12 Apartment Showing Tips to Attract Quality Tenants

The best way to attract a quality tenant at your showing is by representing yourself as a high-quality landlord. Demonstrating your organizational skills, providing clear information, and presenting a clean property will show potential tenants that you are a landlord they want to rent from.

To help you achieve this, we outlined 12 tips to showing your rental property to consider when meeting with prospective tenants.

1. Write a Thorough Listing

The first step in attracting quality tenants at your showing is actually getting them to a showing. To do this, you’ll need a catchy, well-written, and descriptive listing with great photos to impress quality renters and get them interested in viewing your property. Also make sure that any directions to your property are clear and easy to follow.

2. Schedule Individual Property Showings 

Landlords commonly believe that scheduling an open house is the best way to market their unit and save time. However, open houses can end up hurting your rental process, instead of helping it.

When you schedule a single time slot for an open house, this can automatically disqualify potential tenants who cannot make it to the showing. What you should do instead is prioritize meeting and screening tenants based on interest. If someone reaches out for a showing and schedules it right away, it’s a good sign that he or she is highly interested. Open houses don’t take that into account.

3. Consider Timing

Think of your property’s best features. Is there great natural light, a spacious yard, or city skyline views? Schedule your showing for the time of day when the property’s best selling points stand out the most. If that’s during the daytime, stick to the weekend; for evening or night showings, choose a weeknight.

Check if there is any construction or renovation planned in the area or building and make sure to avoid those times. Be mindful of maintenance and cleaning schedules; if you know building common areas are vacuumed on Tuesdays, consider Tuesday evening for your showing.

4. Have All Relevant Paperwork Handy

We highly recommend using online applications and leases, so you don’t have to worry about having applications filled out or leases signed at a showing.

You absolutely should still have a print or mobile copy of all application, background, credit, and lease forms handy at the showing. Savvy tenants may ask specifically about the application or lease protocol. You want to be prepared to answer any questions and show them the paperwork that will be expected of them. This gives you a chance to address any questions, concerns, or objections to your application or lease terms up front and shows tenants you’re on top of things.

5. Create Handouts

Demonstrate how organized you are by giving prospective tenants all the relevant facts about your rental property on a handout. Having a thorough handout means tenants have fewer questions and allows you to give them more personal space during the showing — less stress for you, and more inviting for them.

Handouts also provide potential renters a solid take-home piece so they don’t forget the important details, and don’t forget about your property. Your handout should contain all relevant information about your property: lease start date, move-in and move-out fees, security and pet deposits, building rules and policies, and a clear list of what is included in rent.

6. Know All Area Amenities

Even if you or your previous tenants didn’t have pets, children, or cars, future potential tenants might. Research all area amenities so you’re not caught off-guard by specific questions. Quality tenants will definitely be turned off by a landlord who doesn’t have a solid understanding of the neighborhood.

Consider creating short supplemental handouts for people with pets (nearby dog parks, local vets, pet stores, dog walking services), young children (local schools, playgrounds, parks, daycares), and cars or bicycles (parking/storage options and costs). Even if you do not provide written information, you should be able to speak intelligently about local amenities.

7. Decide on Tenant Criteria Beforehand

Quality tenants will expect you to know what you’re looking for in a tenant at the showing. Don’t be caught unprepared for questions about smoking, pets, cosigners, minimum monthly income, credit score, etc.

You need to think through all of your tenant criteria before the showing and know what you will and will not accept. Having your criteria laid out will — and even adding rules to your handout — also helps protect you from accusations of discrimination. Just remember to check your state and local laws to make sure you aren’t adding illegal requirements or restrictions.

8. Keep a Flexible Schedule 

When renting your rental property and scheduling property showings, you’ll need to be flexible with meeting times. Most tenants will only be able to see the property after work hours or on the weekend.

While your schedule should be flexible in order to meet interested tenants, you should not be flexible about people being late, within reason.

9. Communicate with Current Tenants

Showings require additional planning and preparation if the apartment is currently occupied. Discuss the potential showing times with the current tenants at least a week in advance. Give plenty of notice and be respectful of tenants’ schedule and plans. It’s better for both you and the tenant to avoid any showings while your tenants have out-of-town guests or the day after hosting a party.

Quality tenants will be turned off by a messy apartment, so kindly ask your current tenants to clean up. Set the expectation that you may tidy up the apartment yourself or with a cleaning crew (make their beds, use their vacuum) and that potential tenants will be looking inside closets and cabinets.

10. Fix, Stage, and Clean

Make sure any maintenance issues in the apartment are addressed before the showing and all appliances are working properly. Even seemingly minor issues, like one leaky faucet or a loose doorknob, can raise concerns in quality tenants. You want to put your best foot forward and show you are an attentive, responsive landlord.

If your property is not occupied, consider staging. Empty rooms appear much smaller than those with furniture, and you want prospective tenants to visualize the space. It should go without saying, but make sure your property is clean before any showing.

If you the unit is occupied, arrive 30 to 60 minutes before your first appointment to prepare. Open windows for some fresh air, take out the trash, vacuum, wipe down windows and counters, and pick up any loose items. You should turn on all lights (bring a few spare light bulbs) and open all blinds for showings.

11. Soft Sell

You’ve diligently prepared and carefully organized everything in your rental property. The current tenants are out for a couple hours, and the property is clean and in great shape. When the prospective tenants arrive, don’t hover over them; it will only make them uncomfortable and won’t give them space to take in the unit. Chime in with interesting details and focus on the best features of your property.

Give personal space while hanging nearby to answer any questions. Instruct them on what next steps would look like and how to apply for the unit in a relaxed way. If you seem desperate or overzealous, potential tenants will be turned off. Be confident and relaxed, and let your property speak for itself.

12. Final Tips on Showing a Property

1. How you present yourself makes an impression on prospective tenants too. Take a little extra time to dress up, be prepared with handouts, and always be early for showings.
2. Don’t forget the outside of the building. Make sure shrubs are trimmed and that there’s no trash on the lawn or overflowing garbage bins in the alley.
3. Be consistent with what you show prospective tenants, and the questions you ask them, to avoid accusations of discrimination. For example, even if someone is in a wheelchair, you still need to show them the recreational areas.
4. Also, avoid saying a prospective tenant will “fit in” with the demographic of current residents; this could come off as stereotyping or discrimination.
5. It’s good to have a rental application, credit check authorization forms, and other documents on hand, but if you use an app like Avail, you can just ask for a prospect’s email address. You’ll log in later and send them the next steps online, simplifying and speeding up the application process.

For even more tips, check out our ultimate resource on rental property showings, including how to stage your unit.

Learn More about How Avail Helps DIY Landlords

Once you find quality tenants for your unit, it’s time to think about how you’ll effectively manage them. From maintenance requests to rent collection, being a successful landlord is hard work. Avail is here to help landlords post listings across the web, collect rent online, manage maintenance requests, and so much more. Create an account today to begin leveraging landlord software to grow your rental business.