How fast can you rent my home?
By: Tom Lail
I believe every new client I’ve ever spoken to has asked this question in one form or another during our on-boarding process.
How fast can you rent my home?
From my years of experience in property management and leasing rentals in the DFW area, there seems to be only 3 things that deter renters from renting a property quickly. None of which have anything to do with time of year or geographical location.
If there is one thing I’ve learned about Texas Real Estate, its that our DFW area seems to have a robust job market that attracts people and businesses to move every day of the week. Time of year has never been an issue for people moving to a new city. If Toyota calls, your bags are typically packed the next day even if it’s a holiday month.
The 3 largest factors keeping your house from being rented quickly are its price, condition and something we just can’t change.
Pricing is easily the most important factor to determine prior to listing a property. If you start too high, nobody will come see the home other than viewing it online. If you start too low, you’ll be kicking yourself when you have tons of showings and tons of people wanting to apply.
As a licensed Realtor, the property manager pulls a Comparative Market Analysis for the surrounding neighborhood to determine an opinion of value. We base our opinions solely on what’s been leased in the neighborhood in the recent months, not on a property across town that looks similar.
Once a price has been determined and the home is listed, we determine if we are priced right based on the action we get on the home. If we are getting about 1 showing per day, or 1 every other day, we can assume we are priced right and no reductions may be needed to attract renters to view and apply for the property.
If we aren’t seeing any movement on the listing in 7-10 days, it’s time for a reduction to meet the market demand for the property.
But what is the root issue when we’ve got a lot of showings and nobody is applying for the property? We take a hard look at the condition and what agents and prospective tenants are saying about the property.
Does the carpet need replacing? Do the walls need a fresh coat of paint? Is the fence falling down?
Before we list a property, we take all of these things into account and provide recommendations to address these types of issues before the home ever hits the market.
But let’s be honest, Price and Condition are solely determined and approved by the landlord/owner of the property.
So when someone asks, how fast can we lease a property, it’s important to remember the home rents it’s self. From first glance of the online listing, to the first impression of walking through the home, no one person can truly sell a renter on moving into a home. They’ve got to want to live there. The home must sell itself with its price and condition.
Lastly, let’s touch on that thing nobody can change.
Is your driveway sloped like an uphill rollercoaster? Is the highway or busy street, literally right next to the property? Are the largest power lines you’ve ever seen essentially in your backyard?
That’s what I mean by, things nobody can change. You’ve got to role with what you’ve got, and put your best efforts into the price and condition to overcome these types of immovable obstacles.
So what’s a realistic timeline for renting the property if the condition and price are both in good shape?
7-21 Days seems to be the average for most DFW listings when we pull a CMA, and cross reference the pricing and review condition of the properties leased.
Focus on what you can control with your listing, and your next renter will be just around the corner.