Extended Vacancies Can Kill Your Cash Flow
Finding tenants as quickly as possible for a vacant rental property should be one of the number one concern of a landlord. NUMBER ONE!
Recently I wrote a longer post where I talked about Marketing Your Vacant Property and in it I explained all the problems a vacant property creates for you the landlord. (If you haven’t read it yet, you may want to start there or at least refresh yourself on the problems.)
I’ve also touched on Why Vacancies Can Kill Your Dreams and gone over reasons on Why Your Rental Property May Not Be Renting.
The recurring theme being you need to make finding tenants and filling any vacancies a priority.
The reason it’s such a priority is that for every month, for every week, even for every day that property is vacant, you’re losing money. No one wants to lose money, but when we lose focus or delay finding tenants, that’s exactly what happens.
Kevin’s Story
In a recent email I sent out, I shared Kevin’s story about the problem he was having finding tenants for his vacant rental property.
For four months his property was empty and for four months he was paying out of his own pocket for utilities, taxes and his mortgage.
On top of that there’s the lost time of having to visit the property regularly to maintain your insurance, temporarily higher insurance rates due to the extended vacancy period (you are aware you typically have to get additional insurance if your property is vacant over 60 days?), the frustration of not attracting good tenants or simply attracting sub-par tenants and the stress involved as you’re freaking out about your property being vacant for so long.
Think about it, wouldn’t you be freaking out?
What’s The Problem?
Now, if you’re not getting your property rented there may be a problem with your property or possibly your pricing.
If you’re having tons of people contacting you, viewing the property (or at least scheduling viewings and then not showing up) and you’re not getting it rented a killer rental ad won’t necessarily help you. You’ll need to solve the underlying problem first.
Note, if you continually have potential tenants schedule viewings and they never show, there is a very real chance that the outside of your property is scaring them away. Sure a few tenants simply don’t show, but more often then not they are driving by the property and making a decision on your curb appeal, or lack there of…
If this sounds like your scenario, go stand outside your property and start looking at it like a tenant. The first question for yourself when you do this is, Would I live here? If you answered no, you need to figure out what to change so you have a different answer.
If however, you’re having problems getting calls, you’re attracting the wrong types of tenants, the rental market has high vacancy rates or is simply slow then you need to focus on your ad first!
A Well Written Ad Makes Finding Tenants Easier
Getting back to Kevin’s story, Kevin took advantage of a free offer I made to rewrite landlords rental ads to help them out with their challenge of finding tenants.
Due to good timing, I was able to actually rewrite Kevin’s ad using proven ad writing tactics I’ve learned over the years and get it back to him by the next morning.
Kevin then swapped out his old ad for the new one and surprisingly within a couple weeks Kevin emailed me back to inform me not only had he found tenants, but he’d already put them in place!
Four months of vacancy and then a new killer rental ad fills the property within two weeks, WHAT!!!
Suddenly Kevin wasn’t freaking out about his vacancy.
Suddenly Kevin wasn’t losing thousands of dollars covering all the expenses related to a vacant property.
Suddenly Kevin was no longer stressed and concerned but happy and back on the right path as a successful and fully rented landlord!
Who else would like to be like Kevin?
What Will A Vacant Month Cost You?
Think about it, how much will a vacant property cost you directly out of your own pocket?
Would it cost you $1,000 per month?
How about $1,250 per month?
Maybe more each and every month it’s vacant?
This is money that could be going towards retirement, towards paying down that mortgage, maybe even to fund a vacation! But it’s gone…
How about we turn that around. What if I could save you $1,250 or $1,000 or whatever that crazy dollar amount your vacancy costs you every month, every week and every day your property is vacant? Just like I did for Kevin?
What would that peace of mind, that reduction in stress, that satisfaction of finding tenants to fill your rental be worth to you? Wouldn’t you want that extra cash so you can retire, so you could pay down the mortgage or maybe so you can take that well deserved get a way?
One Size Does Not Fit All
My challenge, and your challenge, is while I could be saving you several thousand dollars or even more, by teaching you the skills of finding your own tenants, the majority of you simply can’t afford to spend that much.
Even if I looked at half a month’s savings and used a $1,000 for your monthly carrying costs on a vacant property, that’s $500.
Granted, you’ll be able to use the ad over and over for years to it will save you money on an ongoing basis and it will keep thousands of dollars in your pocket…
But one size does not fit all!
So here’s what I’m proposing, three sizes fits the majority of you!
The Basic Ad ReWrite
Here’s what this involves.
I’ll take your current ad, I’ll rewrite it, punch it up, make it sound more appealing which will help with finding tenants and get it back to you.
I’ll take the information you provide on your property and research and provide you suggestions as to where you’re best off advertising (it doesn’t make sense to have a great ad if no one sees it).
Plus I’ll provide you several tips I use to help rent my properties faster.
Consider this a done for you package, all for $199.
The Ad Writing Education Package
Here’s what this involves.
I’ll do everything involved with the Basic Ad ReWrite, but instead of me simply rewriting the ad I’ll spend up to two hours (I bill my time out at $100 per hour, so this is a $200 value on it’s own) via Skype, online screen sharing and phone calls walking you through the process of re-writing your ad and teaching you the skills required to be able to write new ads for additional properties that you may be finding tenants for, or to help you sell just about anything. (Note you won’t required to pay for any special software to do this, everything will be free to use for you)
We’ll go over what you want to include in your ad, how you need to write it for the best effect and why you need to include certain information when you write your ads.
Additionally we’ll review your photos and provide suggestions to improve or magnify the effectiveness of attracting great tenants with your images.
I’ll also include some additional bonus materials I’ve created that can be used to streamline your ad content. This includes power phrases and sentences structured to have the most impact on potential tenants.
Plus, I’m going to throw in my How To Screen Tenants Like an Educated Landlord Course (normally $47) which provides approximately three hours worth of training on how I screen tenants. This is more bonus material on writing your ad, on the screening questions you need to ask and why you need to ask them. I walk you through how and where to get credit checks done and why you need to to do them and much more.
This would be what you call a teaching you to fish package that will make you self sufficient going forward. You’ll have the confidence and the tools to write future ads on your own to that will help rent out vacant properties or could even help you sell a used car on Craigslist!
The price for this will be $399US. 
The Call Me An Educated Landlord Package
So you want to be and Educated Landlord? Then this is for you.
This will obviously be only for a few landlords out there who want it all, but you know who you are.
We’re going to take everything from the Basic and the Ad Writing Education packages and give you all that.
By the time you’re finished you’ll be ready to write ads going forward, you’ll be able to screen tenants so you get the best possible people in place and you’ll feel self sufficient going forward.
But you’ll also get The Street Smart Educated Landlord Training course that my friend Julie Hoffman and myself put together via a live training course we ran previously. This course sells for $197 on it’s own and has over two hour of great information to help new and seasoned landlords take it to the next level.
I’ve also been working on an Advertising For Landlords course that should be complete in the next month. This will be priced at $97 and while it will be a bit redundant to what we’re going over it will include additional bonus information and content to make you the complete Educated Landlord.
Obviously this wouldn’t be complete without my Introduction to Landlording Course ($7) as well, so I’m throwing that in too! If your goal is to be an Educated Landlord, you’ll want access to everything right?
Then I better throw in My Basics of Rooming Houses Course as well ($147 value). This course walks you through setting up your own rooming house which can be a lucrative opportunity for the right individual.
Finally I’m going to throw in two additional hours of consultation with me. Have landlord or property questions you need someone to talk to, thats me. Professional, helpful advise to help landlords succeed.
So let’s recap what this includes. Pretty well all my current online courses plus one pending course
- Introduction to Landlording Course $7
- Advertising for Landlords Course $97
- Basics of Rooming Houses Course $147
- The Street Smart Educated Landlord Course $197
That’s over $450 in courses alone.
You’ll also get everything from The Ad Writing Education Package
- Two hours of my time ($200 value)
- Basic Ad Rewriting Package ($199)
- Ad Writing Self Sufficiency Training (What’s that worth to you?)
- Plus an additional Two hours of my time (another $200 value)
That’s an additional $1,000 of value but worth so much more!
All together you’re looking at in excess of $1,500 worth of value, worth of training and of one on one time to help take you to the next level, to help save you thousands in vacancies and expenses and to help make you the best Educated Landlord you can be.
So obviously I should be charging $995US for this right? Maybe even more?
Well how about instead we go crazy and make it only $795US. All that information, all that value for less than half a month of a typical vacancy. Does that sound like a great deal? Like a great opportunity? Like a deal you shouldn’t pass by?
You Need Certain Skills
Ultimately, to be a successful landlord you do need certain skills. Sometimes you may not have all of them so you end up deferring to others to get the job done, thats what my base package here is.
If you’re not handy, you hire a handy man. If you can’t write an ad, you may want to rent me!
Some people want to develop their skills so they can be more hands on. Maybe they hire someone to show them the ropes of basic landlord skills, like writing their own ads. That’s package two.
Others simply want to have all the skills so they have a full toolbox and can make the decisions they may need along the way as to whether they should be doing it themselves, or wisely choose what they hand off. That’s the last package.
Now the decision is up to you, do you want it done for you, do you want to learn the basics so you can feed yourself, or are you the individual who simply wants it all so you can make all the decisions necessary?
I look forward to helping you with which ever choice you make, so let’s choose your package and let’s get going!
To order, leave a comment below and I will follow up with you.