Whats going on in your market?

[Nicholas Miller]

I have been an owner-operator of residental real estate for 15 years and have noticed some changes in how the market works in my area.  When I first got started you would run an ad in the local newspaper and BOOM you would get a ton of phone calls..  Somewhere around 2007-2008 it seemed the paper became totally worthless to advertise units in and Craigslist became the one stop shop for tenants, over the past couple of years it seems like there are more and more places to post vacancies.  I have been upping my rents over the past 12 months but I am always looking for ways to be more effective.

My questions for the community are:

Where/How do you advertise your vacancies?

How do you/do you pre-screen prospects before showings?

Do you always have a representative show your units or do you provide lockbox combos?

Do you charge an application fee?

What would you estimate your average vacancy to be from the time it is rent ready to rented?

If you have answers to any of those questions or tips on how to maximize rents and minimize costs/time please share.