Worst Time To Look for Tenants?
Help. Our current tenants of 4 years (who we have gotten along with) have just informed us they are only willing to re-sign a 6 month lease. This means we would have an empty apt in January. We have heard January is the worst time to find renters. Is this true? Should we allow them…
Help. Our current tenants of 4 years (who we have gotten along with) have just informed us they are only willing to re-sign a 6 month lease. This means we would have an empty apt in January. We have heard January is the worst time to find renters. Is this true? Should we allow them to leave in January or do we insist on some other arrangement? Any information/experiences would be greatly appreciated.
We had the same situation and since we had great tenants, we let them move out. We discovered few people move in the winter. Ask your tenant to sign a one year lease (with two months security, in case they think of breaking the lease anyway) or leave when their lease expires. No matter how great the tenant, they are not concerned about whether or not you are able to quickly re-let!!
We had the same situation and since we had great tenants, we let them move out. We discovered few people move in the winter. Ask your tenant to sign a one year lease (with two months security, in case they think of breaking the lease anyway) or leave when their lease expires. No matter how great the tenant, they are not concerned about whether or not you are able to quickly re-let!!
We had the same situation and since we had great tenants, we let them move out. We discovered few people move in the winter. Ask your tenant to sign a one year lease (with two months security, in case they think of breading the lease anyway) or leave when their lease expires. No matter how great the tenant, they are not concerned with your income stream!!!
No way, my tenants are month to month now on the agreement that they can’t move out nov,dec,jan, or feb. They understand and are grateful to be able to move out in less than a year
Don’t be too discouraged. With daily postings on Craig’s List you should be able to find someone. Our previous tenants left on Christmas Day and we had a great young couple move in shortly thereafter. Their lease had expired a few months prior and they were eager to find something in the same neighborhood. It worked out well because we had a little time to paint and replace some appliances.
put some of the burden on them if they want to leave in dec. Have them sign a 1-yr lease but let them know that they can get out of it so long as you can find someone with comparable credit and at a comparable rent during those months.
This way if it takes an extra month they are on the hook. This will also get them working to find a new tenant for the place so that they can get out of their lease.
If they’re not into it say you are sorry and that you will need to find someone who can take a 1-yr lease now.
Lastly, rents have gone up a lot over the last 4-yrs. Since these are good tenants I’m guessing that you have not increased their rent at the same pace that rents have gone up. I’m guessing that if you check with some brokers or even by searching on craigslist you’ll find that you can get a lot more for the apt than your current tenants are paying.
Alternatively, if you must rent for January 1st, you can start advertising before the holidays. Sometimes, people know they’re going to be moving or that their leases are up, and they like to get a really early start. This should give you enough time to rent it and the tenant should be willing to let you show it.
Yes, it’s not so easy to find quality tenants from Nov – Jan. The volume of people looking is small because it’s the holiday season. I had that problem once. I used December to fix up and improve the apartment. If your tenant can take the apartment through January and make it available for Feb 1, you should have no problem finding a good tenant. Perhaps you could get the tenant to pay half of January and use the time for improving the apartment? If your four year relationship with your tenant was good, I would try to work something out with them. Just sincerely talk over the problem.
Avoid empty apartments from November thru January if you can. The tenants may not understand the problem they are handing you. No one looks for an apartment between Thanksgiving and New Years and if you have to list then, you’ll take a hit (both on an empty space and lower rent). I hav had this problem and it is not fun.