Dynamic Rental Pricing

[Tim M.]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on BP! I am very excited to have found this great forum.

We have some single family homes here in Seattle. We just had one house on the market, and thought we had set the rent fair/ a little high, but we ended up getting contacted by 25 parties, we scheduled 10 viewings, and had four applicants, we rented to the first party as they were very qualified. This all occurred in the first 24 hours.

We heard from a professional property manager here in Seattle that he implemented a dynamic rental pricing plan. He lists a house a few days before an open house, amends a "notice of multiple offers" document that is typically used for his clients selling houses, and communicates multiple offers have been received and to submit their best offer for owners review by a specified time.

It strikes us that this is a win-win for owner and applicant. The applicants we are seeing are frustrated, feeling like they have no chance if they're not the first to view the property.

Has anyone implemented this strategy for multiple offers? Does anyone have a "notice of multiple offers" document they can share or know where we might find one? Are there any legal issues/procedures (generally or Washington state specific) to be aware of in soliciting and managing a multiple-offer situation for leases?

Your responses are very appreciated.

Thanks,

Tim

[Elizabeth Colegrove]

Following! 

Very interesting! I have heard of this happening in Washington D.C.. The incident I heard of was where the tenant themselves offered higher rent if they were taken.