Tenant Turnaround Time
One and a half hours. That was the shortest turnaround time I had between one tenant moving out and another moving into the same property. What was your shortest time?
The Secret is Preparation
It hasn’t always worked out this well for me and typically the turnaround is a day, but there is no reason it shouldn’t be a few hours or less every time. After all, the longer you are vacant, the more money is out of your pocket.
The secret to making this all work though is preparation. So, what do you need to prepare? Well obviously, you need all of your paperwork, leases, exit and entrance walk through forms and deposits paid in advance, but the catch that most landlords worry about, is the condition of the property when tenant #1 leaves.
This is where preparing well in advance pays off and is just part of another strategic system that landlords should have in their arsenal. The question for you at this point is, are you ok with sacrificing an hour now, to prepare some paperwork you can use over and over and over in the future and that allows you to turn tenants over quicker than you thought possible?
One Special Tactic
It all comes down to one extra tactic once your tenant provides notice. This tactic is simply a matter of mailing, or dropping off in person, a copy of the original lease, the walk through and one new form with the tenant, shortly after you have their notice.
The original lease points out their obligations, the walk through reiterates the condition of the property when they moved in and the new form is your ticket to happiness.
This extra form is the one you should prepare immediately and includes a list of expectations for the tenants departure. It reminds the tenant of their responsibilities by pointing to any pertinent clauses you have in your lease. Clauses such as the tenants being responsible to steam clean the carpets if you have them.
It goes over your charges for any cleanup or garbage removal you may require to complete after they move out and details costs they will incur if you have to replace any light bulbs, screens or any other minor items. It also explains that they can get their full security deposit back quite quickly if no extra work is required for cleanup on your part.
If there is significant work to get the property back to original condition this can affect the timeline of them receiving their security deposit and they need to be aware. So break this down in your form as well.
By the rules, you have to return any remaining security deposit back within ten days of them moving out, but if you require work to be done, you can also withhold approximate costs if you have a quote to get this completed and it’s always good to get high quotes, just in case!
The majority of the time though, this lights a fire under the tenants. So, as long as you check the property out a couple weeks prior to the move out, you should have a great idea how quickly the new tenants can move in!
Understanding Costs
You can charge your time out at the equivalent rate for other cleaning companies. So if you do the cleanup yourself, call a few cleaning companies in your area to determine a per hour cost for cleaning and use this in your form.
Also, when talking about costs to replace bulbs, it’s not just the cost of the bulb, but your time. So replacing a bulb isn’t $1, because that’s what it sells for at the store. It’s $5 because you had to buy it, and use your time to replace it. Explaining this and showing the tenant how it’s in their best interest could help you get your turnaround time even lower than mine!