The Quest
Posted on June 24, 2008 - Filed Under Housing |
Thanks for the comments yesterday. My response was getting too long so the “post” option seemed to be the better approach.
AI: If no one was interested enough to show up to look at yours, then your rent is too high. [Thty] all found cheaper or better located housing.
Clifford: I disagree. The people knew the rent when the called and still wanted appointments. They are the ones who selected the times and I agreed to meet with them. Why they never bothered to show up or at least cancel is beyond me. While I may call them impolite, I don’t think these people are collectively “standing me up” to punish me for having my rent too high.
AI: I like the idea of mass showings.
Clifford: As do I. The only problem is after three weeks, with each having a three hour window, only one person showed up. One over a three week period. That’s when the decision was made to abandon this approach.
AI: If your rent needs to be lowered, do it now and get the place rented.
Clifford: I’ve been steadily lowering the rents. Each reduction produces a mass of phone calls with about 50% turning into appointments. I know someone who runs a PM company and listened to what he was getting in that same area. I’m confident this new rental price will work.
Paty: Maybe they work for the cable company!
Clifford: Too bad they don’t work for Dominos. I would have gotten $60 worth of pizza for free!
Kenric: Cliff, are you still spacing the appointments apart? Just make them all at the same time and waste only 1 hour of your life.
Clifford: That is actually a great idea. Rather than declare an open house, I could schedule a bunch of people during the same hour. Maybe something would break loose if some one on the fence saw other people showing up to view the house.
I did notice something: every phone call or every visitor seemed to ask one of two questions: ”Is there a garage?” or “There’s two houses on this lot?”
When I wrote the ad, it never occurred to me to write “No garage”. I was more focused on writing what the house had versus what it didn’t have. After all the house doesn’t have a meth-lab, an indian burial ground, a tattoo parlor . . .
The ad was re-written, to include answer these two questions. People who require these items won’t bother to call, thereby not wasting their time nor mine.
I’m also going to follow up the day of the appointment. ”Just calling to confirm our appointment today for 3:30.”
If you liked that post, then try these...
Elementary My Dear Watson on November 6th, 2005
Saturday morning and I had just completed my first night in the house.
Home Depot Cabinets on June 27th, 2007
Upon entering the home of my nemesis, a legion of trumpets heralded my arrival.
Comments
5 Responses to “The Quest”
Leave a Reply
Here in Canberra the agents show houses at appointed times. When you et there there are 4-5 people or more standing in the yard and at the end everyone grabbing application forms. But it is a very tight market here. We went to a few of those but the places we actually applied for were three that noone else saw that day, including the one we live in…. Maybe the competition helps, but all those places weren’t any good for us anyway. Our edge was that we were doing this full time for a week, whereas most people have to take time off work and those mass showings happen at lunchtime, early evening, and weekends.
mooms last blog post..Three Bad Trades: Two (?) Down, One to Go
Like an on-line retail business, you should have a conversion rate. Some percentage of responses convert to appointments, some appointments result in showings, and some showings go to applications. As I understand it, you have had few if any showings, and no applications. Changing your marketing to weed out people who want a garage or a house on a separate lot will reduce the phone calls, but will you get conversions to showings and applications? If you don’t, then you need to have another look at the rent.
What other owners are achieving in rent is useful for setting a general starting range for your property. It does not mean your property will rent in that range. If you are effectively marketing the property and you are not converting calls into showings and applications, your rent is too high.
In your shoes, I would give the new strategy a few days and see what happens. If you aren’t getting showings, then re-evaluate.
Cliff, when I do my rental ads I put everything I can think of into the ad. A google map with an X near the home. I never put the actual address. A floor plan or in your case plat layout would be good if you had them.
I also put that a credit check required and that it costs $15. Security deposit of $1800. Pet fee of $300, etc…
Whenever I get a call I know that the people have not been scared by all the costs and deposits. They’ve seen pics, a map of its location, a floorplan, etc… and they still want to see it.
Whenever someone asks a question that is not answered by the ad, you should put it into the ad immediately.
Kenrics last blog post..General Update again
@moom: I’m thinking the same thing. Maybe a group viewing might put some pressure on. We’ll have to see!
@AI: So far the new strategy is working. Fewer phone calls but more people are showing up for appointments. I did post some figures here: http://www.chezcliff.com/2006/12/05/is-that-like-1/
@Kenric: I have bounced around the idea of creating a website with all the information in it. Plus more photos. The online sites, such as Craigslist, are limited in what they can do and the number of photos. Also I might get a better idea of how many people are looking at the ad, using google analytics or something.
Speaking of answering every question: I was asked yesterday about the school districts in the area. The couple had a newborn and were wondering about it. I didn’t realize newborns were being enrolled in schools.
Cliff, you know I was actually going to mention school districts in my previous comment. I get this question alot and I’ve found that all you really need to do is put the District number. Even if you don’t know what that means, the people searching certainly will.
One other thing about the website. I used to have a 4 page site. Home page, photos, maps and other info. Alot of people only see the front page and call with questions. I’ve found that many people still don’t understand websites and tabs so now I’ve put everything on one page so they will see everything before they call. Keep it very very simple.
Kenrics last blog post..1 for 2 on Tenants in SLC