Best Time to Start a Lease?
I live in a 2 fam in CG with a tenant and we’ve always had his annual lease start 9/1. But now he’d prefer it moved to 8/1. Is it tougher to get new tenants 8/1 versus 9/1? Grateful for any insight – thx!
I live in a 2 fam in CG with a tenant and we’ve always had his annual lease start 9/1. But now he’d prefer it moved to 8/1. Is it tougher to get new tenants 8/1 versus 9/1? Grateful for any insight – thx!
“In addition, asking even a generally cooperative tenant to allow showings two months in advance is just not realistic.”
Again — This seems to be a weird NYC-only thing. If you don’t renew your lease, this is STANDARD practice everywhere else on earth. Obviously no one *likes* it, but it’s definitely “realistic.”
Another problem with showing an occupied apartment is that some tenants are absolute slobs. If you try and show those apartments you need a very rare prospective tenant with an open mind and enough imagination to visualize what the place “could” look like when all the clutter is removed and the place is cleaned, painted etc. Most apartment hunters will recoil in horror. In addition, asking even a generally cooperative tenant to allow showings two months in advance is just not realistic. Most tenants don’t like the showing process for all sorts of reasons and who can blame them?
my take:
june 1 and september 1 have the best overall response rate based on over 20 years of advertising rentals.
we always show apartments while they are occupied, and never have a vacancy unless we take the apartment off line for a major renovation. also, I have rented a few apartments to prospective tenants who saw them about a month before completion of major renovations, and have never rented apartments so easily. our renovations are relatively high end, we are able to show other apartments in the same house that are finished, and the agents showing the apartments can attest to our record of delivering a finished job on the date of occupancy. my theory is that for a renter to get to be the first person to live in a brand new place offsets the risk of not being able to visualize the finished product. give a tour that includes the details and show the finished version, works fine.
tybur6 – I agree with you. But the times I have listed my apartment two months ahead of time, no one wants to sign a lease. So I list the month before to diminish the times I have to show it and the number of times I have to ask the current tenants to allow an open house. (I certainly don’t wait until the apartment is vacant to show it.)
@tybur6 – Sorry, but that’s how I roll.
It may add to your stress, but I think it diminishes the stress of the folks still residing in the apartment while they are in transition… and I KNOW it diminishes my stress… Matter of perspective, I guess.
Of course I’d rather not lose a month of rent in the transition, but I have also found that waiting for the apartment to be vacant prior to showing it does allow for potential screw-ups and delays in the move-out…
… for instance, if the current tenant has an issue with a mover or a delay with their “new” home, I can afford them the leeway.
… as well as allowing me to repair/paint anything that needs repairing/painting without disrupting the new tenant.
Frankly, this all makes pretty good sense to me… hahaha… local-cultural thing or not.
@gowanusgus : Sorry to hijack the thread.
PicassosLeftEar — That is really odd to me. I’ve lived in many places in this country. ONLY in NYC have I had the experience of viewing pretty much *only* vacant apartments. This is a strange local cultural thing it seems…. and all it does is add to the stress of living in this city.
@tybur6 : I sympathize, but as a landlord, I am not comfortable asking my current tenants to let strangers into their apartment for viewings while they are still in residence.
I’ve also tried advertising when the apartment was in mid-construction, hoping to compel a tenant to tell me what color they might like the walls rather than repainting that boring landlord-white only to have them ask me for permission to paint ’em again… ha…
You may be the exception, but most prospective tenants I’ve encountered either do not have the imagination or do not like plopping down money on something unfinished – both totally understandable.
As such, I really have no choice but to advertise when the apartment is “available immediately”.
@gowanusgus : I own a four-family with three rental units and I agree with DEEN and NEWYAWKER.
you know that at one time(before my time) all leases in New ended 3/31 and started on 4/1. can you imagine everyone moving at once?
1/2 the people I know (including myself) end up spending so much money carrying TWO apartments for a partial month or more… just to secure a decent apartment.
The more important thing in my mind is not when it’s *available* but when do you ADVERTISE it.
It would be awesome if landlords could post an ad on craigslist AHEAD OF TIME. Ya know, so folks can decide not to sign a lease renewal of their old place, have a signed lease for a new place, and not have them overlap… and not be stressed because you’re not 12 days from being homeless without a new place, but you’ve already given up your old place.
In other words… “Available Immediately” should not appear in an ad!!