Well, it's Monday once again- and it's been another long day of taking calls from prospects who have known little to nothing about the properties they were calling to discuss.
Please know that in today's property management world, I'm glad to have prospects calling me. I know many in the business whose phones don't ring, and when your phone's not ringin' it's hard to be rentin'! That said, the old "quality over quantity" rules apply here- and while I've had a good bit of interest in places I've listed, the quality of the interested parties leaves much to be desired.
In an effort to help prospects help themselves, I offer the following ideas they should bounce around in their heads once or twice before they place a call inquiring about a property or properties:
1. Make sure you're calling the right person. Sounds funny, but time and again I've answered the phone and had no clue what the caller was talking about. They had called me about a listing that wasn't mine.
2. Know something about the property you're calling about. I do my best to stay abreast of things like school zones and which utility companies service my properties- so I don't think I'm asking too much by wanting prospects to know something about a place they may very well call their next home. Far too often, I have a conversation like this:
"Hello"
"Yes, I saw an ad for a place for rent."
"Yes, which one is that?"
"The one in the ad"
"OK, I have a number of them listed. Do you know the address of the property?"
"No"
"Do you know the area of town the property is located in?"
"No"
"Do you know the rent price?"
"No"
"Do you know if it was a single family home, townhome or condominium?"
"No"
"OK, then." (I proceed along, and rejoice in finding the property by process of elimination).
3. Know the areas of town where want to live, the areas where you don't, and have the wisdom to know the difference. Fair Housing laws prohibit me from steering prospects towards or away from a particular area- so I can't help you with what area is "best". True story: a caller last week was out of luck when he asked me if I had a place "where all of the drunk chicks hang out" and I wasn't able to help him.
4. Know how much you can pay for rent, and don't look at properties advertised at much higher prices and expect the owners to drop down to your price. It's true that it's a tough market, don't look at the advertised rent price as a suggestion. If I thought a lower price was more accurate, I'd lower the price.
5. Know your credit, rental and criminal histories and your employment information without having to guess or call back. These are tough times for many folks credit-wise, but it's absolutely untrue that "Nobody has good credit today". Good credit does exist, and I'm doing my owners a disservice if I compromise and don't look to find them the best tenants I possibly can. Know that your rental history is of the utmost importance, and be forthcoming with any evictions you may have had. Also, please respect me as I look to abide by my company's Resident Selection Criteria with regard to income: When 3x the monthly rent is required, 2.7x isn't enough.
I'll try and provide more of these as time rolls along. It seems that common sense has become far too uncommon, but I know that the home search process does go well a majority of the time. With a little research and homework on both ends, that can remain the rule and not the exception.
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