Landlords, do you rent your units sight unseen to applicants?

Question

With the power of the internet, I am constantly amazed at the applicants that contact me and want to rent an apartment sight unseen.  Most appear to be from out of town and relocating into my city.  As of right now, I do not allow this for any of my units.  My main concern is that a tenant will focus only on the apartment itself, and not the neighborhood and its local amenities, then show up and realize its not a good fit for them.  All of my units are duplex houses, so I see this as more of an issue than a large apartment complex.

If you regularly rent your units without the applicants seeing the property first, what have your experiences been? Am I missing out on the right tenant, just because I require them (or someone they appoint to see the unit and the area, like a friend or family member)?  I just want to avoid tenants not being completely happy with the unit and the area, and potentially increasing my turnover.

I am very honest about the photos, and even include a video walk through of each unit when I list my units. I never have any comments about the apartment not being like what is advertised.  My listing are shown on websites like Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, etc, and alot of times I do not put up a for rent sign (mainly due to not wanting to tell every caller about the details and price, as it is rare that a drive by or walk up call leads to a qualified tenant for me).

All of my units are in B or C areas of New Orleans, and most are on the edge of better areas. Most are in up and coming areas, that are seeing a lot of development (rehabs and new construction).

Thomas S. · Answer

I never rent any unit to a applicant sight unseen. My policy is that we must have a in person interview prior to being approved as a tenant. This naturally will include a viewing of the area and the unit.

The ease of modern technology and a pension many have for avoiding personal contact usually results in me rejecting all applicants from out of town. If they are not willing to attend a personal interview they do not qualify.

I do not allow technology to derail my standards and process. The ease associated with electronic communication is placing landlords at a much higher risk of being misled and taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals.

Jennifer T. · Answer

I have done this four times.  For the first three times, it worked out GREAT twice.  Was absolutely horrible the 3rd time.  But that was more because the tenants were just scammer bad apples.  The problems weren't right away.  For those three times, it was a unit a couple blocks from the Fairgrounds in Mid-City.  So a hot and desirable neighborhood.  One of those times (not the bad apples), the tenant's aunt came to look at the place ahead of time.

It seems like the majority of out-of-towners want to live in Mid-City or Uptown.  I'm always surprised how many OOT requests I get for the Mid-City property.  Probably about 20% of the initial responses.

The 4th time just happened, so I can't speak to the good/bad of that yet.  It's for a unit I have out in the East.  Technically, the lease wasn't finalized before they arrived.  But they had told me they were interested in potentially moving right in, if they liked it.  So, ahead of time, I had them fill out the application and did all my normal background checks.  Everything looked great.  I also kept showing the unit in the meantime, since it wasn't a definite until they got here.

Thomas S. · Answer

Chances are that a individual renting from outside your area without viewing is only looking for temporary housing until they relocate to your area and then shop around for the place they really want. They may break their lease or most likely move out at the end of the lease.

Mike Wood · Answer

Thanks all.  I am fine with renting to someone if they have someone like a friend or family member visit the place.  My concern is with people that are moving into town and have no intention of seeing an apartment before they show up to move in.  I use professional photography, so the online ads do look good.

I think I will stick to my process of requiring either the applicant on someone on their behalf must view the apartment in real life.

Amit M. · Answer

it also highly depends on the quality level of the tenants you're dealing with. Professionals moving into higher end and more expensive locations are very different from class D and most section 8 tenants. Who knows, maybe the guy calling you just got out of jail and is coordinating a drug set up in your unseen unit! Of course, a well educated professional moving into a class A/B+ location is probably focused on other goals in life! Common sense is a good asset to have in making these decisions.

In my case I rented to a doctor and his wife sight unseen. We Skyped, and he had a local friend look at the unit and area. I also had one of two roommates see the unit with skype, while the other roommate was on location. But never a truly blind situation. I don't need to, as there are plenty of applicants who are more accessible. It just lowers your risk of having an unhappy tenant who misjudged the situation. And also demand to see full docs of course, which my tenants cheerfully did.

Deb L. · Answer

It depends on the situation.  I probably would not but my son did.   He had just graduated with his masters in computer engineering. Applied for jobs in Silicon Valley.  Six interviews and six offers (sorry, Mom gush).  He was 2500 miles away and checked places online.  He found a place (of course $$$$ in Silicon Valley) and they required his job offer letter and first month's rent.  Everything is fine.  (well except that it is 700 square feet and 4x the cost of a rental here!)

My rental is in a college area (very large college) so there are plenty of people (and their parents) who will want to see the place so it is not an issue here.

Nathan S. · Answer

I always ask the prospective tenant if they know someone local who can view the unit on their behalf.  Often times, people moving from out of state simply don't have the time or energy to see the unit first before renting it.  These are likely people who have already researched the area and if they haven't, they don't care are probably not as picky as those who insist on seeing the place first.

I suggest have good photography of every unit (or photos of every style of floorplan if you are renting multifamily) because the people who rent sight unseen rely only on pictures because they only need pictures to make this decision.  Despite what you may think, not every tenant needs to feel an emotional attachment to their new home.  They simply need a place to live.

Walt Dockery · Answer

My tenant rented sight unseen. She already lived in the general area but was out of town for work, she knew the area and most importantly knew she wanted the school district (in the case of my rental school district is one of the biggest selling points).

She had a close family friend come over and look, who facetimed her and walked through the house. The friend seemed to be knowledgeable about real estate and asked a lot of questions and loved the house.

I had one other prospect who wasn't local who looked online and called me. Interestingly out of ~30 or so leads the two who weren't local seemed to be two of the more put together and seemed to know exactly what they wanted. Feel them out on the phone and ideally they have a friend or family nearby who can look.

Kari Koszdin · Answer

Mike:

I JUST rented a one bedroom sight unseen to a tenant moving to Seattle because of a job transfer.  This will be my 4th instance of doing this in the five years I have been a landlord.  The first three have gone very well. One tenant is still living in the unit, after 4 years. One tenants moved out after a year because he got a job in the bay area.  The third moved on after two years but was a great tenant.

I understand not wanting high turnover, but in my experience, you cannot totally predict who is going to leave when.  I have had plenty of local tenants leave after a year or even break the lease (most commonly because the bought a house).

Landlords, do you rent your units sight unseen to applicants?

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