Interested in showing...then what?

[Andrew Acuna]

I've done a couple turnovers of my rentals and have been fairly successful in screening, but I always want to be better. The question is- when you get a lead (Zillow, trulia, Craigslist, etc.) that says they want a showing, what do you say then? Do you simply set it up and say very little or do you offer the full description again? What's your script?

[Bettina F.]

I have a pre-wriiten email that goes out with more info on the property and a link to my apartment's Facebook page.  The Facebook page has more photos of the apartment and artsy photos of the neighborhood.   This second email also goes into detail about our qualifications, required verified income, and total move-in monies needed.  My goal is to get the unqualified to screen thmsleves out.  We then do open house showings.  Last turnover we had 9 people who said they would be at the showing but only 3 showed up.  The couple that looked questionable decided to keep looking. (Good!)   I had two well qualified applicants complete  applications, pay app fees,  show photo ID and give copies of paycheck stubbs.  Both applicants checked out well, and my apartment is now rented.   I refunded the second applicant's app fee, since I would have rented to her if I had two vacancies.   

We do the open house showings because of the no-show problem.  This works well for us.  It is also easy to tell who has just come straight from work.