How to Handle Showing Your Investment Rental Property like a Real Estate Agent PRO?

When the calls and online inquiries for your rental property start flooding your inbox, it’s time to think about your system for handline showing properties. Like anything else in life, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. We’ll break this step down into three steps: Inquiries, Showings, and Follow Up.

Inquiry

If you have successfully marketed your property, you should start to receive inquiries in no time. You want to maximize your return on investment and not waste your time showing the property to those that would not be a good fit.

You want to get some personal information from each person that calls or contacts you regarding your property.

Pre-Screening Rental Tenants

  • Contact info (Name, Phone, Email)
  • Timeline: Expected move-in date
  • When does their current lease end?
  • Do you want to move once their lease ends or before then?
  • Why are they moving? What’s prompting them to move?
  • Applicants’ gross monthly income; this should be at least three times the monthly rent
  • Applicants’ credit score
  • How many occupants will there be?

Showings

What is your plan for showings? If you are not a professional real estate agent or property manager, you probably don’t want to run to the house every time someone expresses interest. Come up with a showing schedule for each week and try to stick to it.

Usually, I block off one morning, one afternoon, and one evening to accommodate each prospect’s schedule. For example, a lead comes in and says they are available weekdays after 5 PM. Say great I’m showing the property Thursday evening at 6:00 and Saturday morning at 11, which works best for you.

Try to show the property to as many leads as possible at the same time. This will reduce the time you spend commuting to and from the property and also encourage interested prospects to submit applications because they see there is a lot of interest.

Make sure you arrive early. Turn on all the lights and open the blinds.

Present the prospects with a flyer about the property. It should be two-sided. One side will cover the features and benefits of the property. The other will focus on the location. Its proximity to public transportation, commuter routes, shopping, and entertainment. Be sure to include any FAQs. What questions have you heard from prospects in the past? Answer them on the flyer.

You want to get feedback

  • What do they think of the property?
  • How does it show?
  • What do they think about the price?

Feedback is valuable because if you continue to hear the same thing from multiple people, that a sign that needs to be addressed. Whether its the carpet needs to be cleaned or that they think it’s overpriced. Lesson to the feedback and take action.

Follow Up

Be sure to contact them after the showing to follow up. Thank them for their time and find out what their plans are moving forward. If they are viewing other properties, get permission to follow up on a future date to see what they’ve decided.

Be aggressive and pro-active and you’ll get one of these prospects to move into your property.

Final Thoughts

Pre-screen all prospects. Make the most of your showings by answering any questions and getting feedback. Follow up, follow up, follow up!  I hope you found this information helpful. Don’t forget to check out our Ultimate Guide to Renting Your Home Without an Agent.

If you’re thinking about renting your investment property and want to enlist the help of a professional give, me, Abraham Walker, a call at 703-539-2053 or email me.

About the Author

The above article was written by Abraham Walker, Your Northern Virginia Real Estate Agent, helping clients market their homes to achieve high sales with a quick closing time is my main priority. He’s the co-founder of Ask A Walker and can be found on YouTube, Facebook, and HERE on this blog.