With snow on the ground (depending on where you live!) and holiday music in our ears — many investors face vacancy issues during this time of year. We all want to find a way to decrease vacancy.
Don’t sweat it. After more than a decade as an investor, I’ve learned 5 easy and manageable hacks to decrease vacancy during cold winter months:
Determine A Fair Market Rental Rate
It’s a tricky balance, but decide on a rental rate that keeps you profitable and is in your prospect’s budget. Remember, you’ll lose money if you have a high rental rate, but your property is vacant for several months. In that case, it’s worth reducing rent every 10 days instead of holding out for a higher rent — over time, you’ll earn more this way.
Offer Move-In Incentives
During slower months, you want to entice people to move before winter “hibernation”. Offer $200 off the first month of rent. Allow 6-9 month leases which will also set a renewal in the spring or summer months removing this challenge next time! Or even allow pets to appeal to more tenants (make sure you set up a pet fee, of course!)
Take Professional Photographs
This is something you can use for years to come. Make sure to include a floor plan photo. You should also consider virtual staging if the weather is an issue in your area.
Have flexible and staggering times for showings
This gives tenants a sense of urgency to fill out their applications when more people are considering. Side note — Saturday open houses with 2-hour preview windows create urgency, too!
Make sure people know it’s available.
Seriously, you’ll want to take the extra mile to make sure it’s available on all major websites including apartments.com, Zumper, Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook Marketplace, and the local MLS. But more importantly, make sure there’s a FOR RENT sign out front.
If you’re done hunting for deals on your own, or aren’t sure where to start with investing, or you want more deals to choose from…
…then you’ll want to join the Inner Circle with an annual membership before 2021 ends. Get connected to a community of other investors from all over the U.S. and plug yourself into resources, support, and massive deal flow from our trusted investor agents, from various markets across the States. Join the Inner Circle now and receive an exclusive invite to join us in Arizona in February for our Members Only Investor trip!
Join in December and you’ll get drafted into the Accelerator program, where we will help you accelerate your results.
The Accelerator takes new Inner Circle members through the four weekly coaching calls to kick-start their portfolio, starting January 4th.
In just four weeks, we’ll have you submitting (and closing) new offers for any deal you’d like.
Happy house filling!
