Tips for Landlords on Scheduling & No Shows

[Chris Harkins]

So we are in the process of renting out a couple houses again and now comes the lovely time of meeting with prospective tenants. I remember the first year of ever renting out homes, I was so nervous about offending someone or putting them off that I bent over backwards to try and accommodate their schedules and make sure they had ample time to see the house without them feeling rushed from someone else coming in to look at the place..  So I would book people in 30 minute segments. Say I'd have a showing at 2pm, 2:30pm, 3pm, and 3:30pm 

Or Better yet a 12p.m.  2:30pm, 3pm, 5p.m  (Same property mind you)

What do you supposed happened a majority of the time? 

A. Applicant - Was Late 

B. Applicant - No Called/ No Showed

C. Applicant - Was on time and everything went smoothly

Well if you've ever rented out properties, you'll know the majority is probably A & B.

After getting sick and tired of this nonsense, I threw the tenants "feelings" out the window and took my own time and effort into consideration and started booking people at the EXACT same time.

So now instead of a 4 hours gap where you are bouncing in out of the house waiting on people to show up, you are there for maybe 30-45 minutes. You also have half a dozen people looking at the property simultaneously, creating urgency for them to hurry up and get an application in and their fee paid, since we operate on a first come first serve basis.

The other rule I started implementing was that the TENANT/APPLICANT(s) must CALL ME 1 hour before the appointment, otherwise I WOULD NOT be at the property.

I was AMAZED by the results.. Not only did I no longer have any no call no shows (because let's face it, I actually don't go to the property if they don't call) but I started getting multiple applications the very first time I showed the property, because of the perceived urgency of others looking at the exact same time..  Talk about a complete game changer!

So the 2 takeaways!

1. Book People at the exact same time. (Create a sense of Urgency.)

2. Require that the tenant(s) call you an hour before the appointment (So you don't waste your time driving across town for a no show.)

Any other tips/ tricks you've found over your years??

[Aly W.]

We do exactly the same thing, and it took several months with our first rental to develop this strategy. I pre-screen heavily over the phone - I reiterate what it will cost to move in, and I emphasize that we do background checks specifically looking for evictions, judgments, and criminal activity. Nearly every tenant denies having any problem and of course they all have the move-in money...but when they are supposed to call half an hour before their appointment to confirm, most don't. 

They've pre-screened themselves :)