In my dreams I fill my vacant units with the best tenants on earth who pay their rent on time, keep the apartment clean, and never move out. But unfortunately my dreams aren’t reality.
When I’m looking to fill a vacancy I prefer to show the unit like I would an open house. I’ll pick a day, say Saturday, and set aside a period of time for propsective tenants to view the unit. For example: Open House, Saturday, 2-4pm!
I’ll tell as many prospective tenants to come on that same day and time too. This helps create a sense of urgency and competition amongst the fellow renters visiting the property. Plus it saves me time from having to meet prospective renters at different times and different days.
By creating a buzz, prospective renters feel the unit is special, limited, and could be rented in a blink of an eye. This is their chance to grab it before anyone else does. You never want to eat at an empty restaurant, do you? Well you don’t want to live at an apartment that no one else is interested in either.
The prospective tenants that are interested will fill out an application right there and then. Depending on which property I am at, I can also run their credit report on the spot (I check eviction, criminal and some other stuff too). For screening providers I’ve used and others, click here.
Help for Landlords 