Tenant showing services for our of State landlords

Tenant showing services for our of State landlords

Member since 2024 · 12 posts · 3 votes

Seeking advice from out of state landlords. Do any of you use any app to do tenant placement on ad-hoc basis? This is for rental properties in Pennsylvania while I live in another State. I currently use a property manager but they are very bad in tenant placements who do not answer calls or inquiries from Zillow. Over 1 month with 124 Zillow potential tenant contacts, the property manager report showed no leads from Zillow and couldn't find tenants. I ended taking over the listing and screening tenants on my own through Zillow. It took me 5 days to find qualified tenants with good credit score and income but my property manager still charges me full listing fee even though I did the whole listing, marketing and prescreening and they helped with 1 showing - they only showed one tenant who I prescreened through Zillow. I am considering other options to see if there are ways I can hire someone to just do showing only and mamage my own rent collection through Zillow app, I also have my own contactors to do maintenance but have been paying monthly fee to my property manager who has done literally nothing, they also never answered my calls.

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Ryan SpathBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Boise, ID · Member since 2017 · 598 posts · 382 votes
1y

We manage properties in Florida and we live in Idaho. You can totally do this, work with a realtor or PM and pay them a flat fee for helping turn the property / show the unit. You can do all the prequalifying from anywhere via credit check, call references, verify income etc.

Make sure you have a handy person, ac person, plumber, etc etc that you can call when you need some work done. 

Best of luck!

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  • Kerry Noble JrPro Member
    Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    1y

    Yeap i have helped my OOS/International partners self manage. i can give you insights as the person on the ground

  • Member since 2024 · 12 posts · 3 votes
    1y

    Yes that will be super helpful 

  • Ryan SpathBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Boise, ID · Member since 2017 · 598 posts · 382 votes
    1y

    We manage properties in Florida and we live in Idaho. You can totally do this, work with a realtor or PM and pay them a flat fee for helping turn the property / show the unit. You can do all the prequalifying from anywhere via credit check, call references, verify income etc.

    Make sure you have a handy person, ac person, plumber, etc etc that you can call when you need some work done. 

    Best of luck!

  • Member since 2024 · 12 posts · 3 votes
    1y

    Can you share how much you pay the realtor to do the showing ?  Per showing? Is $50 per showing good enough?

  • Matthew MorrowBusiness Member
    Investor · PA - NY - NJ · Member since 2019 · 936 posts · 337 votes
    1y
    Quote from @Tessa Tsui:

    Seeking advice from out of state landlords. Do any of you use any app to do tenant placement on ad-hoc basis? This is for rental properties in Pennsylvania while I live in another State. I currently use a property manager but they are very bad in tenant placements who do not answer calls or inquiries from Zillow. Over 1 month with 124 Zillow potential tenant contacts, the property manager report showed no leads from Zillow and couldn't find tenants. I ended taking over the listing and screening tenants on my own through Zillow. It took me 5 days to find qualified tenants with good credit score and income but my property manager still charges me full listing fee even though I did the whole listing, marketing and prescreening and they helped with 1 showing - they only showed one tenant who I prescreened through Zillow. I am considering other options to see if there are ways I can hire someone to just do showing only and mamage my own rent collection through Zillow app, I also have my own contactors to do maintenance but have been paying monthly fee to my property manager who has done literally nothing, they also never answered my calls.


    It definitely sounds like you need to reevaluate your relationship with your property manager. This level of service is NOT typical for the Lehigh Valley, and it’s certainly not what we’ve experienced with our PM or others we know in the area.

    A property manager should be proactive in tenant placement, responsive to inquiries, and transparent about efforts to fill vacancies. It’s frustrating to hear you had to step in and handle the process yourself while still being charged a full fee. But small note- dont let the Zillow clicks or likes determine perceived interest. That data is very wrong most of the time. We see it all the time with homes we have listed, and personal rentals we have posted. 

    If you’re considering handling tenant placement and rent collection yourself, there are tools like Zillow Rental Manager or Avail that can help streamline the process. But honestly, a good PM should handle all of this for you. It may be time to shop around for a new one who will actually add value to your investment.

    If you want a recommendation for a reliable property manager in the Lehigh Valley, I’d be happy to share some contacts.


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