Questions for those landlords who start advertising BEFORE tenant vacates

[Sam Leon]

I understand the best case scenerio is your new tenant moves in the same day your last tenant moves out.

I wonder how some of you landlords minimize the turn over time.

This mean you do showings while the last tenant was still occupying the property.

To me the problem is, during the last two weeks or so of a tenant leaving the property, usually the property interior is a mess. Packing boxes, stuff in semi state of packing unpacking, unwashed dishes in the sink, laundry piled up. Stuff taken down from the bookshelves, flat screen TV taken off the wall, torn and moldy shower curtains, streak marks on the toilet trap ways, closet doors jammed shut with filled boxes. You get the idea.

Does it really form a good impression to your potential tenant to show it in that state?

Plus since the tenant is in the state of packing, a lot of items are in a state of flux, with multiple showings, I just hate a tenant to blame something on my showings - "I had an iPad on top of the coffee table this morning, and it's gone".

So I typically wait till the property is vacated and I had a chance to clean it to show it, but I like to hear from other landlords who have showned their units during the last weeks of occupancy. Does it help or not?

[Bill S.]

I absolutely do show and rent with old tenants in place. This is the process. Tenants must give notice on the 20th of the month BEFORE the last month (that is Mar 31 is end of lease. Notice must be given before the 20th of Feb). This gives me the last weekend in the month before they leave and the first weekend in the month they leave to show. If current tenants are slobs it's a waste of time and do what you normally do. Good clean neat tenants with nice furniture make a place look nice and rent quicker. Usually 3-5 weeks before they move, they are not packing. Good tenants look 45-25 days before moving so this all matches up nice. Best tenants look the weekend before they give notice or the weekend after they give 30 days notice. Snag them while your tenants place is still in to good working order and it shows nice. I also find good tenants get a place before the last day of the month so if they give me the keys a few days early I return the unused rent and I tell the new tenants if they'll pick up the couple of days rent at the end of the month they can get in early. Never had any issues and has saved me thousands in vacancies. Things can go wrong, for example you have two tenants if the current one has some issue come up and the new tenant can't move in. It's a risk but when you consider the cost saved for all those that go well, it's really worth the risk to me.