Hoping for Experienced Advice on Turning Over Tenants

[Chris Villegas]

Hello all,

Im hoping to get some thoughts from some experienced Landlords on your processes for turning over tenants. I am managing and maintaining 10 units currently and have been for a little over a year so I am starting to get a feel for things. One area where I could use some advice is turning over tenants. These are some of my questions.

1. How soon do you like to advertise a space once you know a vacancy will be coming available? ASAP? even if its 2-3 months out?

2. Do you prefer to have an open "application period" to collect applications and then make a decision based on the "most qualified" or do you take the first qualified, even if on a personal level they put off some red flags. In my mind I think it would be ideal to wait until I get a "no-brainer" but notice as I drag my feet applicants tend to get antsy for a decision (Which I can appreciate).

3. What if people are interested and qualify and never indicate that they even need to see the place in person before willing to sign a lease? I try to take this as a complement as I try to keep my rental rates competitive to garner a better pool of applicants. (Whether this makes financial sense is probably a discussion for another post) Should I insist on meeting prospective tenants face to face before agreeing to lease to them?

I have many questions and all the advice here is amazing. I'll try not to flood my one post with too many more questions.

Thanks!