How many phone calls to get a tenant?

[Bryce Y.]

I'm not sure how many of you keep track of this, but how many phone calls would you say you have to answer before finding a qualified tenant? Obviously there are other factors in play like your rent relative to market rent, the condition of your property relative to competition, etc., but I'm just looking for a general number.

I have had a vacancy now for three weeks and have probably taken ~100 calls. It's very frustrating (1st vacancy experience) having to deal with all the deadbeats and no-shows, so I've started outsourcing this with compensation being on a per call basis. Plus it's hard for me to be taking calls during the day at work.

Any thoughts?

[Dawn Anastasi]

I deal mostly with emails, not phone calls. That makes it quick and easy to respond while I am at work. You get have some boilerplate text ready to copy and paste.

I also hold "open house" type showings so that I'm not tied up showing one person at a time and dealing with no-shows. If someone doesn't show, that's fine, there's 10 other people viewing the property.