Strange Zillow Rental Listing Response Pattern.

Strange Zillow Rental Listing Response Pattern.

Member since 2020 · 40 posts · 13 votes

This is the second time I have used Zillow to list my property. The last time Was 18 months ago.

After a day, or so, of responses from verifiably real people, with a balance of male and female applicants, I get a steady stream of almost all females who ask for a tour but never respond to my answer, which works perfectly well for the first half a dozen responses. Also, unlike early respondents, they rarely offer an application, or any other financial information, just the request for a tour.  The same pattern emerged the last time I used Zillow. I did get a good tenant, and I probably will this time, but It seems like a waste of time to keep responding to these, and honestly, I am just wondering what this is about. 

This is how I am responding. Like I said in the first day, or so,  it sets up a good opening conversation with prospective tenants. 

Thank you for your interest in our rental home, Please review the listing to make sure all adults applying would meet the criteria and that pets would also. If you have any questions please let us know.
Then, if you would like to make an appointment, there will be an open house by appointment Sunday 1/9/2021.
For everyone's sake, we are going by strict appointment, approximately 1/2 hour. Would you please let me know if you are available between 1:00 and 4:00 PM on Sunday 1/9/2021 so that we can schedule an appointment? Thank you





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Property Manager · Denver, CO · Member since 2021 · 667 posts · 587 votes
4y

@Russell John Walsh We get many ghosting emails from Zillow too. We get them on other platforms as well so it's difficult to extrapolate anything from it. I think in a high demand area, prospects send out dozens of inquires hoping to hear back from a landlord and then don't respond to the others once they hear from their first choice. For the showings, it could be that since you are openly stating the time you will be there, they may figure they can just show up if their first choice doesn't work out. Even though you indicate there is a strict appointment policy, for many people, following directions isn't high on the priority list. We like to set appointments as well but bunch them all up at the same time to create more demand. 

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  • Property Manager · Denver, CO · Member since 2021 · 667 posts · 587 votes
    4y

    @Russell John Walsh We get many ghosting emails from Zillow too. We get them on other platforms as well so it's difficult to extrapolate anything from it. I think in a high demand area, prospects send out dozens of inquires hoping to hear back from a landlord and then don't respond to the others once they hear from their first choice. For the showings, it could be that since you are openly stating the time you will be there, they may figure they can just show up if their first choice doesn't work out. Even though you indicate there is a strict appointment policy, for many people, following directions isn't high on the priority list. We like to set appointments as well but bunch them all up at the same time to create more demand. 

  • Chad HalePro Member
    Property Manager / Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2013 · 779 posts · 301 votes
    4y

    @Russell John Walsh Probably about 50% of inquiries from Zillow never respond back to my screening questions.

    It is too easy for people to simply click buttons on an app/computer to send out an inquiry.

  • Property Manager · Huntsville, AL · Member since 2017 · 302 posts · 246 votes
    4y

    I agree with @Chad Hale.  I like to call this drunk real estate.  Some people just love the idea of finding a new place to live, and they scroll around in the evenings and hit the inquiry button on anything that makes them happy.  The good part is that you are certainly weeding out potential tenant disasters the they don't respond.

  • Member since 2020 · 40 posts · 13 votes
    4y

    Chad, I guess for a lot of people it's like me going to the online fishing tackle stores and filling the carts up the closing the site and never going back!

    I had a sense that what you are saying comes into play, Dena. Drunk Real Estate is the perfect phrase for it. 

  • Member since 2020 · 40 posts · 13 votes
    4y

    It stands to reason that my polite insistence that the applicant review the listing to make sure all adults and pets will meet the minimum requirements before making an appointment has something to do with this trend. That's a good thing, of course.

    I am wondering if the way I am offering the open houses in the listing can't be tweaked to make sure it does not discourage demand from people who could qualify. 

    It's tempting to ignore any first contact  Zillow messages that don't have some level of the person positively initiating qualifying above and beyond a minimum request for a tour. The best applicants seem to always do this. 

  • Member since 2020 · 40 posts · 13 votes
    4y

    There seems to be a lot of people who choose to start a conversation in Zillow Messages with,   "Hey, I'd like to rent your house and would like to know more about it". SMH

    Does Zillow give them a choice to start off that way, or do lots of people do this without a prompt? 

    Hey,  how about no!

  • Chad HalePro Member
    Property Manager / Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2013 · 779 posts · 301 votes
    4y

    @Russell John Walsh  Most online platforms have several response options you simply click.  No work needed.  Just click.

    That is why we use a standard response to help weed through all of those.

  • Member since 2020 · 40 posts · 13 votes
    4y

    That's the ticket, Chad, I paste mine in there, and it goes straight to archives. 

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