Architect · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2015 · 68 posts · 28 votes
We FINALLY listed both of our houses for rent and received an insane amount of interest. I have responded to more than 40 e-mails. Due to the interest, we decided to hold an open house for each of the properties. The nicer and larger one was on Friday night from 6:00-7:30, the small one was today from 11:30-1:00. I hade confirmation from 5 people they would be there. No one showed up at either.
This morning, I received a phone call from a company that finds houses to rent for people and after informing her that we would not be paying a commission, I would be available from 1:10-1:30 but absolutely had to leave by 1:30. She said great and they would meet me there. At 1:20 I called the number and was informed they were still 30 minutes out.
For what it's worth I don't ever correspond with potential renters via email or text, they have to phone call me so I can talk to them to set up a showing (which will be a group showing - and it will be a group showing that they don't know it will be until they get there and discover it for themselves by seeing other potential renters there at the same time, we never ever do an open house, and especially never on a weekend, if people aren't interested enough to set a specific appointment to look at the place I don't want to waste my time with them). You might want to try it. Email and text is too anonymous, plus you can tell a whole lot more about a person by speaking to them. Taking control of the situation eliminates all the time wasters. You're a bit way too 'customer oriented' in the way you're showing your property for me. I prefer to control every aspect of it and maintain methods that are super productive and minimize my time involved.
Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
10y
I remember the 'open house' days. Ugh! It would be rare to not have anyone show after so much interest, though. You probably didn't want them, anyway @Caroline Hedin.
I post 5 questions at the bottom of my CL ads. They need to answer to get an e-mail back from me. I then schedule a few, like 15 minutes apart. I use odd times like 3:12. An open house may not have had the sense of commitment that 'your time is between 3:12 and 3:27'. Miss it at your peril!
Part of the biz. A full third of mine still don't show. Trying to screen and show to whoever off the street all at once via an open house is not recommended by me. What would you do with 12 applications all at once? Cheers!
Depending upon the demand, you could consider requiring application prior to showing. This would greatly decrease the number of no-shows (if they had already taken the time to complete an application they are likely very serious).
A handful of our users are doing that since the application is online and can be completed in a few minutes.
Architect · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2015 · 68 posts · 28 votes
10y
@Steve Vaughan Yeah, we just really didn't know what to do with so much "interest." We assumed a decent number wouldn't show which is why I didn't want to schedule individual appointments (I just don't have the time to waste on no shows!) but I suppose missing a day and getting it rented is better than missing a total of 4 days and still not having a renter. And agreed on the application issue. Our plan was to "invite" them to apply based on how we liked them...not the best solution but a solution...:-\ I'll give your solution a shot and see what happens. Obviously MINE didn't work.
@Sarnen Steinbarth That's interesting. I have to admit though that it feels a bit wrong to have them pay the non-refundable $35 application fee, meet them, then decide we wouldn't have asked them to apply in the first place. I know we can't really reject them except based on qualifications, but if they're similar qualifications to another potential tenant that we liked...
Do you think holding the Open House on a Friday night and a Saturday afternoon was a bad decision?
I think most of this run into this issue with our listings ( thanks to the one button inquiry on zillow/trulia). However, 40 inquiries, 5 confirms and 0 shows seems a bit much.
I think the Friday night showing was probably the problem for the large property.
Is there an issue with the curb appeal and/or neighborhood for either? We've had drive up/drive offs before due to these issues.
For what it's worth I don't ever correspond with potential renters via email or text, they have to phone call me so I can talk to them to set up a showing (which will be a group showing - and it will be a group showing that they don't know it will be until they get there and discover it for themselves by seeing other potential renters there at the same time, we never ever do an open house, and especially never on a weekend, if people aren't interested enough to set a specific appointment to look at the place I don't want to waste my time with them). You might want to try it. Email and text is too anonymous, plus you can tell a whole lot more about a person by speaking to them. Taking control of the situation eliminates all the time wasters. You're a bit way too 'customer oriented' in the way you're showing your property for me. I prefer to control every aspect of it and maintain methods that are super productive and minimize my time involved.
Buy & Hold Owner · Redlands, CA · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
10y
I don't show or open house unless the tenant will complete an application, sign it which allows me to run the BG/CR reports. Lookie Loos just disappear and I don't have to deal with what @Steve Vaughan says "What would you do with 12 applications all at once?"
Right, I get five and show to two-three qualified AND interested tenants :smile:
Architect · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2015 · 68 posts · 28 votes
10y
@Scott England The larger home has been completely remodeled inside and out and the curb appeal drastically improved (but still needs a bit of yard work). The smaller home doesn't have much curb appeal. It's just a respectable little home that I think most men would find fine but most women probably wouldn't bother with (gut reaction). It's probably a B-C neighborhood but it's right next to a private university that's been around for ages and right next to the military base. Our timing is horrible for the college crowd which is actually our target market.
@Sarnen Steinbarth I see the point and will speak with my husband about this. It may be an option but as a former renter in this area...I'm not sure I would have been willing to do this. But I also never rented homes as I preferred apartments.
@Mike F. Good idea and I think I'll take this route. As for being customer oriented, you're likely right. First time landlords here.
Wholesaler · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2015 · 61 posts · 43 votes
10y
Caroline, EVERY business I've ever been in has had this same issue. And I'm talking high level execs & business owners down to the little guy. The constant? People. That's it. Staggering appts w even a small overlap will help reduce your wasted time along with trying to gain a little skin from them, but people are largely fickle creatures.
Augusta, GA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
I agree with Brian. And it's worth with these online sources where folks can simply hit the "I'd like more information...." button.
Sometimes I swear there's a certain percentage that drink or drug and hit ALL the computer buttons they can on these sites.
I'll get an email from some, call them within 5 minutes and they're confused about which house (or houses) I'm talking about since they've sent emails out to so many.
This week I had appointments with 5 people to show a house, including 1 I spoke with at noon who had a 3:30 showing that same day. Guess how many showed up. Zero. Nada. Zip. People are just rude about this whole business and feel no compunction whatsoever to simply skip an appointment.
One of the reasons I very recently got my first IPhone (ever!) was to answer emails/calls from so-called interested potential tenants quickly. The second reason was to have something to do while I was waiting on the front steps for appointments that never showed up and never bother to have the courtesy to cancel. Makes the time go by faster.
Durham, NC · Member since 2013 · 502 posts · 215 votes
10y
I only do open houses when looking for tenants. Never is the show up rate higher than 10% of the enthusiastic email responses. I discovered that Saturday afternoon is a bad time, I guess everybody is in retail mania then. We do one on Sunday early afternoon and one on Wednesday after work ours. Most people come on Sunday. For a while, we had special showings but the show up rate wasn't any higher, just more wasted time.
Staggering appts w even a small overlap will help reduce your wasted time along with trying to gain a little skin from them,
I have great success with this technique, when a property is available there will be calls all day long and I tell the first ones as they call in "We are showing the place at 5:00 pm today", set an appointment with 2 or 3 of them. With the next calls we tell them "We are showing the place at 5:15pm today." set an appointment with 2 or 3 of them. With the next calls its "We are showing the place at 5:30 pm today.." None of them know that I'm setting appointments with multiple people at the same time.
I go there at 4:45pm, stage whatever needs to be done and I wait for people to show, in this case I'd be there for no more than 1 hour from start to finish, I have no idea who they are as they show up, if they are late or on time, as I've taken no information from them, I've only qualified them and set mass appointments. If someone shows interest we work with them, the rest either leave or many never showed at all, but I don't care the only ones I care about are those that showed and are interested. Those are the only ones that matter.
Architect · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2015 · 68 posts · 28 votes
10y
@Gail K.@Andreas W.@Mike F. @Brian M and everyone else. Thank you for this feedback. It's very helpful. And sadly, knowing that other people are dealing with this helps me feel a tad bit better. Don't hate me for saying that. It's unbelievable that people do this but it is nice to know that they self-select to some degree. I mean, if they're this disrespectful at this point, what must they be like as tenants?
Anyway. Again. Thank you everyone for the feedback. There are some great ideas in here that we'll be putting to use.
Investor · Tempe, AZ · Member since 2014 · 142 posts · 73 votes
10y
I never do showings and never do open houses. I give out a lockbox code to potential tenants after a verbal pre qual and after they text me a photo of their ID.
If you're not comfortable with that, then as previously suggested set all appointments for the same time on the same day.
Rental Property Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 6k+ posts · 4k+ votes
10y
I've been stood up before. I will have 20 calls/emails and get 10-15 people who say they will be there, then only like 3-4 show up. If it rains or snows, then no one will show up. People can be very rude and don't care if they waste your time. Those aren't the kinds of people who you want as tenants.
Real Estate Professional · Dayton, OH · Member since 2015 · 423 posts · 187 votes
10y
Look. A lot of people are just inconsiderate not to mention rude in today's day and age. I am amazed at what people write in emails and worse, texts, that they would never say to you in person.
Open houses have lost effectiveness because of all the virtual tours.
People are unreliable. You have to manage them as well as yourself. I have adopted the practice of calling before I leave for an appt. If I get voicemail, I leave them the message that I called to confirm. I say politely in the VM (just because others are rude doesn't mean we have to stoop to that level) that I realize that things come up that change people's schedule so I won't be leaving for the appt until I get a return phone call confirming that we are still meeting, and I code the VM as urgent.
Investor · IN · Member since 2012 · 263 posts · 168 votes
10y
I agree with others that Weds Evening and Sunday Afternoons seem to get the most interest. BUT, you also get alot more "tire kickers" on Sunday who aren't really interested but want to see whats out there and sometimes just want to have something to do (or so it would seem). I've had people walk thru that weren't looking to move for up to 8 months later! (Like we are going to hold the house for them).
As far as doing open houses, I would just continue that. A serious prospect will show up during the open house. Remember, all it takes is 1 good application.
Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2015 · 393 posts · 116 votes
10y
Lol omg this exact same thing happened to me yesterday. Had a ton of interest and a lot of people saying they would be showing up, and only 2 parties stopped by. Definitely a learning experience haha.
Thanks everyone for the two cents! Helps a lot to see it happens often and what other good alternatives there are to source the truly interested tenants.
Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2016 · 60 posts · 65 votes
10y
Why not hire a Property Management Company to find the tenants; they normally charge a one month fee. You pick the tenant, they do the showings and it saves you a lot of time.
Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
10y
@Edwin Williams- for me it's BECAUSE they charge a one month fee. That's over $800 for most of mine! I screen through and have 2 good applicants within days of posting the ad. I also want to meet and know my people that are placed in my property. A lot of folks go with a PM so I see your point, though.
Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
10y
I think a lot of people probably filed their taxes recently and are now just doing some preliminary calling on new digs. But they probably won't have the funds until they get their refund and aren't very serious.
I agree with @Account Closed , we ask people to call 30 minutes before and confirm and if they don't, we don't bother going out to show.
Residential Real Estate Broker · Chicago Suburbs, IL · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 594 votes
10y
Friday night isn't the best night. I have found that newbies overestimate online"interest" , maybe 10% of online interest translates into bodies at a rental open house in my area, we do rental open houses 2x a week. Considering lockbox showings going forward.
That's exactly right, why even mess around with 20 people who won't rent your unit if you can whittle that down to just dealing with 3? No emails, no text. Talk to them on the phone, qualify them, only set up showings with the best of the best, forget the rest, let them go waste someone else's time.
This in not a numbers game as so many unfortunately think, it's not about throwing it all at the wall and seeing what sticks, it's about dealing only with real buyers of the product you are selling.
Why not hire a Property Management Company to find the tenants; they normally charge a one month fee. You pick the tenant, they do the showings and it saves you a lot of time.
I'd like to see some statistics of turn over rates and profitability of rental units of self-managed versus property management company managed. I can only guess the results based upon all of the different property owner's stories I've heard over the years crying the blues about their rentals, with the common denominator being they aren't self-managed.