When Do You Start Leasing?
John dropped me a quick note asking me:
I have a tenant whose lease ends 5/31/09 for a SFH [single family house]…When would you start showing the house in order to have it rented for a 6/1 move in? Would you recommend striking a deal with the tenants on keeping the place in show condition or is that usually not a problem?
I try to start as early as possible, but 60 days is about the max that people are looking. Here are some of my experiences, depending upon the neighborhood:
- The “typical” tenant in some areas will be looking 60+ days in advance. I see this in South Minneapolis around the lakes. I also experience this when renting houses These same tenants will generally arrive at the apartment showing as planned.
- Other neighborhoods seem to thrive on procrastination. I will get calls less than 30 days in advance, in fact, I will get calls 1 week before they are looking to move in. I experience this often in both North and NE Minneapolis. I will book 5 people to look at an apartment and maybe 1 will show up.
As for “striking a deal” with the tenants to keep it clean, I just expect that they keep the place in order. Also, I work hard to show their place no more than 2-3 times per week to limit them being frustrated. I book everyone at the same time, just like an open house.
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I have found alot of the tenants I have rented to to be looking within the last 30 days before the lease ends. People really seeem to be last minute with finding the property of their choice.
Great comments. I agree with Scott that as a real estate investor, it makes sense to start early (up to 60 days in advance) to fill the lease and to work hard to show the property no more than about 2-3 times per week. Open house type bookings are a great option for this purpose.
Great point regarding booking the showing all at once. I’ve been in the rental game for a long time and found out very quickly that prospective tenants only show up for showing appointments about 50% of the time. I start advertising a property on craigslist on Monday for Saturday showings. I tell everyone that contacts me that I’ll be at the property on Saturday between 10:00 and 11:00. This saves me tons of time and I almost always rent the property out on my first open showing. I’ll average between 5 and 10 people using this strategy and usually receive 3-4 applications.