Showing Houses without being there

[Zachary H.]

Hey BP nation, 

Question on property management... I am wanting to find a way to show our houses without being there mainly to be able to scale without having to drop lots of dollars on property management or employees. Some landlords leave a key at the property and have potential renters (highly phone screened) go and look at them. Some have codes on their doors that they change out. 

My concerns:

Squatters and having to evict.

Someone getting "injured" and suing 

Someone copying a key and then robbing the place later on

Have any of you found a way to combat these concerns or am I overthinking the whole thing?

Thanks!!!

-Zac

[Nathan Gesner]

1. Identify the level of risk. I'm in a small, conservative town in Wyoming with great eviction laws so I'm not concerned about a squatter. If you are in Los Angeles, squatters and theft would be a major concern. @James Wise is correct that it could be difficult to control based on his size and market but I know other property managers with hundreds or thousands of units that have done thousands of self showings without an incident. You have to know the risk and determine what level you are willing to accept.

2. Mitigate the risk. Some managers screen the tenant on the phone, then require a copy of their picture ID, then require an active credit card (a 1-cent charge goes through to verify it's active). I require a picture of their driver's license next to the lock box so I can confirm I'm giving them the code for that particular box. I have them text me when they are done to confirm the unit is locked and the key is back in the box.

I've done fewer than 100 of these but it's worked without any issues and has saved me a lot of hours, particularly for homes that are 30-40 minutes away.