Here's my rental listing, originally posted on Saturday morning. I also posted it on Zillow. I got a lot of response, maybe 10 -12 people through craigslist and 3 - 4 people on Zillow. All decent prospects. So I called them back and set up six appointments from 5:30 - 8:30 on Tuesday evening. No one showed up. Some people cancelled in advance, some cancelled last minute, and most just didn't show.
I will try again on Saturday afternoon, maybe the weekend works better for people. There isn't a lot on the market around here, and I believe my price is fair. The front exterior porch and lawn look a little tired, so we are going to fix that up. Once Saturday rolls around, it will be presentable (last night the house was still messy and dirty from the previous tenants).
That's my experience. I know there are a lot of posts about this topic and best practices. I'm learning trial and error, and BP of course. I just wanted to share my first experience with this house, and I post more on how it goes.
I was curious if move-in expenses were typically that high in your area. If you have a dog it looks like you need to bring $3700 at the lease signing for a house that rents at $1700/month. That may be normal for your area, but it seems high to me.
Every appointment that I make...I tell the prospective tenant that due to people not showing up, that they need to call me 1 hour before our meeting to confirm they are still gonna make the appointment. If they dont call...I dont go
I always tell the prospective tenant to call or text me 30 minutes before the showing. If I don't receive a call or a text, I am the one who doesn't show!
@Julie MarquezI dont know about your area, but open houses for rentals are a waste of time...no one ever shows up unless they made an appointment to see it at that time
Pictures are so important, not just to have them but quality also. They need to be light and bright. Turn on the lights before taking the photo. When you have a window in the picture, the camera stops down (under-exposes) so the room looks even darker. Try to get the least amount of the window in the image as possible and it will lighten up. You can also add flash or just edit it afterwards to add light. We even just added recessed lighting in our last one to brighten it up. They are pretty cheap at Lowes. Kit we bought for one was about $14.
The best pictures have furniture in them so instead of paying to stage, just ask your new renter if you can come by in a few weeks and take pictures of the house. You can give them a little money or gift certificate for their time but right after move-in it's usually clean and nice because they are still excited about their new home. Then you have good pictures for the next go-around.
I would ditch the last paragraph except the part of availability date. You can get all the other info when they call.
I advertise on Facebook in the local area groups of buy and sell. Some are real estate some are just re-sale groups, some are garage sale groups. Got a lot of response from those. That's the only place I didn't advertise the address. Only through private message.
I also advertise in a local free classified paper called The Greensheet. It's delivered to local convenience stores and is online but this time I just went the online route for $25.
I got an account with Cozy.co and when you do your listing there it syndicates to I think realtor.com, doorsteps.com and that's free.
I set appointments 15 minutes apart and my husband is there to meet everyone with me and to take care of overlap. I have 4 rentals and haven't had many no-shows on my cheapest one but on the most expensive one I have. Also the higher the price, the less people there are who can afford it so that may also be a reason for your no-shows.
@Brenda Logan That's a great idea about using the tenants furniture and clean space for pictures! My friend also suggest a buy and sell group, they are popular about here. I have a cozy.co account, but I haven't used it to it full ability yet, another great idea! Interesting about the pricing of the homes, this one is more expensive and bigger for the area. Thanks for the creative suggestions!
Yes I just put down the time. People still call anyway. And people still show up or don't based on their preference whether I talk to them or not. So it's best to just not waste my time on a ton of extra phone calls.
@Brandt Smith I'm also curious why you don't allow vaping. I get no-smoking - I don't allow it in my rental either. But does regular vaping cause damage or odor?
@Gabriel H.I have no issue with vaping. I was asking why Jennifer didn't allow it. I don't allow smoking but as far I can tell, vaping doesn't cause the same issues as smoking.
How does the house look on google street view compared to how it looks now? It seems like they have to tell the same story. Many times the street view could be a few months old or years old either helping or hurting you.
When we schedule showings, we schedule them all at the same time. Each property gets 2 showings a week, one in the evening during the week, one early in the day on a weekend. I only do 1/2 hour for each property. We pre-screen apps as well, but still have some no shows.
@Jim Adrian If you wanted to give me some basic front landscaping advice, I'd totally listen to you. I know it needs something under the windows at the house. What about a line of bark and shrubs along the driveway. Anything to dot the yard like a tree or shrub?
I think everyone else has covered the group showings and wordsmithing the ad to create a lead funnel.
Just my 2c... but the living room picture with the blinds half-pulled makes the room feel dark. I'm no pro photographer, but I believe this in part due to the camera trying to compensate for a really bright focal point. Also, it might help to crack the blinds and try to redirect or bounce the light to create a "bright room" look instead of just a bright focal point being the window or sliding door.
Im a big fan of light and bright rooms when taking pictures (take with grain of salt as I was born and raised in the islands). In the past I've brought a few LED utility lights (or shop lights will work) to bounce light in the room to help it feel more spacious. 4000-5000K temperature lights will help give you a daylight/office feel 2700K will generally give a nice warm cozy feel.
Good luck with the rental! I'm sure you will come out just fine
@Matt Inouye Thanks for the suggestions about the lighting. I was not ready to take those photos that are online now, but those are great suggestions about the lights. I'll have to try that!
@Julie Marquez that is correct, they weed themselves out that way.
We have them call us to confirm to make them responsible day one, and to avoid wasted man hours for our property management staff. If they don't call, or at least call to reschedule in advance, we'll never show to them again and they are black-listed.
They do call for the most part, 85% of the time. We've done enough pre-screening by that point that we know they will. And once they have called, we've almost never had someone not show at that point so we go to site knowing exactly who and what we'll find and that way we can lease a unit very rapidly from there.
I agree with most of the other responses. There are too many "conditions". Tenants know they pay 1 month's rent plus security deposit. The list of charges is too long. I think some of the other requirements would make anyone feel like they're paying a lot of money to be"fenced in". I would definitely schedule an open house and have prospective tenants view the home at the same time. I understand you want to protect your home, but the ad needs to be more concise and direct.
If it's important to them to find a home they will show up. Just create a sense of urgency. What happens when a store has the "last" item and everyone suddenly has to have it? :-)
@Grace Jordan I definitely want my place to look desirable. While we do have a long list of rules and a very long rental agreement, I guess there is no reason to scare them from the start. Less is more.
UPDATE: Well, it's Thursday evening. Last night I posted some terrible pictures of the house with my cell phone. The house was still cluttered from the tenant, messy, and dirty, so all shots were half attempts at getting something that looked decent (no clutter in the pictures). The lighting was bad. Since posting the pictures, I've gotten ZERO response. Maybe bad pictures are worse than no pictures, but at least it's honest. Carpets are being cleaned Friday morning, so I'll get better pictures after that, taken with my good camera and staged and edited as needed. We will hold an open house this weekend, all while working on the front curb appeal. After getting good pictures and listing words down, I will advertise on our local buy and sell page, it is pretty popular around here. That's the update.
Your ad is very well-written and starts off great but then does get a bit overwhelming. Too much info too soon. If someone asked me "why do you want to rent this house" in the listing, I would be turned off automatically. I think saying "no pets" is better than the pet fee. $1700 seems high for any rental that does not look better on the inside (i.e. dingy basement-style carpet and outdated counters etc), but maybe that's normal there. :) At least you know you aren't spending too much on aesthetics lol. But aesthetics are what bring in top dollar renters. Also, I would take out the bit about the wetlands. Doesn't have a positive connotation when you think wetlands out your back door. ;)
Here's my rental listing, originally posted on Saturday morning. I also posted it on Zillow. I got a lot of response, maybe 10 -12 people through craigslist and 3 - 4 people on Zillow. All decent prospects. So I called them back and set up six appointments from 5:30 - 8:30 on Tuesday evening. No one showed up. Some people cancelled in advance, some cancelled last minute, and most just didn't show.
I will try again on Saturday afternoon, maybe the weekend works better for people. There isn't a lot on the market around here, and I believe my price is fair. The front exterior porch and lawn look a little tired, so we are going to fix that up. Once Saturday rolls around, it will be presentable (last night the house was still messy and dirty from the previous tenants).
That's my experience. I know there are a lot of posts about this topic and best practices. I'm learning trial and error, and BP of course. I just wanted to share my first experience with this house, and I post more on how it goes.
Message me the address of your listing. I'll tell you if the rates set correctly. Your photos are just okay. Thd front landscaping is non-existent. The property looks boring. It needs some wow factor. Try adding a few new trees, and build a flower bed near the walkway front corner near street and near walk up with colorful flowers. Add nicer modern lighting.
Leasing is a numbers game. Set rate low to get more prospects and apps than you need. Prequalify all applicants (credit and income), before you allow them to RSVP for showing.
So you don't waste your time, do not set custom appointments. Offer 1 or 2 showers per week at designated times. They can come or not.
I don't give the address of property on Craigslist. On the other hand, I will give the address on Zillow. The Zillow's crowd just seem like a cut above the Craigslist's group.