New Omaha Investor-Interested Renters Scheduled & Not Showing Up

[Ben Einspahr]

Hello All!

Starting to run into some trouble during my very first rental experience. I am working on renting out the house I currently live in. Posted the add online last Wednesday (9/6/2017) and had 4 people contact me interested in looking at it. After scheduling appointments, all 4  people that were interested were no call, no shows. One even rescheduled and apologized, then did not show up the second time around. Currently 0-5 with viewings. Not looking to good haha!!

This brings up two questions;

1). Is this something everyone comes across quite frequently and i just have to accept the fact that a majority of the people out there will most-likely not show up at all or am i just running into some bad luck during my first go-around? Any suggestions or tips to avoid this besides follow-up emails and calls the day before? 

2). For the person who did not call or show-up to both scheduled showings and are interested in making a third appointment, can i legally tell them I am not interested in renting to them due to lack of commitment and/or accountability, or do i still have to show to them?

House I am renting:

Purchase Price $145,000

3 bed/ 2 bath

2 car garage

1,700+/- sqft

Asking rent= $1,395/month 

Thank you Bigger Pockets Community for all the of the great knowledge and advise everyone is consistently contributing to on a daily basis!!!!

Ben 

[Bettina F.]

That is why we only do open house showings.  I don't even bother to schedule appointments 15 minutes apart.   Everyone is scheduled to show up at the same time.  Last vacancy, 13 people were supposed to come -- 4 showed up.  But we ended up with 2 strong candidates, so it was OK.

 We bring a card table, folding chairs, extra applications and a copier to copy ID and paycheck stubs.  We show in teams -- one is showing the apartment while the other is verifying ID, answering questions on the rental applications and collecting app fees.  We have found this to be the safest option and best use of our time.