2 – REDUCE VOIDS –
Let’s look at 5 areas we can reduce voids.
Empty properties can be the highest cost to a landlord. You may decide to reduce your property’s price to generate more inquiries and reduce the risk of void.
Firstly …You must be confident that your property offers value…, taking into account comparable property prices.
If you are finding tenants yourself, here are some suggestions to reduce voids.
1 – How to create a great Property Advert?
Here are some tips for the perfect advert:
· Dress your house – dress bedrooms with a duvet, pillows, cushions, throw, plants, ornaments, and wall art. Dress kitchen, bathrooms, and shared areas too.
· Photograph your property with a wide-angle if possible, good camera, clear shots, 2 to 3 photos of each room from different angles, and in daylight. Consider professoinal photography.
· Take a video of your property will set your advert apart and generate more inquiries.
· Write a compelling advert and ask a question to get the reader’s attention, describe house, area, and you, as a landlord, also have a call to action.
· Refresh adverts regularly to keep them at the top of the listings to get exposure, change the main photo to keep the advert fresh.
· Respond quickly to calls and emails as tenants will likely be making several enquiries at once. When responding to enquiries, offer 2 viewing times, does morning or afternoon work better for you and be prepared to do viewings in the evenings and weekends.
· Take the persons phone number – People not showing up for viewing is a waste of your time, so confirm the viewing in the morning.
· Contact the current tenants and notify them of the viewing and ask them to ensure the house is clean and tidy.
· Consider advertising on the following websites – Spareroom, Gumtree, Facebook, Rightmove, and Zoopla via an aggregator. Other student-specific websites generate a lot of inquiries.
· Some websites allow to you proactively contact people looking for properties.
· Ask current tenants if they know of anyone who would like to move in.
2 – How to conduct the Perfect Viewing?
Getting people to view your property is the first half of the job. The next part is conducting the perfect viewing.
· Arrive 10 minutes early – this will give you time to make last-minute presentation changes to the house.
· Create rapport – People buy from people as well as buying the property. You want to get to know about the person…. and have them do a lot of the talking.
You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. Ask these open questions:
What are you looking for?
What is the reason for your move?
· Capture – at a minimum, their name, email address, phone number, preferred move-in date, and approximate take-home earnings per month.
Given the answers to these questions, you may want to ask if they have a guarantor.
· Confirm the availability date and the price of the property.
· At the end of the viewing, ask if they want to take the property. – if you are happy with the viewer, explain the next steps, They will either say yes or may give you an objection for you to answer.
· Follow up – schedule a text or phone call for that evening or next morning as they may have further questions.
· You may find yourself doing a video viewing – they are increasingly common. The process is similar to an in-person viewing, just that you will be talking on a screen, not in person.
3 – Consider deposit replacement products to reduce void periods.
The upfront cost to a tenant of moving includes the first month’s rent and often a deposit equivalent to 1 month’s rent.
Deposit replacement products work differently. The tenant buys an insurance policy. The cost is equal to about 1 week’s rent. It is not refundable.
The landlord gets a guarantee of any approved losses as a result of actions by the tenant, typically unpaid rent and damage to the property.
The benefit to the tenant is a lower moving cost, and the benefit to the landlord is reduced void by offering a more attractive proposition.
4 – How to keep your tenants for longer?
Happy tenants stay longer, reducing voids, reduce the cost, time and effort involved in finding new tenants.
Communication is key. We find communicating via text, WhatsApp, or a dedicated property app works best.
We all know what excellent service is, so strive to offer this to your tenants. · Let tenants know – about viewings, inspections, and maintenance visits.
· Acknowledge – all tenant requests the same day. You may not know how to answer or fix their issue but acknowledging the request shows you are listening.
· Update – tenants to say you are still working on their issue, even if you have nothing extra to report.
· Act quickly – to maintenance issues. This is about having tradespeople that come recommended who you can consider part of your property team.
Excellent communication between you and your trades team is essential in keeping your tenants informed.
5 – How does a 2 Months’ Notice Period help reduce a void?
Consider putting a 2-month notice period into your tenancy agreement.
We find it won’t put applicants off from taking a property but gives you more time to find your next tenant. This need to be made clear to your tenants.
