Finding a tenant seems like pooling teeth

Finding a tenant seems like pooling teeth

Rotonda West, FL · Member since 2015 · 59 posts · 8 votes

Hey everyone.  So I've had my condo listed online for a week, and out of all the people who've come in, I only have 1 potential tenant, but he hasn't submitted the application yet.  Essentially, 80% of the inquiries never even reply back to me after I send them my pre-screening questionnaire.   And my questions are kindergarten compared to some of the hardball questionnaires I've seen other landlords requests.  I don't even ask for first, last and security, I just ask for first and security, but still it's not good enough for these people.  So my question is - do people just expect that I'll put my assets on the line just to make some stranger happy and bypass all the questioning and background/credit checks?  When I signed my car lease, I figuratively had to give them a blood test to prove to them that I was worthy.  And we're talking a car lease which is half the lease of my condo.  So what I'm getting at is this:  Why do people get so turned off by questions?  I already wasted hours for the few days showing the condo to people who didn't even have a credit history.  Then I got wise to the game and started the conversation with the pre-questionnaire.   Or is the right answer for me to just stop wasting my time, hire a professional tenant placement agency, pay them a month's rent for their services, sign the lease and call it a day?

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Investor · Century, FL · Member since 2015 · 950 posts · 603 votes
10y

Lots of landlords do strange things, like this pre application thing, but it doesn't mean they have much success when they do this stuff. I've met plenty of landlords who set really stupid conditions, and then wonder why the house is empty for six months.

So all you're doing is setting impediments for people to rent from you. They could fill out this form and wait, or they could just move onto the next property.

And if you're above average for that unit, why is anyone going to hang around for a potential landlord to spend the next three days scratching his *** wondering whether to show the apartment? When tenants have plenty of choice, they ain't going to jump through hoops they think are unnessacary.

Especially at this time of year! This is the quiet season. Things don't move, especially houses listed with above average rent.

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  • Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Account Closed:

    Thanks everyone, all good points. I am listing my condo on Zillow and their affiliates, and Craigslist. My pre-screening questionnaire is very short - the basics like gross income > 3Xmonth's rent, that type of thing, nothing extreme. My rental application is very short, I'm just using the out-of-the-box application from RentPrep. I have around 40 pictures on Zillow and around 25 pictures on Craigslist. I just have this 1 property right now, so technically I'm just a beginner trying to start the right way. I have an LLC I created for this, so dedicated email account with a professional name, the works. And I check that email account every few hours to make sure I answer quickly. I too think it's better to be patient then to get into a nightmare situation with a nasty tenant who will make life a disaster for me, at the same time, how long is enough is the question as well. I think another turn-off is my rental price - it's $950. In my area, this kind of condo goes for $900. The reason for my price being $50 more is everything in there is brand-new, and that will only be the case before the first tenant moves in, so I'm trying to re-coup costs I put into this thing with the higher rent. I didn't realize $50 what such a big deal, considering $50 is what it takes to take a family out to the movie theater these days..but hey, it is what it is.

    If you're "trying to start the right way" get the whole self-management idea out of your head. Time is your most precious - and most profitable - resource. Stop squandering it! Pay a professional to do what they do best.

    Being $50/mo ($600/yr)  over market is probably not helping unless there is something obvious about the place to entice a potential tenant to pay it.

    Yes! $50/mo *IS* a big deal! Whether YOU believe it or not is not the issue, it's what the potential tenant believes.

    David J Dachtera

    "Success is not a destination. Failure is not an event. Success is a process, failure is a choice."
    - DJ Benedict

  • Investor · Saint Paul, MN · Member since 2015 · 663 posts · 512 votes
    10y
    I did a renovation of the upstairs unit on a duplex, new bathroom, paint and all new floors. I tried asking for a higher rent, got tons of showings but no applicants. Then I lowered the rent $100 and got 4 quality applicants. IMO, it's better to have a tenant than to be paying the mortgage yourself. I'd rather be cash flowing a little less and having someone pay my mortgage.
  • Rocklin, CA · Member since 2015 · 207 posts · 66 votes
    10y

    I have seen in my market five dollars can mean a ton of difference. I look at zillows rent zestimate but I also check hotpads and craigslist in the close by areas to see what similar homes are going for and then I determine the rent.

  • Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2016 · 45 posts · 19 votes
    9y

    @Account Closed

    Well it's been about 9 months now....Alexander I'm interested in what happened here can you give us the details?

  • Rotonda West, FL · Member since 2015 · 59 posts · 8 votes
    9y

    Brandon, this one is easy.  The condo has been sold.  My time and nerves are worth way too much to play "mommy may I" games with tenants who want to move in without any deposit and pay $200 below book value.  I understand that for some landlords, they're willing to risk their condo and have someone destroy their property and not be able to go after 1 penny because those tenants don't have 1 penny to their name.  But that's not a game I'm willing to play.  Going forward, I will only play buy low, repair, sell high.  Rentals are out, for life.

  • Buy & Hold Owner · Redlands, CA · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Account Closed:

    ... it's the tenants who have something to hide, it's the tenants who want to phone versus email to make sure nothing is written down, and who want to waste the landlord's time window shopping because they have nothing better to do. 

     My application is just one page of personal info - - and they STILL walkaway.  I consider that to be "The tenant just self-screened and didn't want to submit the info".  Several more pages of QnA would only enhance the self-screening.

    I get calls "Can we see the apt?" and I tell them to "fill out the application and then when we met on site, we can discuss the details."  I get a few walk aways but but still a high rate of applications for screening.

    btw: rents at FMR or 5% below fill my units easily in one month(including all screening, BG and CR reports).

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