Nov 11
24
We have a vacancy in one of our properties that is managed by a property manager.
It’s located in Kelowna. We normally try to get out to see our properties as soon as a vacancy comes up but Kelowna is not a day trip from Vancouver Island where we lived. So, we planned a trip right after the Investor Forum to check everything out. Since I knew we were going there in a week or so, I didn’t check up on the ads for the property when they got posted at the start of November.
When we arrived at the property in Kelowna, the vacant unit was in ok condition. We decided to do a few improvements to make it more competitive with the new condos (there’s a massive amount of new condos on the market in Kelowna still – making rentals still a little tough there). The condition the unit was in, however, shouldn’t have been keeping tenants from renting it. So then I started to ask more questions.
When troubleshooting why a unit isn’t renting, here’s what to ask yourself or your property manager:
- Are you getting showings? If yes, the issue is with the property. If no, I move to the next potential issue.
- Are you getting calls? If yes, the issue is in how the calls are being handled or possibly something with the unit (i.e. there’s no bath tub, no fenced back yard or something like that). If no, the issue is related to the marketing.
- What’s up with the advertising? Where is the ad located? What do the pictures look like? What’s the rent rate like compared to competitive units? What does the ad say? Is there a sign out front of the property?
Pictures, rent rate and what is in your ad will dramatically change the response rate you get from your advertising.
So when I went through this with our PM and discovered that they had only one call and one showing – and the call came from a friend of the downstairs tenant – alarm bells started to ring loudly in my head as I started to drill the PM about the ads. Where are they? What’s the rent? What are the pictures like?
He gave me all the right answers but I knew something had to be wrong so I set out to find the ads myself. 45 minutes later I still hadn’t found the ad in the main rental site in Kelowna. Frustrated and frazzled I finally looked in the condo section (I’d been looking in houses and partial houses for rent given that this is a main floor of a house for rent). Inside the 340+ condo rental ads there was our HOUSE FOR RENT!
Gee … think that might have had a reason people weren’t calling? And don’t get me started on the pictures … dirty dishes in the sink, rumpled sheets and trash around the unit … no excuse for such bad pictures when the unit is now vacant!!
Our awesome real estate agent in Kelowna (Brenda Bachmann) grabbed her wide angle lens camera and shot some fabulous photos and I set to work creating new ads. The unit is not rented yet but they’ve had more calls in a week than they did in the first 2 weeks of the month AND they have begun to show it more.
The market in Kelowna is slow right now. The time of year and the number of condos for rent are making it tough to fill rentals but bad ads were not doing us ANY favours at all. The PM had written it off because of the above issues and didn’t bother to check where his assistant had posted the ads. We only lost a few weeks by not catching this issue sooner but those are two weeks that might have filled it for December versus January.
So … I share this with you in the hopes that you are quicker to follow my own advice than I was!! And interestingly, a couple of nights ago I interviewed Multi-Family Investing expert Pierre-Paul Turgeon for one of our group coaching calls with our Rev N You Insiders and he indicated that not staying on top of the advertising for vacant units is one of the biggest mistakes he’s made in the past too. It’s a big issue for all investors – single family and apartment building – and one I hope you pay close attention to.
Tired of Pretending to be a Real Estate Investor & Not Having Real Estate??
On another note … if you’re looking for human coaches that care about your investing success we have a couple of coaching programs starting soon … our Bootcamp class begins December 1st. It’s perfect for the rookie investor that wants to FINALLY get that first deal under their belt. We take you by the hand and walk you through all the steps, details and pitfalls to avoid. Get all the details on a webinar replay while the spaces are still available: http://www.realestatemillionairecourse.com/register
I also wanted to let you know that we still have a couple of spaces in our VIP Mastermind group for 2012 available. This is by application and interview only as we only take 5 people. For those 5 people we completely open our doors. We teach you EVERYTHING we do – including our rent to own system. We’ll even help you troubleshoot your own vacancy issues if you have them and work with you to write ads for your own rentals. We’re in your corner 100% for 2012 with our contacts and resources totally open to you – whatever you need to get to your goals we try to help you find. Plus you’ll be there to support and encourage each other for the year in our cozy little group of action taking investors. Should be a FANTASTIC year and we can’t wait to get it started. It’s ideal for the folks who’ve done a deal or two and want help creating their business systems and building a solid foundation for their future as an investor. If you’re looking for someone to have your back and get you really rocking and rolling in 2012 reach out to us. It’s by application and interview only so email Candace at info (at) revnyou.com if you are interested.
