Automating showings and using a tenant to do them
I wanted to share with the BP community a method which has been working very well for me regarding showings. I live 30 min from the rentals that my brother and I own (8 units total), which makes showings a huge pain. Its much easier for someone that lives there to do the showings, so what we've done is use showing automation software, Tenant Turner, to automate the process. I pay one of the tenants $20 per showing and $10 per no show (for their time). Tenant Turner does all of the work: marketing the property, gathering peoples information, scheduling showings, giving current tenants 24 hr notice by email or text, following up email with a link to the online application and requesting feedback - and then the tenant who helps me with shows does the rest of the work, and all she has to do is set her availability on the Tenant Turner calendar and do showings. Zero communication with prospective tenant leads is needed, and we get plenty of showings. I still have to arrange unit turnover, cleaning, repairs, but that's not too bad. Tenant Turner is just one of these services, there is showmemojo, and some others. For me, this system takes the worst aspects of property management off my plate, and is pretty nice.
Anyone else who is in a similar situation, give this a shot, its definitely cheaper than hiring a property manager, but takes a lot of the hassle out of self management.