Anyone filling their vacancies ?

Question

Are you offering any incentives?

Or demanding extra security deposits?

Michael Noto · Answer

We are in Connecticut and despite being the last state to "reopen" we did not have any issues filling vacancies during all of this. We did so without altering our processes.

Charles A. · Answer

I had 4 total vacancies when this OP was made.

2 are now rented and showings continue on the other 2.

I'm finding that the old theory that grade B rentals are the place to be during a downturn holds true.

They are the units occupied by RNs and teachers etc.Those are jobs that get paid regardless.

The vacancies I'm currently struggling to fill are C class units.Those folks have all either been furloughed or laid off.They're your hairdressers, coffee shop barristers etc.Sadly they're unlikely to be booking a showing to rent a unit most places anytime soon.

Lorna LeBlanc · Answer

I have a "C" grade vacancy and am probably going to rent to a subsidized tenant.  It's newly remodeled but since no one is moving due to rent moratorium and covid here in upstate NY, I've only received two calls.

The first applicant immediately started complaining about her present landlord and was in the last apartment for only a few months.  Definite red flags.  Upon investigating she has an extensive criminal background.   I'd rather see the apartment go vacant then rent to someone of a red flag nature.

Brian Ploszay · Answer

This pandemic has done something that has made me more profitable:  Tenants are not moving.  I've never had so few moves.  I have only one vacancy right now, a one bedroom apartment.  The demand for this unit is anemic right now.

Dan H. · Answer

Normally we set rent at current market rate and post on all of the usually rental sites and schedule an open house for maybe a couple of hours (sometimes just one hour but then it typically does not end when scheduled).  It makes the appearance of a frenzy and high demand on the unit even though we typically only receive between 1 and 4 applications from the open house (but virtually never do we not get an application).

Having such an open house is not advisable at this time.  So I did the usual rent survey to determine market rent was $1800.  Normally we would set the rent at market rent using our open house frenzy method and have a tenant application that met our requirements in the initial open house.  Because we knew we would have to show the property individually (one hour of separation, masks required, we keep our distance), I set the rent at $1750.  My hopes was this would reduce the number of times we would have to show the unit.

Just over a week ago we started showing the unit.  It has had a steady stream of prospective tenants.  Two groups of prospective tenants filled out applications but called almost immediately with a change of mind.  I am convinced that neither would have cancelled their application if there was the frenzy atmosphere of our typical open house.  We have likely shown it to ~20 perspective tenants without one applicant starting our screening process.   Note that is ~20 hours of showings (versus we usually have less than 2 hours dedicated to showings).  We have 3 more perspective tenants looking at the unit today starting at 3:30 (at the cost of another 3 hours of time).

I think the primary difference is not the level of interest (we have had great interest), but the lack of any frenzy that gives the impression of a highly sought unit.  If the 20 groups had been present at the same time in a 2 hour window, I am confident that we would have had multiple applicants.

I was hoping it would be rented for June 1 (last tenant moved out the last day of April), but that is looking less likely.  It is also the first time that I have ever found filling a unit to be this time consuming (Vacancy rate in San Diego county is typically very low).

BTW the prospective tenants find various reasons the unit is not correct for them (too small is the most common reason provided - it is a 2/2 and 770' but the laundry is outside under a porch (so does not take any of the 770'), it has 2.5 cars of carport and a shed), but none of them have indicated the rent is too high for the unit.  Even though the rent is set below market, we may consider lowing it a bit more to increase interest in order to obtain a qualified applicant.

To summarize, there are still prospective tenants looking to rent, but our proven process to obtain applications using minimal time is unavailable and therefore we have spent a lot more time showing the unit than typical and have yet to start processing an application.

William Walker · Answer

Old tenants lease expires in 2 weeks. New tenants moving in two weeks after that at $25 more a month. Lease signed and monies collected.

Dan H. · Answer

My mortgage broker, who indicates anyone can call him for guidance on loan forbearance/modification and if you want his contact info you can message me, believes there is some risk on future loan terms (he has been sending videos over once a week).  I do not see any way mortgage modification can affect your property valuation.

We (wife and I) are planning on paying all mortgages as long as the rents collected cover the payments.  For April we got $0 for our 2 STR units (Down ~$25K in rents already (started 2nd week of March) and still increasing) and received 100% of our LTR units.  The LTR rents fairly easily cover the mortgage payments.  Normally our rents are around double our payments but that includes the STR rents.   Without the STR rents, but including the STR mortgage, the mortgages are around 70% of the LTR rents.  As long as LTR rents come in at above 70%, we do not plan on asking for any mortgage modification.  We realize that that leaves the non-mortgage expenses to be paid out of our reserves so we understand someone else deciding to request mortgage modification with a lower impact than what we have decided.

Good luck

Nicole Heasley Beitenman · Answer

I may have a vacancy to fill if the property doesn't sell. If that happens, I'm prepared to offer reduced rent for the first 1-2 months. But I wouldn't offer that off the bat.

Anyone filling their vacancies ?

Most Popular Reply