Nothing makes me want to hire a property manager like showing a house for rent. Then I think how much a property manager costs and decide I can handle a little hassle once in a while :)For me the absolute worst part of showings is people who just don't show up. I think back to my renter days and I don't think I ever no-showed to an appointment to see a rental. Ok, ok, maybe one time in college when I was looking at places and my mom insisted the neighborhood was too sketchy. Even then, I think we called the guy and to let him know. But the fact is, most people don't have the courtesy to cancel, they just don't show up. Rude!
So how can we reduce the annoyance of no-shows? Here my top tips.
1) Schedule appointments 15 minutes apart, as many in a row as possible
It might seem a little skimpy but 15 minutes is more than enough to look at a unit, even my 3 bedroom house people are only there about 15 minutes and if you have a no-show in the middle, it's not really that long. This is my preferred technique but yes sometimes I have two scheduled in a row and neither one shows up. If someone shows up late and they overlap, I think it actually motivates them more to get moving on an application.
2) 30 minute confirmation
Either ask them to confirm via text 30 minutes in advance or tell them you will text them and they need to answer. I don't personally do this but I know a lot of landlords will not go to the showing if they don't confirm. I recently scheduled and appointment at noon to show the place at 2:15 pm and she didn't show. I'm not sure asking her to confirm 30 minutes out would have mattered but maybe?
3) Only wait 5 minutes
Seriously if you are more than 5 minutes late and don't call, I'm leaving if you're my last appointment. At the time of the showing if no one has arrived, I go upstairs and start turning off the lights and locking up. This won't reduce how many no-shows you have but at least you don't wait very long!4) Hold an open house
A lot of landlords hold an open house style showing where they are there for 1-2 hours on a Saturday afternoon. I think this could work really well if you are in an area that is really high-volume. That would both give you 1) tons of people wanting to see it and 2) more power to dictate the terms of showings. However, I tried this and it resulted in my sitting in an empty house alone for two hours.
Thankfully, I'd brought a book along, the problem with empty rentals is they don't have WiFi! Since then I haven't tried it again.
5) No reschedules
Yes, I have had people not show up to their appointment and contact me again for a showing. If you don't show up the first time and didn't cancel in advance, I hope you found a place because I'm not showing you one again. What kind of tenant would they make? Probably a rude one.
In reality, there is only so much you can do to reduce the number of no-shows you have. If your property is attractive and priced-well that will also help as people will want to check it out and rent it. If you have too many no-shows, that might be a sign that they are finding places that are better priced and nicer before they came too look at your place.
Main photo credit: Lina Kivaka from Pexels
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