Do you leave the blinds open when advertising a vacant rental?

Question

Do you leave the blinds open? Is there any risk of more vandalism if they are open in your experience?

I have finally finished the rehab on my first investment property ever and thought this was interesting: When we varnished the floors, we didn't close the blinds backing out of a couple rooms and, well, couldn't walk back to close them because it takes a couple days to dry out. We had also freshly painted the inside and outside. When we first put the For Rent sign up before rehabbing was complete we generated about 15 calls in a couple weeks, then not much. After painting we generated another 10 or so calls. Some commented that it looked really nice on the inside. The inside turned out to be a little 1950's gem with a lot of nice finished wood while the outside is ho-hum.

This is a low income neighborhood with some recent burglaries. I don't keep any tools in the house as the rehab is complete and still didn't while working on it(I rebuilt a little cargo trailer for ease in transport and storage of my tools). There are no appliances inside until we get a tenant and the outside AC compressor is being installed (today) with a steel security cage anchored to some concrete piers. This should deter thefts to the neighbors unsecured compressor!

Jeff Solberg · Answer

I recommend you keep them closed with lights on inside. Copper thieves are looking for vacant residences as easy targets. My rental got hit this past week.

James H. · Answer

Turned out to be no shows. Luckily I was going there to oversee the installation of the HVAC system anyways. We had another no show tonight, too. All together I've had about 4 no shows out of 5 appointments and the ones that did show up was a couple with 3 kids, 2 pit bulls and out of state DL #'s (despite having lived in this state for 3 years [supposedly]). Only one of them was during a time when I wasn't going to be there anyways, but I can see it getting annoying as I don't have much to finish on the house and not much reason to go there except to check on it. Not sure if this is typical...

Kathy V. · Answer

Brian...how did your appointments turn out? Did you get it rented?? Just curious....

James H. · Answer

Shanequa, I think that is a great system! I think I will try that out.

Shanequa J. · Answer

Here's what I do: close the blinds and put applications and pictures in the mail box. They can then call to set an appointment to view the house. I try to schedule them all at the same time. They have to drive to get the application so they see the house and neighborhood. Application fee is required too.

Danny Day · Answer

I see them closed about 95% of the time

James H. · Answer

Thanks for the feed back. I just got a couple calls since your post and I will be meeting them there, and havimg them fill out the application there along with paying the application fee. No problem. This is the first time I have been in charge. It takes some getting used-to.

Kathy V. · Answer

I also agree with the other BP'ers about having them fill out the app right then and there. If they can't(don't have the info, etc) they're probably not going to work out anyways.

I think if you set the tone and set it early, you'll get better tenants and better results.

Kathy V. · Answer

My pm has sort of the same issue, with distance. And then there's the quality of the wanna-be-renters. Its a juggling act, for sure.

I've recommended this to him: how about an Open House? Advertise that you'll be there, say for 2 hours, have plenty of apps and see what you get.

Also, if you do get mutiple people there at the same time, it will look like there's competition for the rental. And that always helps!!

Just a thought....sometimes you have to be a little creative....

(I know this is veering off your original question but I'm merely responding to your other questions. Don't want to be "guilty" of not reading a thread!!)

James H. · Answer

Yeah Kathy,

I'm only using a sign. Due to the nature of the neighborhood, I don't want to be jacking around with internet savvy people. I had placed an add on Craigslist, but only one response. And when I told the girl to drive by to see if the neighborhood was suitable to her needs before we met there, she was said, "I'll just street view it on Google." I didn't think to tell her it looked totally different than Google street view until after the call ended. Besides, there is a fairly high traffic street that my street T's into, so I will put an arrow pointer there (probably today or tomorrow) to get more than just the folks that live right in the couple nearby blocks. I may post CL add again now with fresh pics though, just to be thorough. There is a lot of competition what with all the hourly apartment spammers, though.

My main issue right now actually is coordinating the application. The rental unit is about 20 minutes form my house and about an hour from my office. So I have to meet someone to give them an app, and then meet them again to pick up the app and app fee once they have filled it out? Some BPer's have said that they have the tenant fill the app out in front of them and pay the fee right there so applicants don't have time to formulate their lies. But I would not have my OWN info memorized to fill out an application with phone numbers and addresses and all, so how can I expect less sophisticated people to?

I guess if they leave blank spots on an application I can decline them for incomplete application if I didn't like them.

Do you leave the blinds open when advertising a vacant rental?

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