How To Deal With Tenants And Potential Tenants
If you are in charge of a real estate property
, it is important that you know how to deal with tenants, and potential tenants. It is very important that you pre-qualify them in the right way.
Rather than tell them about your requirements, you should ask them about their qualifications. For example, when you say, "You have to earn $2,000 a month to qualify," the caller is unlikely to admit that they don't, because they're embarrassed.
Ditto when you say that they have to have $1500 up front. Instead, they'll go ahead and make an appointment they have no intention of keeping.
So a better plan for you is to ask a series of questions finding out exactly where they are financially and when they are moving. Any applicant who does not pass this pre-screening should just be told so, right then, by you.
If you want to soften the blow some, you can use the line that my assistant always does, which is, "The owners have a very strict policy about income, and you don't meet the guidelines-I wouldn't want to waste your time or your $20 on this house, but would you like me to call you about others?"
Before giving this little speech to any caller, you should double check that they do not have additional income that they're not mentioning. Also, if the caller insists on seeing the property anyway, it's a good idea to show it to him...just tag him onto another showing that you already have.
Another good question to ask is, "Have you ever lease/optioned a home before?" If the answer is no, you can do your little spiel about how a lease/option works, then end with "Well, I'm not sure I explained that very well-I'll have some information about how it works at the house" (and, of course, have the information available when they get there).
This way, you take the blame for the fact that they don't understand, and assures them that they WILL understand prior to making a commitment. If you're concerned about asking questions about people's income and motives, get over it. The ones who get offended are the last people you want to make an appointment with, anyway.
Considered blocking out a set period of time each week (say Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.), but if you are trying to be customer friendly and you are afraid that the work schedules of your prospects would preclude them from making it to the set "open house," there is a way to accomplish both.
When a caller sets an appointment at, say, Wednesday at 6:00 p.m., tell the next caller that you'll be there Wednesday at 6. If that time doesn't work for him, set up Friday at 5 (or whatever).
Now you have two times during the week when you know you'll be at the property anyway, so try to plug everyone else into those times. Being "customer friendly" is always a good idea, but making your schedule around those of the your potential tenants is a very bad one.
You can appear to be accommodating them without inconveniencing yourself by offering several appointment times. Believe me, they don't appreciate you any more because you jump when they say jump.
In fact, it sets a tone for the rest of your relationship that you probably don't want to encourage. A suggestion on an internet site suggests that you require a prospect to call to confirm an hour prior to any scheduled showing. If they skip out, clearly, they are too immature to keep appointments, so you shouldn't feel bad.
But if it makes you feel better about this policy (which is a great one, by the way), tell prospects that you always forget appointments, so they need to call you an hour before to remind you to show up. Remember, the point here is to save your valuable time, not to make the lives of your prospects easy.
Another issue we have come across is prospects who take an application and never return it. They seem excited about the property when they leave, and promise to get the completed application back to us in a day or two, then we never hear from them.
With this information, you can better handle prospective clients for your properties. Good luck!
by: Jack Landry
shawls, silk shawls, shawl, shawls and wraps, evening shawls The Ultimate Wealth Formula: Dream Big And Do It! Lipo Made Better And More Reliable Joseph And His Chart Of Many Colours Riddex - Get Rid of Mice, Rats and Cockroachs Peanut And Raisins Cookies Revitol Cream - Understanding It's Features And Benefits Vocal Stimming, Amino Acids And Autism Rigirx And Zenerx: What Is Good About Them What Is Eusociality And How Does It Apply To Us? How To Buy And Use Bakeware Items? Accord Grilles Fit Well And Set You Apart From Others Wearing Perfume And Cologne