Finding (GOOD) Tenants

[Pete Woelfel]

Hi Everyone,

I'm interested in what kinds of things people are doing to find new tenants. We have a unit that will be turning over soon and have been struggling to find a new tenant. We have listings with good pictures and a description on zillow, cozy and craigslist. We've been getting a number of inquiries online for these and always respond within a few hours. The postings are also very clear about our qualifications:

- Income > 3x rent

- Credit score of 600+

- Must pass a background check and have no evictions in the last 7 years

We've had multiple open houses and despite probably 50+ inquiries online, have had almost nobody show up to the open houses. I'm wondering if the reason is because our qualifications are too strict, we're not marketing to the right audience somehow, or if there just aren't many qualified people looking for a place to rent this time of year.

I'd love to hear methods that have worked for some of you in finding tenants. Does anyone advertise on FB? Do you put signs in the yard? Do you post fliers and local restaurants/libraries/colleges/etc? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[Nathan Gesner]

It's a funnel. You'll get a ton of people that are simply curious or unqualified. They call, ask a few questions, tell you they're super-duper interested and will fill out the application immediately...and then they disappear. A few more will actually fill out the application but not go through with renting. A small minority go all the way.