All Forum Posts by: Charlie Moore

@Charlie Moore

I personally think they are. I’ll direct inquiries to the open house to save time on showings. I also like that the person knows I’m not going to be there alone...safety reasons. I think it helps create a sense of urgency because prospective tenants see that there is more interest.

Open house 90% of the time.

Easier and more efficient use of time. 

This all depends on the demand you have. If you have a ton of inquiries rolling in and the area you are in is in high demand then the open house showing works great. Creates a sense of urgency for people to get their applications submitted. 

@Charlie Moore

What we do is try to schedule as many as viewings as close to one another as possible so that tenants can see the traffic as one tenant is leaving another one is coming in OR we even show 2 tenants simultaneously. 

From a psychology perspective, you are creating competition and a feeling that the unit would be rented soon thus placing a tenant quicker. 

Schedule them for a Saturday and space them 15 minutes apart . That way it won’t waste your time . You want some one on one time to hear each persons situation and get a sense of what they are about personally when you talk with them face to face alone . You won’t pickup on that stuff if you got half a dozen people meandering around the house randomly all at once .managing takes time don’t skimp or miss out because you were afraid to talk with folks individually . Screening is too important to rush or do haphazardly 

I list my minimum criteria in my add. That weeds out most of the undesirable. Then I prescreen on the phone. I have very few no shows. Most LL around here don't seem to do open house showings.

@Charlie Moore I prescreen like @Bjorn Ahlblad suggests but also do group showings like @Chris Szepessy. Prescreen them through a phonecall or email. You will still have no shows but at least someone should show and be less of a waste of time.

The Book on Managing Rental Properties recommends group showing to avoid the waste of time factor.