Wait to rent apt or start showing right away?

Question

One of my tenants just gave 60 day notice they will be moving out mid Nov. I would need about 2 weeks to get the apartment rent ready. This means the apartment will be rent ready as of Dec 1. Winter/holiday time is not the best time to find a tenant but not impossible. The unit is in Bloomfield NJ. Should I listed the apt right away or wait till around mid October to list it and start showings. I ask because I don’t want the apt sitting for 2 months on the mls making prospective tenants think it’s (1) either over priced or (2) something is wrong with it by having so many days on the market. Would love you get peoples thoughts on this.

Scott M. · Answer

Once you start working on it you should start to advertise.  Anything before that is a waste of prospective tenants time.  This makes sure you have possession of it before you start marketing it in case the current tenant doesn't leave on time.

Account Closed · Answer

It depends a little on how clean your current tenant is. At lease in California, the landlord has the legal right to show a rental unit while the current tenant is living in the unit providing the landlord give the current tenant a 24-hour notice.

The goal for every landlord should be to get a new tenant in the rental unit as quickly as possible. For most apartments we show prospective tenants the rental unit starting 30 days before the current tenant move. Many prospective tenants need have a place 30 days in advance because they don't want to wait until the last few days of the month and not be able to find a place they like.

In fact, we are very wary of tenants who want to look at a rental unit and move in, immediately, within 1 or 2 days. Something is not right with these tenants like maybe they got thrown out on the street because they have some serious issues.

The best tenants are those who plan well in advance and want to move in within 2 to 4 weeks. So, the best thing you can do is start advertising 30 days before your current tenant moves, show the unit and get it rented.

If your current tenant is a pig then you have a more-serious problem. We find that if your tenant is a sloppy pig and the rental unit is thrashed and a prospective tenant rents the unit in advance then that is not a good sign, at all, because prospective tenants that rent a unit that looks like a pig sty are also pigs.

So, if the unit is filthy, then we don't show it to prospective tenants until after the current tenant moves and not until after we clean, paint replace carpets, etc..

Obviously, the landlord's goal is to get a new tenant in the unit as fast as possible. So, of the place is a pig sty, then we inspect the apartment 1 or 2 weeks before then tenant moves and we have our contractors and cleaning crews lined to do their work like gang busters (whatever that means).

We just started using zillow.com about a year ago to rent units and for a while we got some fairly desirable tenants and for the past few week's we've been getting the most-undesirable tenants. We get the best tenants by hanging our 8 x 10 advertising on store billboards and this gives us the opportunity to target more-desirable tenants because we put our advertising on billboards at more-expensive markets where the undesirables don't shop. Is doing that Housing Discrimination?

Colleen F. · Answer

@Dmitriy P.  Lead with availability date now.   I would consider price adjustment over MLS listing.  I just don't see the value for renters but others may differ.

Dmitriy P. · Answer

@Jason Smith some good points about flooring samples although like home buyers and renters, many don’t have a vision to envision it in my opinion. I may start advertising now, first word of mouth and fb in the local town groups and come Oct if I still don’t have a qualified tenant, I’ll go the mls route.

Jason Smith · Answer

I would disagree with most these posts and start early October. I would have the first line in the ad state - move in December 1st, and the first communication I had with a prospective tenant would be they are OK with a Dec 1st move-in. I would have a sample of the floor at any showings and say you would write in the lease the floor would be done before they move in. I tried to be nice to a tenant and let them leave a few weeks early, if I could find an approved tenant. The type of tenants that don't know where they are living in 30 days or less aren't usually the type you want. It seemed to attract tenants that thought I was desperate and willing to overlook qualifications listed in ad.

Dmitriy P. · Answer

@Greg Weik I’d need to replace roughly 750sq ft of flooring and some paint touch up. The unit has 3 different types of flooring and it just doesn’t flow good.

Dmitriy P. · Answer

@Greg M. The unit has 3 different floors in various rooms. I want to go in and redo the flooring with either laminate or vinyl and have one same floor. 750sq ft apt. I’d be doing the flooring myself. Some minor paint touch ups. That’s about it.

Greg M. · Answer

I'd list it around six weeks before it is available, but make sure there is CLEAR wording that the unit will not be available until this date. Six weeks will allow prospective tenants two weeks to view the unit and allow them to put in the standard 30 days notice with their current landlord.

I'm curious about needing 2 weeks to get it rent ready. That sounds like damage or remodeling time to me. Why so long a turnaround time?

Greg Weik · Answer

What turnover work are you doing?

Our approach is to list and show properties 30 days out if we believe they should be reasonably close to rent-ready (i.e., will need cleaning, carpet cleaning, minor issues) but if we believe there will be new paint needed, new flooring needed, or other work, we do not list the property until it's rent-ready. We get all new marketing photos/videos at that time as well.

Every few years (depending on tenants and condition) you'll have to bite the bullet and let the unit sit empty while making it rent-ready.

Colleen F. · Answer

@Dmitriy P.  I would do word of mouth advertising now.  Your current good tenants and any really local sources.   If the tenant is clean and the unit won't have major changes have an ad and video ready to go for informal inquiries.   Mid-october start advertising more widely.  I recently had good results with pre-screen and then sending a video tour.  I used to get everything from word of mouth and craigslist.  This time it was apartments.com and some good ones from zillow, but still alot of junk.  It depends on how your market is.

Wait to rent apt or start showing right away?

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