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Tips for scoring a rental showing
No doubt about it, the real estate market in BC is HOT! I keep hearing about it in the media and through friends, but when our awesome tenant gave notice earlier this week, my husband and I were thrown into the craziness of the rental market.
Within two hours of posting an ad for our suite on UsedVictoria.com, we had nearly 20 emails. In less than 24 hours, we had over 40 inquiries. My head is spinning from trying to keep all my replies straight!
I’ll share some tips for landlords soon, but right now, I feel compelled to help some would-be renters out there…I witnessed a lot of mistakes that cost people the opportunity to see our suite.
Remember that every ad for a rental is receiving an astounding number of responses; make things easy on a potential landlord and you could find yourself being offered the first viewing.
- Create a canned reply so you can quickly copy and paste it into emails (see below for what to include)
- Set up an alert on your Used.ca city site (this will help you be the first to reply). Learn how here
- Don’t bother asking if the space is still available. Just assume it is if the ad is up
- Take two minutes and read the ad. I posted specific questions in my ad and when people that couldn’t take the time to respond to my questions, I gave them my canned rejection email
- Take the earliest showing time you can get. We rented our last place to the first candidate on the spot and cancelled all the other showings. We knew she “was the one” immediately
- Don’t lie. If you know you don’t meet the landlord’s’ requirements, don’t waste their time and yours (the truth will come out!)
- Make sure your public social media accounts are something you’d like a potential landlord to see
Your canned reply to landlords:
- This is your chance to sell yourself. I’m sorry, but you’re not in the driver’s seat in this market and you don’t get to be picky. The point here is to get a showing (you can be picky at that point)
- Answer all the questions the ad asked
- Even if the ad doesn’t ask for details, give them. It could make you stand out from the crowd. The types of things that might help include:
- How many people want to live at the rental
- Your current occupations and how long you’ve been there
- Pet details
- If you’re willing to help out with yard work, let that be known (I would love some help with our gardening 🙂
- Your hobbies and interests. Sometimes you can strike a common interest and gain points that way
- PRO TIP: one of our potential renters won herself some major brownie points last night! She must have Googled me after our correspondences, and realized that we had a common friend-of-a-friend on Facebook. She had her friend reach out to my friend, who then contacted me to put in a good word for her. While it’s slightly creepy, I do applaud her ingenuity and it’s nice to hear good things about a potential renter from a someone I’m connected to
During the showing, be yourself. Yes, that’s cliche and boring, I know. This is where you should make sure your needs are being met too. It’s about a great fit for both the renter and the landlord. However, I would recommend putting your best self forward: dress for the occasion, bring along reference letters and/or contact details.
As a rookie landlord of three rental units, I’ll share some tips on managing your time and finding your next great renter soon.
Other tips or suggestions? Share them below in the comments.
Ursula Capik
I’ve had an interested trio call to ask to see the suite a second time. I had to tell them it was already rented. They were surprised, as they waited a whole week to decide, and hadn’t even submitted applications yet. If you like the suite, apply now! Do not hesitate, or someone will be faster.
Lacey
Oh, yes! Have to be faster than that in this market.
J
Don”t you think that’s a problem? People have roughly 15-20 minutes to decide if they want to live somewhere for a year. If they take anytime to think about it, Its gone.
Shirley
A MAJOR tip for Landlords:
ALWAYS run a Credit Check!
In fact, if you state this in your Ads, a LOT of “undesirables” will not bother to respond, saving YOU time, effort, and money, short-term & long-term. As well, Always request a “Bio”.
Join a Landlord Assoc. that offers discounts on Credit Checks, has Gov.’t. approved Forms for all situations, & offers assistance for dispute resolution.
Lacey
Thanks for this initial comment! Sorry about the delay in publishing it.
Lisa
A credit check does not get rid of undesirables. I, for example, have bad credit because of my ex-husband. Its a proven fact that it takes a woman upwards of almost 10yrs to her credit after a divorce….especially if her ex-husband is a deadbeat.
A potential renter should be judged on their references, not a credit report.
J
How much is the rent for one of your 3 units? They going to be availibe anytime soon?
Lacey
Sorry, all rented to fabulous people for the next year :). But like your style to ask here!
Kerry
When i was renting my place, my inbox was flooded. Same as poster above,Had a nice couple who wanted to think about it overnight. Unlucky for them the next people took it!
Lacey
You snooze, you loose. I get that it’s hard to decide in the moment, but I think doing lots of “homework” on the neighbourhood and property ahead of time can help. Thanks for commenting.
Islander
Be on time for your showing apt.
Don’t ask in your inquiry “how does a lease work?” what happens if I want to move out prior to one year
Duh! you just told the landlord you have no intention of being a “long term tenant”
Lacey
haha – oh dear, that’s an easy “no!”
Long Time Landlord
Include the following information if you even want a chance to be considered: number of occupants, if all of the work full time, if anyone smokes anything and if anyone has any pets. Lastly, make sure you show up to see the place or at least cancel if you cannot show up.
I totally disagree on the yard work comment from Lacey. Yard work is 100% the responsibility of the owner not the tenant. The tenant already pays rent and that is all that is expected of normal rentals.
Lacey
Thanks for commenting, we’re both right. It’s up to you and your lease agreement (and unit type) in regards to yard work…
For your reference from the BC Residential Tenancy Policy Guidelines: PROPERTY MAINTENANCE
…
3. Generally the tenant who lives in a single-family dwelling is responsible for routine
yard maintenance, which includes cutting grass, and clearing snow. The tenant is
responsible for a reasonable amount of weeding the flower beds if the tenancy
agreement requires a tenant to maintain the flower beds.
4. Generally the tenant living in a townhouse or multi-family dwelling who has
exclusive use of the yard is responsible for routine yard maintenance, which
includes cutting grass, clearing snow.
Heritage Hill
I left a lengthy, well-informed, tip on this site, a few weeks ago, & it was NOT published.
I’ve been a LandLord for over 20 yrs., & have seen almost every situation imaginable.
A few of the biggest things Landlords can do to prevent a potential rental nightmare, is to run a Credit Check, & a Criminal Records Check,along with checking social media. As far as “Yard Work”, if you write that term into a Lease Agreement, with close specifics on what is to be done when, then you CAN allow that. However, I’d be leery of “what if the Tenant decides they can’t/won’t do the work anymore”?
I have one Suite w/ it’s own private Courtyard & Garden. That entire area is the responsibility of the Tenant, because it’s not shared in any way, with the rest of the Property. It’s also part of the Suite Rental space & advertised & written into the Agreement as such.
Request a Bio in your Ad.
Lastly, do as much screening/communicating w/potential tenants online as possible, before compiling a List of Potential showings, & giving out your Address.
I usually have 100 responses over 24 hrs., which I trim down to approx.8-10.
Lacey
Sorry, missed your first comment! This is great info and glad you shared it again 🙂
Chris
Some good tips here in this article on how to be smart and fast.
How about stepping up our “bad deal radar”?
“Tips for spotting a crooked landlord before signing an agreement”
Like it or not, a tight rental market also means that renters get exploited to one degree or another. It would nice to get some tips to minimize that.
Lacey
Good call! I haven’t been a renter in years, but I remember viewing some terrible places, owned by some sketchy people. What do you look for in a landlord? I think it’s a lot like a job interview: should be a fit for both sides. Sounds like a follow up blog post in the making 🙂
Lisa
Lacey, what I have done since becoming a renter again are these things:
1) I bring my dogs to the viewing. That way the landlord can meet them and see how well behaved they are. It also allows me to analyse my dogs reaction to the landlord. This saved me once where the landlord turned out to have been charged with propositioning a minor and invitation to touching. Not even kidding you!
2) I bring up a few of my hobbies duiring the viewing, to see if we have anything in common.
Honestly, screening a landlord feels a lot like screening a potential boyfriend/girlfriend. Its super important for both parties though.My current landlady and I have become great friends over the last 3years. Unfortunately, she just sold her house, so now I am on the hunt for new accommodations….
Lacey
Thanks Lisa – great ideas! I feel the same way. We’ve been so lucky that we’ve really enjoyed all our tenants; we’ll watch their pets and vice versa.
Best of luck on your search! (have you set up alerts? that’s how our latest renter scored the first showing at our house).
Lisa
No, I haven’t set that up yet. I really should. Most of the rentals are out of my price range, even though I am in the military and make good money. Its pretty scary out there for me right now. Not sure if I will find something before the end of September, and have had to brace my kids by saying that we may have to move into a motel if nothing comes up.
Lacey
Ugh, I’m sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine how stressful that is.
We’ve seen some people posting “wanted” ads on our site and then sharing those via social. I’m not sure if they’ve had any success in finding a place that way, but couldn’t hurt.
Please keep me posted. I’m rooting for you and your family!