Leasing tips and tricks

[Albert Martinez]

Does anyone have any tips or tricks when it comes to leasing. I have 8 properties. When I put a property for lease on the MLS and put a sign in the yard and I get 20-30 calls a day, plus emails. Pre-screening all these people takes a good chunk out of day then I have to show the property also. Is there anyone that does 2-3 leases a month? How do you handle all the calls, showings, pre-screening etc and still have time to do other real estate activities such as find deal, etc? Any ideas would be much appreciated.

[Leon D.]

@Brianna S. do you charge an application fee? It's a little crass, but it helps mitigate the costs of processing applications and background/credit checks, and often dissuades people that aren't serious about the place.

I's say, just have the calls go to a recorded message that sends them to the website ad (or even better, get rid of the phone number entirely and just advertise the URL). Anyone serious enough will come to the open house, and if they really want the place, will take an application and pay the $40 fee or however much. You could even credit the application fee against first month's rent, that way you'll overcome the hurdle some might feel about paying it.

@Albert Martinez Early afternoons on weekends are great for open houses. Not only do you get reliable daylight (or rather, no worries about racing a prospective tenant through the property before sunset), but you also avoid tenant conflicts with work and daycare. I'd hate to think that my open house on a Thursday from 4-6pm would be empty for the perfectly legitimate reason of prospects still stuck on the bus or in their cars commuting home from work.