The Three Events of the Landlord Triathlon
There's the Walking-On-Eggshells-Around-the-Exiting-Tenant event. It's clearly spelled out in my lease – if you want your security deposit back, you have to let us show the apartment to your would-be replacements after you give your notice. I don't think people truly realize this means, yes, you have to let complete strangers tramp through your apartment. I'm sympathetic to this, I really am. I worked out with the tenant what times would be reasonable. She said after 5pm weeknights, so I only booked showings between 5 & 7pm. But it was still awkward. It's obvious when someone doesn't want you there. And she kept it so dark. It's her house, so I couldn't just walk around throwing open the blinds to the sunlight. I could tell she was trying to be a good sport, but I still felt like such an imposition.
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The next event was the Full-On Marketing Blitz. Single family homes and half-doubles rarely stay empty for more than a few days. Apartments are a bit tougher to rent. High rent apartments are even tougher. This one was $960/month in a neighborhood where you could probably find a four bedroom for $650. But that's if you could find a four bedroom. Ours is no ordinary apartment, either. It's HUGE, has off-street parking, and the landlord pays the heat, hot water and water bill. That $650 rental likely won't include any utilities at all. I have to rent my place at $960. My bills are too high not to. So I had to get across in the marketing the place was absolutely worth it.
First I had to determine who I was marketing to. Who would want a very large, higher rent four bedroom apartment within Wilkes-Barre city? Wilkes University students – we're practically on campus. Twentysomethings with good starter jobs sharing living space - $960 breaks down to $240/bedroom, and we pay all the big utilities which is very economical for this group. Responsible pet owners – we're one of the few pet friendly landlords around, even though we charge a premium for the privilege. Larger families committed to the city – contrary to popular belief there are people who prefer to live near downtown, who want their kids going to Myers and whatever the new high school will be called when it's built. That's a pretty decent audience!
Now, how to reach them...
I used the newspaper with its online component. I used Craig's List. I used Zillow Rental Manager. I used old school fliers tacked to bulletin boards across Wilkes University campus.
A couple of things I didn't get the chance to try before I got a deposit:
I had an 8-foot by 3-foot banner printed up at Staples in black, white & red that simply stated: NOW RENTING, CALL OR TEXT (570) 733-4744. I was going to hang that across the second floor balcony. Turns out I didn't need it this time, but it's generic and will work on any of our nine buildings. It's better than an old school FOR RENT sign. My husband is trying to rent an apartment in Scranton for one of his investor friends. Maybe I'll let him borrow it.
You can purchase advertising on Facebook, supposedly tailored to the audience you're trying to reach. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but Steve used it once to promote a house he was selling as a realtor and it generated more leads for him than anything else. I was willing to spend about $250. I would target males and females, age 18 to 54. I would look for people whose profiles mention Wilkes University, Myers High School, or Wilkes-Barre. I would also target dog and cat owners. And I would ask for maximum impressions – the more people who see the ad more frequently, the better. Supposedly Facebook has algorithms that would put my ad in front of the people most likely to want to rent it. Of course I would have it searching for people who indicated they were looking for a place to rent! If I ever actually place a Facebook ad, I will be sure to blog about the experience.
I may not have to buy advertising, though. Most of my leads for West River came from Zillow Rental Manager, which now publishes your rental on Zillow, Hotpads, Trulia, and a few lesser-known rental sites for free. You can upload a ton of pictures, and put as much detail in the ad as you want. I don't pay by the word, like in the newspaper, so I can expound about how huge and awesome the place is, how a $960 rent works out to $240/bedroom, how it's walking distance from Wilkes University, the riverfront park and the dike, Kirby Park, and downtown/Public Square. I can talk about the enormous parking lot directly across the street. I can rave about how the landlord pays the heat, hot water, water, sewer and recycling. I can explain the pet policy, how we do rent to dog owners but there is additional rent.
Craigslist allows the same detail, and is also free, but the majority of my leads came from Zillow Rental Manager. Very few came from the newspaper. And that advertising was decidedly not free. I will only use the newspaper now if I am aiming at an older audience, 50-plus. Some of my units, like my first floor efficiencies, target that audience.
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Finally, after screening multiple leads and conducting several showings, some of which actually showed up, there is the final event: Closing the Deal.
Earlier in the week there was a prospect who was very interested after a showing. His company was actually painting University Towers at Wilkes. I talked to him Monday night and he said we was going to call me on his lunch break Tuesday. I had planned on being at the gym at noon Tuesday, but I cancelled my workout so I would be available for his call. Of course he did not call me, nor did he pick up when I called him. I left a message that he could call anytime to schedule a second showing so his wife could see the place. Not a word. Lesson learned: never blow off my workout again.
A second prospect came back with her applications and the $75 to run three of them, but no deposit. I ran the apps and approved them, but she wouldn't have the deposit until August 9th, when she got paid. I can't hold an apartment on a promise, so I was resigned to another week of showings, at least. And more marketing.
Then yesterday Sherri, who is helping me by screening the leads, told me to check my voicemail. She saw the text of a message that came through – somebody wanted to put a deposit down on Tuesday. I really liked the first applicants, a family of three working adults and three older kids, and two well-behaved dogs. Their rent would be $1060/month. I'd feel bad calling them and saying “sorry somebody grabbed the apartment before your payday, but thanks for the $75” so I texted them a first right of refusal. “Hey, if you're serious about the apartment... I have someone who wants to put a deposit down Tuesday. If you can meet me this weekend or Monday with $200 I can hold it until the 9th when you can give me the rest of the deposit. Just wanted to give you first grab at it.”
They met me at Starbucks and we drew up the papers. They'll move in the weekend of August 25th, before school starts. I truly believe they are the right tenants for this apartment. I hope I'm right.
Right now I'm just looking forward to a little break from the stress of trying to rent a vacancy!