How to Attract a Crowd and Fill Your Vacant Rental Within a Week! the 7 Day Method

I will be showing you a quick strategy you can use to fill your vacant rentals within a week. I have outlined this method in 6 simple steps. Stick to the steps and you are guaranteed to find your tenant.

1. Make sure your rental is deep cleaned, staged (as much as possible) and is ready to be shown. When it comes to staging just think "model home" and that should keep you in line.

2. You will heavily market your property for 5 days, then show it on the 6th day. Marketing Monday through Friday with a showing on Saturday usually works best.

3. Set aside a time slot for your one time showing on the upcoming Saturday, say 1-3pm. You will be making it known to the world that you are only showing your rental one time, on Saturday from 1-3 and will choose a tenant on the following week. This creates the hype you need to get those tenants clamoring to get into your rental. This also creates a strong psychological competitive streak among potential tenants when you conduct your one time showing.

4. Starting on Monday, you should post at least 2-3 ads a day on Craigslist and similar websites along with photos, rent amount and information highlighting your rental. You may post the cross streets and area but do NOT post the address. You want the potential tenants to email or call you so you can give them the address. This will let you know about how many people to expect on Saturday. You should also immediately print out flyers and post them at local laundry mats, grocery stores and bulletin boards at apartment complexes, specifically in areas that surround your vacant rental. Above all, do not forget to state that the showing is a one time showing only and that the new renter will be chosen the following week!

5. On the morning of your showing you will need to place signs in your rental area, almost like you are having a garage sale. The signs should say something like "Rental Open House 1-3pm, One Time Showing" with the address, as well as arrows. Place these signs at all surrounding main streets and red lights to direct traffic straight to your door. This should also bring in potential renters who are out driving on Saturdays. It is also a good idea to attach balloons to the sign in front of your rental or on all of them! You should also buy a pumpkin spice or cinnamon roll scented candle and light it at least 2 hours before your showing begins.

6. At the time of your showing simply let people discover the rental, answer any questions they may have and have a pile of rental applications on the counter. Let everyone know that you will be reviewing the applications and will choose sometime next week.

Viola! Not only have you brought those potential tenants in, but you did it with one single showing and you have the pick of the litter. Now all you need to do is screen those tenants properly! It is important to cross check rental applications in-depth, because believe it or not, some people lie on those applications! You may want to read my article on the fail safe tenant screening method to make sure you pick the best possible tenant for your rental.

Fail Safe Method! Screening Potential Tenants for Your Vacant Rental

Have you ever heard the phrase "they seemed like they would be such great tenants, what happened?!" This is something that happens to everyone, even the best property owners and landlords. Here are some great methods to properly check out those potential renters, giving you the best chance at a successful renter-landlord relationship.

1. First, you will want to require that all potential tenants give you proof of income by giving you a paycheck stub with their application, or you may request it after you have taken the application. Some tenants have been known to create fake paycheck stubs and to ask friends or family to act as their employer if the landlord calls to check employment. To get around this type of scam you will need to look at the paycheck stub Company Name, find that company's number and directly call the Human Resources department of that company. Simply ask them if the tenant works for them.

2. You will need to call all references and earlier landlords. Be polite but ask important character questions! If calling a landlord, ask him/her to verify the address. It is a good idea to do this because some renters ask friends or family to act as their earlier landlord. You should be able to weed this out right away by asking them to verify the rental address.

3. You will definitely want to check to see if any potential tenant is a registered sex offender. The FBI offers a good national sex offender database at FBI.gov.

4. Check your state court records system. Good news! Most states now have online search capabilities. Simply type in your potential renters name and see if they have had any legal troubles that could affect you in the future. For example, if you find cases where the person was taken to court for financial, drug, violent or criminal infractions, you may want to throw that application away!

5. Conduct a character check of your potential tenants. There are sites like pipl.com and facebook.com that can give lots of information on how that person really is on a day-to-day basis. You do not want to "snoop" but you do want to get a good idea of the type of person you will be allowing to live in your property.

6. Verify all tenants social security numbers. You can do this for free on ssnvalidator.com.

7. If you want, you can also order a full credit check on the potential tenant. These always cost money but are usually worth it.

If you perform all of these checks, you will have a very good chance of choosing the best tenant possible. You will also know more about the person you have chosen to occupy your property. Once you choose your qualified tenant, you will also need to have an iron rental lease agreement that fully protects you for the duration of that lease. You may want to read my articles on landlord lease protection clauses and landlord tax deductions to learn more about how to protect yourself and succeed in this industry.