Open house for rental property?

Question

Hi all- I was wondering; has anyone ever done an "open house" style for an apartment that becomes available?

Our tenant is leaving end of January, and we were thinking of listing it mid Jan, and then taking some time to clean it up etc and having an "open house" for prospective tenants the first weekend of Feb.

Any thoughts on this?

Thank you in advance!

Tim Herman · Answer

@Natalie Klesaris Open house all the way. I was  2 1/2 hour away from my rental. Like @Kevin Sobilo I put in my requirements and pictures of the property. I do not prescreen but I do set times to view the property in 15 minute intervals. You will get some flakes that don't show up. When they tour the property you can go out and look at how they keep their car. If they are interested I send them a link to Innago to do a background and credit check. I now do my showings on Friday evenings and all day Saturday.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I don't personally use this technique but I've heard many others say it works well for their situation. It would work best in a larger market.

Kevin Sobilo · Answer

@Natalie Klesaris, ABSOLUTELY!

Many people advocate pre-screening or even requiring tenants to fill out full applications before doing a showing, but that can be off-putting. Maybe if you have many units and automated systems in place it could make sense or if you are renting something specialized or high end where VERY few people will qualify. I prefer no pre-screening and just do open houses and allow anyone who wants to apply to do so. I do applications through Zillow so their credit and background can for 30 days be sent to other landlords. That way I don't need to collect any application fees and tenants are free to apply knowing they aren't going to be paying fees over and over.

I try to have a detailed ad with plenty of pictures so tenants should not have many questions. Mostly they contact me to see the place. I usually try to schedule 2 open houses per week. One on a weekday afternoon/evening like 5-7pm and one weekend afternoon like 12-2pm. This should accommodate most people's schedules. I normally do 1-4 open houses to find and accept a qualified tenant.