Deposit to hold a property?

[Eve Mahoney]

Hi, we are about to sign our first tenants!   They won't move in until the end of January.  How do we handle this interim period?  Do we get a deposit to keep the property vacant and stop showing it?  Is there a standard amount?

Thanks in advance to all the experienced landlords who are so helpful!

[Val Csontos]

Eve, 

This is our policy on the above:

     1, We will only consider wait a month or more if the rental market is weak and we have a very good candidate! 

     2, However we DO NOT STOP advertising, and showing the unit, until we have cashier's check, money order or cash IN OUR HANDS for the holding deposit. 

     3, And we will wait for example only 30 days, if we have enough holding deposit to cover that time period, because if they change their mind in the end we need to have rental coverage for the time period we had lost. In 18 years it happened to us once that some one put down $1000 and never came back that is why is important to make sure that the deposit covers your time period for rent.

I hope this helped to clear it up for you! 

Congratulation and Good Luck!

Val