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For me Craigslist works the best. If I place an ad in the local freebie shopper, about 4 out of 5 of the phone inquiries are trash - people about to be evicted or who can't come up with the security deposit. If I use CL the ratio goes to 50/50, I think because it gets narrowed down to people who can afford an internet connection and/or know how to use the internet. Of course I also get a lot of agencies looking to place Section 8 so if next timen I am going to insist on NO THIRD PARTIES. NONE. The last gal I got as a tenant this way has turned out to be something of a challenge.
It takes me about 2-3 months to find an acceptable tenant. Your mileage may vary depending on where you are.
Ditto on CL. Once they respond to my CL posting, I send them the address and a very detailed list of my rental requirements. I ask them to review the requirements and drive by the place and if they want to see it, get back to me. Each time I have gotten a lease w/i 2 weeks of posting on CL. However, I have a posting right now and no one who has reviewed my requirements has gotten back to me. However, I am also posting 6 weeks ahead of availability and before I posted right at 30 days ahead.
I keep a list of people that have expressed interest and when it looks like something will be available, I go down the list to see who is still looking.
Word of mouth from satisfied current and former tenants works best for me.
Another method used with success is a for rent sign at the property... this way you are capturing prospective tenants already familiar with the area...
Last way is people will stop when they see work be done and ask...
I do give a dinner gift certificate for a referral from current tenants... 90 days after satisfactory move-in I send them out.
I have had the worst luck with Craigslist for Rentals... just my experience.
We get some calls from signs, but the majority of our calls come from Craigslist. I put the ads in, and my boss, who takes the calls, almost always can tell within 20 minutes that they went in, because his phone goes crazy for a couple of hours.
We get a fair number of scam inquiries from CL, so you have to watch out for those.
Our market is pretty good, so we usually have places rerented within a week.
Thank you all for responding. I am so amazed how creative applicants can be with their rental history. Most of it is not true and I'm finding it a lot of work to verify everything.
I advertise on CL for the first month then I put it on the local MLS aka Realtor only site. I have gotten mine rented anywhere from a week to two months. But I put them on as I am working on them which distracts some people as they cant envision the finished product. You will get more calls around the first of the month. I require 2 months security and 1 months rent but the last property I came up with 2 pricing structure's. 2 security and 1 rent at $950 or 1 security and 1 rent at $1050. I figured at 8 months in I would "break even". I even told a few people that they could move in at the $1050 rate and later on if they got the additional $850 security I would lower it to the $950 rate.
I have them fill out a complete app and tell them I am doing a background check but mainly looking for any evictions, foreclosures, or repossessions in the last 3 years. Usually they tell me up front. The only background check I do is GOOGLE searches of the info on their app. On one I found a history of prescription pain meds abuse on the local court records search. I didnt help him that he looked very similar to a guy I know of that uses pills almost asked if he had a brother named *****. If they look decent, pass my check, and have all of the cash then they are goo to go in my book.
Each prospective tenant is asked if the application is complete and accurate... I don't like surprises or wasting my time.
Sometimes, after hearing this, they will just pick up the app and leave.
I've also had great tenants that asked up front if I would still consider them because they had a foreclosure, short sale or bankruptcy...
The one with a BK was one of the best families ever... he and a partner ran a business in town and partner embezzled funds and left the country... I had read about it in the paper.
If you will lie on the application... don't waste my time...
Another small time mom and pop set-up here, we have less than a dozen properties. We go with a sign out front and references from current tenants. We also keep a list of prospects and reach out when a property is opening up to see if anyone is interested.
We've had some really interesting characters from Craigs List in the past, so don't go that route anymore.
It usually takes us a week or two to re-rent.
I like that gift certificate idea - we may use that one in the future
Once you filter out all the section-8, and people who are days from being evicted, you end up with decent tenants.
One of the main telling signs is whether they read the ad at all. All pertinent information is on the ad. The people who call me to ask how much rent is, and how many bedrooms it has, are the people that I don't waste any time on.
If you can't read the goddamn ad, chances are you won't bother reading the lease.
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