Property Managers & Lock Boxes

[Keric Allen]

Do you use a lockbox to allow prospective tenants quick/anytime access to the property?

Or!

Do you meet every tenant at the property?

Why?

I’ve read many replies about not using lock boxes because of the risk someone trashing the property, stealing items, putting the home up for rent after knowing the code, losing the keys, not putting keys back in the box, you want to see/get a “feel” for the type of person they are, etc.

People also recommended ways to prevent this by requiring photo identification of anyone viewing the property and only giving them the code once they have arrived at the property.

It seems that if you had more than 3-5 properties that you are managing or listing it would be an enormous waste of time and maybe impossible depending on the location of the properties to meet every screened/prospective tenant at each house.

With technology and people’s busy schedules why would you not want a screened prospective tenant to be able to view the property at 7pm because they just got off work? Why would you want them to wait until the next day or possibly a few days later to view your property when they are probably looking at other properties.

[Patricia Steiner]

To many, the showing is just that - let the tenant see if it will meet their needs.  In my opinion, that's the first indicator that you've hired the wrong PM (or that the owner may not "get it").  Also, you should not be showing a property to anyone who doesn't pass a telephone screening.  If you've done that well, you should be showing the property once or twice only to secure a quality tenant.  When you show a property, it's an opportunity to:

1.  Meet the tenant, interview them, see who tags along, did he/she respect the appointment time, did the park appropriately/respectful to neighbors, did they smell of smoke/alcohol/etc.

2.  Review the lease terms and qualifying criteria.  Any push back pushes them out.

3.  Demonstrates your commitment to the property: "here's the condition it is in, this is the condition it will need to be returned in, I will be around on a routine and regular basis," etc.

And, almost every tenant I have shown a property to on behalf of my own or a clients' has told me that most properties they had previously viewed had a lock box on it, was dark, dirty, smelled "funky" (someone had used the toilet), had trash in the yard, more.  When I looked up the properties, I found they were being rented by a PM - the person an investor was paying to do a job that the PM didn't think was important enough to do in person.  

Stuff happens when you fail to show up.

If you value your investment, you'll demonstrate it by screening tenants by phone first and then showing up to do more than just give a tour.  

So next time it's tempting to throw a lock box on a property,