5 Things NOT to Do at a Rental Property Showing

Showing your rental property is a great opportunity to meet prospective tenants and walk them through your property. However, there are a several things you should avoid doing to ensure you fill your property in no time.

To make your showing successful, we’ve outlined five things not to do during your next rental property showing.

1. Don’t Have an Open House

Open houses can save you time since you won’t have to schedule multiple showings throughout the week. However, this can make it harder to truly get to know each applicant and properly market your property during the walk through.

Some tenants may also be turned off from visiting an open house due to the large crowd and inability to have a personalized experience. In general, people don’t like competition.

2. Don’t Forget to Clean Up and Stage Your Space

You want to show off your property in the best light, which means you’ll need to clean, stage, and prepare the space. If the unit is empty, you can easily clean the floors, countertops, and appliances to make the space look great in no time. You can also hire a professional cleaning service if you’re unable to clean it yourself.

If tenants currently live in the unit, you can offer to have a cleaning service clean their unit to still show the property to others.

3. Don’t Have Current Tenants There

To make your property showing successful, you should make sure that your current tenants are not home. It can make prospective tenants uncomfortable if the current tenants are home, as if you are invading their space. Similarly, it can be uncomfortable for your current tenants to have strangers walk through their home while they’re there.

The best way to go about this is to ask current tenants if certain windows of time work well for their schedule. If you can schedule a property showing during the work day, then you will likely avoid bothering current tenants. And, as always, be sure to provide your current tenants at least 24 hours notice before showing up at their door.

4. Don’t Steer Tenants

Steering is when you guide tenants towards certain areas of your property. It’s more helpful to tenants if they see the whole property, know what’s included in the property, and are able to ask questions on different parts of the home.

According to Fair Housing Laws, it’s also considered discrimination to not show a certain tenant an area of your property. For example, it’s considered discrimination if you don’t show a handicapped tenant a recreational area. Every tenant should see the full property that they will have access to in case you end up renting to him or her.

5. Don’t Miss Your Opportunity to Ask Questions

The property showing is your opportunity to screen prospective tenants. In our Complete Guide to Tenant Screening, we outline three ways in which you can pre-screen tenants, one of which is during the property showing.

Pre-screening at a rental property showing helps you eliminate tenants who are not a good fit before you jump into the more detailed process of tenant screening, including the rental application and the credit and background check. The best way to screen tenants at a showing is to ask questions when initially meeting them.

Make Renting Easier With Avail

Conducting a rental property showing may seem daunting, but with the right tips, it’s easy to complete. Once you’ve met with all your prospective tenants and they’re ready to submit a rental application, you can tackle all of this and more on Avail.

With Avail, you can create an online rental application, request tenant screening reporting, and much more. Create an account or log in to start managing your rental with no hassles.