Craigslist Experiment - Old dog trying new tricks...

[Deborah Burian]

We are within one property of our goal for SFH, buy-and-holds. That makes this year the year to focus on cash flow and I am spending the time I normally spend on buying/renovating focusing on improving cash flow by increasing occupancy and implementing cost savings.

Since our historic occupancy is between 95 and 97% for mature properties, improving in that area is a steep challenge.

Normally, we show our rent house via Open House. We don't do appts, special showings, take requests, put out signs, we just put it on Craigslist, tie it to the website and handle inquiries via email which eliminates a huge aggravation factor. Usually we wait til the home is vacated, spend a week or so freshening it up and have a Sunday open house.

This year, to decrease down time, I am showing properties prior to the tenants moving out. So... now I have the ad on Craigslist and am tying to the website but will likely have to have a few smaller showings to find an appropriate tenant. I am also a little concerned about decreasing my total candidate pool by changing from a flat out open house.

The first showing is this afternoon, will see how it goes.

Do any other landlords have additional thoughts on this process? or other approaches that make sense when showing occupied properties?

Thanks.