I waited when i had the change to show a recent rehab and I missed out on several chances to get it filled.

My only caution is to wait until you are 75% done and have samples of what the floors and paint will look like so the potential tenant can visualize what it will look like in a week or two.

Adam Bartomeo · Answer

Just imagine walking in to a room and there is a lady on the table with blood and guts hanging out. You would run out of that room and probably vomit.

Fast forward a month and you see a mother holding her beautiful baby.

People have a hard time seeing what will be, they are here and now.

Showing a property before it is ready is a waste of time 99% of the time. There are the 1% of people that may be able to look past the blood and guts but it is rare.

Sam Leon · Answer

It depends.

I have absolutely no issue showing a place when it's being fixed up to potential tenants.  I can go over the upgrades I am doing and explain along the way and in most cases I came away with the impression they appreciate my being proactive in making improvements with attention to details.  However there are times I don't.  For example if I have a door with a chunk bitten off by the previous tenant's dog. or if I have some roach infestation, or if I have the toilet pulled to snake a clog...things that makes the applicant think "what kind of a tenant and dog were here?  Is it possible an AC line or a wire was bitten and the landlord didn't see?  Was the guy real dirty to have attracted so many bugs? Ewww what's wrong with the toilet?"  In those cases I would wait.

On the other hand, I never show a place while a tenant is still there.  I wait till they have vacated.  I know many landlords show ASAP.

Whatever works for you.

Should you show the place if it's being fixed up?

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