Creative ways to find good tenants, fast?

Question

Handed a house to Knox Financial to rent out, located in burbs just outside of Dallas TX. It's going on 2 months vacant. Knox has lowered the rental asking from $1850 to $1750 but we have even less traffic past week.

I need to take drastic measures to assist to locate a good tenant. The house is on MLS, hence Zillow, Rentberry, etc.

What creative ways can you share to find good tenants, fast?

Matthew Irish-Jones · Answer

@JayCinta Henry you may have a system problem.  Are the showing requests automated or is someone picking up calls live?

I have seen PM companies before make an error in setting up listings and inquires have gone to an inactive mail box or there was no way to schedule auto showings.

May be worth contacting the company through one of the ads to make sure everything is running correctly.

Rhett Kelton · Answer

@JayCinta Henry Facebook Marketplace? It takes a little more weeding through, but if your pm is the one in charge of it, then you shouldn't have a problem. I do it myself though.

For every 100 requests about "Is this still Available?", I get back and forth communication from 25 of them, then 5 of them fill out the actual applications.  That's for me personally though. All in all, it takes about 4-5 hours of communication (replying to requests), then 2-3 hours of meeting face-to-face.

Eliott Elias · Answer

Why isn't it renting out? Look at market rents and be $100 cheaper than your direct competition

Nathan Gesner · Answer

You need to hire a property manager that understands the market. I don't have houses sit vacant for two months even during the slowest times of the year.

Lucia Rushton · Answer

@JayCinta Henry I’ve never heard of this company before. Your PM matters !! Did they provide you with rental comps ? Did you agree to the price or did you want more ? Sorry landlords sometimes are their own worst enemy when it comes to pricing a rental.

And lastly this is terrible but true - what commission are they offering the tenants agent ? Right now some are offering $1 or $100 etc and the agent will have to pay their brokerage out of pocket to secure this home for their client. It’s not right. It should be 50% of one months rent period. The cost of petrol today on top of the normal work load to secure a rental for clients it’s tough.

As always just my two cents.

Bruce Lynn · Answer

There are several things I would do.

One is have your agent print out the full broker listing and send it to you......check for accuracy and details.

Price looks high to me for the area you are in.   Home looks nice, clean presentable, but is not really updated in almost any way.

Your competition in this price range often will have granite, stainless appliances, etc....I think in your current condition, you're probably still high on price.

Offer nice incentive for tenant reps.....offer at least 50% of one month's rent.....if it has been there for two months....offer more...offer a full month's rent.  You are less than that now.   Most realtors hate doing rentals and when they see low commissions, they just pass it up.  You can have whatever thought you want on this, but I hear them say it all the time.....won't put a tenant in my car for that $.....

Add your rental criteria to the listing....be friendly to tenant reps...make it easy on them to help you get it rented....what application are you using....don't make us work for it.

I agree with @Lucia Rushton , never heard of this company before and it looks like they are not local.  I have no idea if they are good, bad, or excellent.  Not sure if they are your PM or just getting it rented for you.    There are tenants that are very picky about PMs, especially in this area, so it might matter.  They ask a lot of questions, because so many have had very bad experiences.  My guess is if they ask, and you tell them the PM is in Boston or somewhere, they're not all that thrilled to hear that.   I'm not knocking them, as I don't know them, but I'm telling you what I hear from tenants.

Good luck and best wishes.

Matthew Irish-Jones · Answer

@JayCinta Henry finding good tenants fast is an oxymoron.  Good tenants plan ahead, they know months in advance they are moving, browse units 30-60 days in advance knowing when their lease is up and when units are becoming available, and they plan ahead.

Filling a vacancy as a shotgun wedding is always a mistake.  No one likes the financial pain of losing a month of rent but, being desperate to place a tenant is where mistakes happen, nothing cost more in this industry than bad tenants.

I’m not sure about your market but we don’t really sit on units past 4 weeks.  We have pent up rental demand, pre approved tenants, and an very active listing site.  Having quality units priced right is all you can do to get good tenants.  There are no secrets.

Eliott Elias · Answer

Have you been getting showings and feedback from these prospects? Seems strange, I'd get to the bottom of what the issue is. It may be the broker

Bud Gaffney · Answer

Just stick to your criteria! Remember to always keep it business, never personal! Good luck

Creative ways to find good tenants, fast?

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