Getting Prospective Tenants to Trust You When Managing from Afar

[Nate S.]

Hi all.

Some up-front info. I manage several rentals from afar. I am about 2 hours away from them. 

I just had a property turn over and followed this procedure for the showings:

• I advertise the property and handle all calls, emails, texts on it and set up viewing appointments (I group them all within 30-45 minutes on one day)
• The current tenants show the property to prospective renters
• When someone applies, they email or fax in the application and pay the application fee via PayPal (although I am now trying out Cozy for applications) and I process the application
• If the application passes, I prepare and email over the lease for signature
• When the lease is signed and sent back to me, I send over a payment request for the first month's rent (via Dwolla or Cozy)
• At the check-in, I drive to the property to check them in myself and collect the security deposit in secured funds (or use Cozy to collect it beforehand)

I have been doing the above for a long time and it has worked pretty well. However, on the last two turnovers I have had, I had many prospective tenants not like the fact that they did not meet me at the showing. I got the distinct impression from several of them that they thought they may be getting scammed. With one of them, who applied, it ended up with him asking me to prove I owned the property and going over the lease with a fine-toothed comb (after he missed a couple of deadlines to get things back to me, I moved on and denied him).

I figured the facts that 1) prospective tenants see the property and can talk with the current tenants to ask about the property and me, and 2) that they have to submit an application and go through a credit and background check, and 3) that I was using Cozy to collect payments and 4) that I am available by phone, email and text whenever they want, would be enough to make people comfortable that they are not getting scammed, but it was apparently not enough for some people.

Does anyone have any tips to help prospective tenants feel more comfortable dealing with you from afar and not feeling like they are getting scammed? I know I could turn the property over to a property manager or go in for the showings, but I really don't want to do either of those.