When are renters looking?

Question

Is there a best time of month to post ads for apartments, especially  on craigslist? I'm thinking there must be some sort of strategy that  centers around when most people are looking....?

I do have one strategy I wanted to share...When we have 2 or more ads  running on CL, we "stagger" them so that one is always being renewed  .... so if we have 3 we'll renew one of Monday, then renew each as they  come up so we always have one "floating" to the top..

Shaun Reilly · Answer

For online free things like Craigslist you should start as soon as you know you have an upcoming vacancy and don't stop until you fill it.

For things you may have to pay for (like if you did a classified ad) I'd personally look to do it the middle weeks of the month (probably hitting the weekend papers).

Figure the 1st week people just moved or aren't thinking that much about it yet and the last week you will have the bums/really poor planners.  In decent rentals I think you see people look in the middle of the month to secure a place by the end of the month for the NEXT month and then give their notice to the current landlord.

Jon Klaus · Answer

I'd think that tenants shop lower end units closer to their move date, and higher end SFRs further in advance.

Mathew Wray · Answer

It's been my experience that most of my tenants are looking on the 3rd weekend of the month. I agree that there's a lot of variety possible with different scenarios and opportunities to capture the quality tenants, but if I had to try and narrow it down I'd say, 3rd weekend is the winner.

Andrea M. · Answer

I think it's slower at the beginning of the month, because everyone who is looking to move has secured a place. But you do have a few that may be looking last minute due to a secured place falling thru or last minute folks.

Kenneth LaVoie · Answer

We may find that narrowing this down gives us very little edge anyway. I'm suspecting you're right in that there is such a wide variety (putting it off till end of month, planning ahead at beginning of month, etc.) Perhaps though we can FILTER poor planners (who presumably may be poor tenants) by weighting our ads toward the last 3-4 days and first week of the month to "catch" the "planners" ...

Jon Klaus · Answer

An obvious factor is that many tenants have to move out of their prior home on or by the last day of the month.  Of course there is a wide range of behavior as to when they get busy shopping for their next place. I prefer those who plan ahead.  Full month or more before move in?

Kenneth LaVoie · Answer

We seem to have more phone calls certain times of the month, but we have neglected to pay full attention to when that is. I think that if we KNOW, we can capitalize on it ... especially if we have to "stoop" to newspaper advertising during those times when we have a handful of vacancies, we can put that expensive ad in the paper just at the "right" time....

thanks all!

Kenneth LaVoie · Answer

Sorry guys, I meant what time of MONTH...

Jon Klaus · Answer

I do the same thing; try to have a fresh Craigslist ad daily, rotating them with different pictures.

I don't pay as much attention to time of month, but try to avoid vacancies in Sept-Dec.  In your colder climate, maybe that would extend through March.

William T. · Answer

It really depends on your location....  I am in St. Louis which has a very large college student population in one general area.  Washington University, St. Louis University, and Fontbonne University is 10 to 15 minutes of each other.  So May through September is the best time to look for new tenants any day of the week.