How to get prospective tenants to commit to viewing the property?

Question

Wondering how other land lords approach this. My partners and I have been stood up a few times when appointments were scheduled to view a unit. We could do an open house type viewing maybe one or two days out of the week and after viewing the tenants that are serious can pay an application fee and then move forward with renting the unit.

Does anybody do it another way? Like maybe having prospects fill out an app and paying the fee even before they let the prospect physically view the unit.

Michael Noto · Answer

@Dominique Palmer This is a very frustrating part of renting out apartments that nearly every landlord has been through. We fill about 7-10 units per month here in Connecticut and this is what we found works best to avoid this:

1. In your initial contact with the perspective renter make sure you clearly outline your minimum requirements for renting.

2. Then from there if they want to proceed with viewing ask them when works for them to view and once you agree on a time/date tell them very clearly that you will be texting them the day of to confirm.

3. The day of the appointment text them 2-3 hours in advance to confirm and in the text direct them to respond to you if they will be coming or not.

By doing things this way we very rarely get stood up because if people aren’t going to come they either don’t respond to the text or they text you they can’t come.

As far as scheduling goes lets say you schedule an appointment for 5p on a Monday. As you get more people inquiring try and schedule appointments around that already scheduled appointment. That works well for us too.

David Semer · Answer

There a lot of great tips here.  We do group showing so as to make it a lot more competitive than people feel the property is in great demand and going to make a decision sooner rather than later.   I would just add what we have done differently instead of me texting the prospect I ask the prospective tenant for a favor when we set up the appointment and most will say yes I proceed to tell them to text me 2 hours ahead of time and I explain this is our confirmation if they do not we usually do not show up to the appt.  We do this as more of a way to see whether a tenant is responsible or not to take direction.  We still usually attend the appointment because I have others coming. Also I use the people who tell me they are coming so I know how long I need to stay at the property. It does not mean some that did not text will not show up or others just happened to be around.  Good luck nothing worse than waiting at a property especially if it is across town.

Patricia Steiner · Answer

I haven't had that problem but we definitely have an inventory shortage here which may explain it.  I recommend not putting a lot of photos online; put just enough to generate interest but not show the entire property.  If they feel like they "saw" it, they're more likely to skip it for another they haven't seen yet. I don't hold open houses; I screen the applicants on the phone to weed out those who can't afford it or give me a lot of commentary on why they won't pass a screening. I only schedule for a day in advance so I can accommodate my own crazy work schedule.  Everyone wants what everyone wants so be sure to let them know to "act fast" because you've had a whole lot of interest.  Entertaining business we're in...

Joseph A. · Answer

@Dominique Palmer I currently have a property on the market and I've run into this same problem. I just schedule everyone to view the property on one day of the week. If I schedule 10 only 5 will show up.

Dominique Palmer · Answer

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Some helpful solutions.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Cluster the showings together, if you have a couple of applicants show up at the same time, that's fine.  You can pre-screen to ensure they are qualified and have them text you 30 minutes prior to the viewing to confirm they are coming.  If they are no shows, write down their name and number and should they call for another viewing, tell them no.

Jeff Lamothe · Answer

Thanks for bringing up this question @Dominique Palmer.   I will soon have undergo this process with my property.  I wonder does it make sense to schedule multiple appointments on weekends as opposed to weekdays, where folks can be delayed at work or stuck in rush hour traffic.   When properties are for sale, realtors usually schedules an open house on the weekend.

How to get prospective tenants to commit to viewing the property?

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