Vacancy Periods - How to bridge the gap?

[Luke Skippings]

Hey Everyone! Curious what people on here do with their rental properties during vacancy periods between tenants? I've been helping landlords in the UK generate income during that gap using short term lets on Airbnb and VRBO - wondering if this is something US landlords think about or if the approach is different over there?

[Mohammed Rahman]

Zoning and local regulations are the first thing to check because they vary wildly by market. In places like New York City for example short term rentals are heavily restricted and the rules have gotten significantly stricter in recent years, so what works in one market won't necessarily fly in another.

For landlords who can't or don't want to go the Airbnb route, the more common approaches are pricing the unit aggressively to minimize vacancy time, offering a small move in incentive to get a qualified tenant in faster, or in some cases doing light cosmetic updates during the gap to justify a higher rent on the next lease.

The honest truth is most experienced landlords just underwrite vacancy into their numbers from the start, usually budgeting around 5 to 8% vacancy annually, so the gap doesn't feel like a crisis when it happens.