Rental Ads go Unanswered

Sully

So over the last month or so my partner has been trying to source accommodation in Dublin. Female professional late 20s working full time in a hospital. She has daft email alerts up and the vast majority are email only. The problem is, nobody replies to the emails despite dozens of emails.

Is this normal these days?!

She lives in Dublin and found it difficult to find a place, again no replies, when looking originally but where she's at now is too far from work hence the eye out for somewhere closer.

L1011

There's so much demand for limited places that people don't need to reply to all requests; and the volume they get may go beyond even having the time to do so. People will get contacted back in an arbitrary manner specific to the advertiser normally.

athtrasna

It's 15 months since I last sought a housemate and even then I had over 100 replies. Demand has gone through the roof since then. To be honest I'm pretty sure I didn't reply to all the emails, simply didn't have the time.

The key to getting a reply (from me anyway) is standing out from the crowd. A stock "I'm wondering if the room/apartment is still available" is less likely to get a reply than a more personal tell them about yourself reply. It's like online dating "hi hun how r u"is less likely to succeed than an interesting first message.

listermint

You'll literally never get an answer to an email ever. You have to phone find out viewing time and be there.

End of.

AlmightyCushion

listermint wrote: »

You'll literally never get an answer to an email ever. You have to phone find out viewing time and be there.

End of.

A lot of ads don't even supply a phone number and plenty others state to only email them so you don't really have much choice.

athtrasna

listermint wrote: »

You'll literally never get an answer to an email ever. You have to phone find out viewing time and be there.

End of.

Not true. OP is referring to email only ads. A landlord would be absolutely crazy to have a free for all viewing these days. Email only allows filtering and then you invite the selected few to a viewing.

the_syco

Sully wrote: »

The problem is, nobody replies to the emails despite dozens of emails.

Perhaps change the wording of the email?

ScouseMouse

I put up an ad looking for a student Mon-Fri. Term time. Rent a room to raise some cash idea.

I was tortured with everyone but a student. An indian father and son permanent, a regulatory affairs consultant from london, etc etc you would not believe.


I did not have the time to talk to eveyone who called so if I did it again, I would do it the way you describe. Email only and shortlist from there.

I am currently preparing a 4 bed bungalow near Naas for rental. I am having to think carefully how I go about advertising it.

newacc2015

listermint wrote: »

You'll literally never get an answer to an email ever. You have to phone find out viewing time and be there.

End of.

Most landlords don't put up their number anymore. I know landlord's who were sick of getting calls from people wanting to know 'if they took RA'. They have zero issues with RA, but RA is that area is a half of what house is listed for. You would get people who were phoning to look for a discount on the rent despite 20 others saying they take it at the market rate. A landlord who put their number up is stupid IMO.

OP your gf should have personalised ad ie mention the advertisers name, I would state since she works in the hospital that she doesn't work nights ( if she doesn't), she has house shared for x number of years, has landlord references, is clean etc.

This might seem obvious, but if you read her response, you should get a good feel for her and that she is likeable.

mikemac2

I sent five emails when I was looking and got replies to three so that's decent

OP I'm not saying she has to sell herself but giving info will get her to stand out.

Has references, full time job, in last accommodation for x months/years so they know she is not constantly moving on, easy going and that will cover it.

You don't even have to lie as all this is probably true.

EmoCourt

I advertised my place for rent last year, and asked three questions to be answered in replies.

1) Who intends to live there
2) Where you're currently living
2) Can you supply job and landlord references

Most people didn't answer the questions. Those replies were binned straight away due to poor reading comprehension. A nice lad from Asia got the tenancy, and all it took was three simple answers.

Oh, and set your Facebook profile to private if you don't want a landlord seeing your 'hitting the town' duck faced selfies.

Aye Bosun

I rent a room in my home and also manage a rented property, so he's my two cents on getting a place.

When inquiring by email or phone always include details about yourself and other tenants

1. Employment Status
2. Landlord and Work reference are available
3. Reason for moving ie. for work, nicer area, for schools etc
4. Return contact details, seriously you'd be surprised how many don't included their phone number or never check their emails.

When viewing, have all your ducks in row and show really and genuine interest in the property, have a chat about the house, local amenities, bills etc. Have your references and anything else the ad requires with you on the day and if you're interested or not, show them to the landlord at the viewing.

Follow up immediately if you are interested in the property with a phone call to the landlord/agent, not text, pick up the phone and have a chat.

Be prepared to offer a larger deposit than required, ie 1.5x what they are asking, this shows both your ability to pay but also that you are prepared to put money where your month is and would be more likely to keep the place well as you've more to lose financially.

You'd be surprised by the email I get, 1 liner's 'is the room still available' or pushy 'need to see the room this evening, what time can i call'. Personally I vet tenants first from their email approach, if you're not arse to write an email to introduce yourself to a prospective landlord that you're probably not arsed looking after the property either.

Treat it like a job search, sell yourself to the landlord!

Samuel T. Cogley

athtrasna wrote: »

It's 15 months since I last sought a housemate and even then I had over 100 replies. Demand has gone through the roof since then. To be honest I'm pretty sure I didn't reply to all the emails, simply didn't have the time.

The key to getting a reply (from me anyway) is standing out from the crowd. A stock "I'm wondering if the room/apartment is still available" is less likely to get a reply than a more personal tell them about yourself reply. It's like online dating "hi hun how r u"is less likely to succeed than an interesting first message.

EmoCourt wrote: »

I advertised my place for rent last year, and asked three questions to be answered in replies.

1) Who intends to live there
2) Where you're currently living
2) Can you supply job and landlord references

Most people didn't answer the questions. Those replies were binned straight away due to poor reading comprehension. A nice lad from Asia got the tenancy, and all it took was three simple answers.

Oh, and set your Facebook profile to private if you don't want a landlord seeing your 'hitting the town' duck faced selfies.

These + 1

I both let an apartment and rent a room in my PPR.

On viewings I do group viewings on the apartment, but the room I do individual 'come along and see the room' type thing. Now maybe it's me, maybe it's the crap holes I'm letting out but there is an awful, awful lot of messing. You maybe get 100+ emails, 50% of which are just ignored for various reasons, arrange 20 viewings and have maybe a 50% hit rate on people even turning up.

People tend to find what they're looking for and then not let the LL know. I tried my damndest to reply to everyone first time around, I have to say that wasn't reciprocated, so I didn't bother the next time. If people took the time to write an email to me (I only do email for reasons above) rather than a generic email I pretty much always respond, but there are loads where it's clear people haven't read the ad.

There's also an awful lot of waiting, sometimes the perfect tenant pops up and you give them sometime to get back to you, I'm less inclines to respond then as well. Incidentally the same thing happens when you're buying - most properties have other things going on, be it close to be sale agreed or whatnot. EAs don't bother getting back to you.

EDIT: Sorry I meant to also say: Set up an alert. Trick is to be emailing on the first day or so.

Also text speak, the person could be a noble prize winning, super model, puppy rescuer - instant deletion of email.

murphaph

I set up a gmail account for each property and forward the mails on to my real account. I set an "out of office" reply on the email account once the property is let, so people get some feedback without me having to respond manually. I haven't let a property in a while though and even this set up will probably see me plagued by emails when I next advertise (both in Dublin and Berlin, in Berlin I'll be advertising this week so expecting a deluge).

It's hard for landlords who get maybe hundreds of emails to respond to. You're talking about literally a handful of properties in each area and with rent control you can expect very few sitting tenants to consider moving on. Under no circumstances would I publish my telephone number these days. You'd get nothing else done!

pilly

The last time I advertised my property I had over 500 emails, just not possible to answer them all.

Great advice in the posts above. Personalise the email.

My property is a house and I got numerous emails saying "I would like to view this apartment", deleted straight away. Desperation shows.

Also got "do u tk ra?" Drove me mad. Not that I wasn't taking it but the lazy attitude of someone who can't be bothered to properly type an email completely put me off.

The people that I invited to view had told me about themselves, their current situation, when they wanted to move it etc. etc. It may seem time consuming but the right email will get a response.

handlemaster

Sully wrote: »

So over the last month or so my partner has been trying to source accommodation in Dublin. Female professional late 20s working full time in a hospital. She has daft email alerts up and the vast majority are email only. The problem is, nobody replies to the emails despite dozens of emails.

Is this normal these days?!

She lives in Dublin and found it difficult to find a place, again no replies, when looking originally but where she's at now is too far from work hence the eye out for somewhere closer.

OP Please write a typical email that your GF sends. 
You wouldnt believe the rubbish people will write which puts them straight in the do no reply box.

murphaph

Yeah I will bin any template mails. I also want to learn something about the person asking about the property. Why would I invite an unknown quantity to a viewing when I have learned nothing about who they are in their initial communication? If they come across as a potentially good tenant (decent job, reasonable back story as to why they are looking for somewhere new to live) then they will be invited to a viewing.

PierreLeCake

There was a similar thread a few months back . I am being lazy here by cutting and pasting my original reply but basically like all the other posters have said any emails to landlords have to make you stick out from the crowd.

Original posting

I am a Landlord who uses Daft when advertising a property. I only vet tenants by email now . The reason for this is because I am a PAYE worker who can't be answering my phone during working hours. In the past when I gave my phone number I would specify - Please ring between 6 and 7 pm but people would ring at anytime. A lot of callers were Foreign Nationals with poor English and it could be quite confusing and frustrating for both parties when they were asking specific questions about the property. The last time I rented out my property I got 40 replies within 8 hours of the Ad going up. People enquiring about RA could be politely rejected without having a barney on the phone. Even though the ad said No RA a lot of the enquires where about RA. This was prior to the new rules on so called RA discrimination and the house was well above RA limits. The house has always rented above RA limits but in the past people would ring and try to get to do deals and pay the difference in cash. Basically they would be asking you to falsify RA forms and then accuse you of discrimination, being a Tax Dodger etc when you refused.
All that messing can be filtered out by using email only. Emails also give you a feel for the potential tenant before you ever meet them.

The OP seems to be doing the right thing. People who got priority are the ones who gave the most information.
An email that would make you attractive to a LL would go something like this -

Hi ,
I am interested in renting your apartment. I am a single male / Female who is currently working in the IFSC for GlobalCorp Banking as an accountant. I have worked for this company for the last 10 years. I have work references and my current landlords reference. I am leaving my current rental property as my Landlord is selling up. I am ready to move into your property as soon as its available. I am a clean and reliable tenant who takes their responsibilities seriously.

Don't lie on your application. Like a previous poster said nowadays its like a job interview. Some replies gave me a laugh. One guy claimed to be a Doctor is St James but could n't spell St James and wanted to know would I take RA. Another claimed to work for Google but his email address was yahoo.ie. Another claimed to be a Veterinarian but could n't spell it. Don't big yourself up. A Foreign National told me he was the CEO of his company but as a landlord all I could hear was "I am self employed with an irregular income"

Daft seems to have some kind of alerting for Tenants. I one query within 5 minutes of my Ad going up. One liner emails are a nuisance. Things like "When can I cum and see ur house" Avoid txtspeak. Its a nightmare for LL's of an older generation. Give as much information as possible outlining why you are the best Tenant in the world and why the Landlord should bite his hand off to get you.
Some people recommend offering more money. I don't like this because I don't want to be gouging people or getting in to a bidding war between people desperate to get accommodation. The price I advertise is the price I will rent for on the ground that just because someone offers me more money does n't mean they can afford it and it might cause me problems further down the line.
Other LL's would take a different view and Estate Agent are getting a commission so they are more likely to consider an increased offer.
Another problem with going through EA's is they have multiple properties to rent with the ensuing multiple queries so they will respond to the first few most likely candidates and ignore the rest as they know they will have it rented after 1 viewing.
I'm not sure if this helps the OP in any way but I just wanted to give a Landlords perspective of why you can't contact LL's directly by phone anymore.

AlmightyCushion

PierreLeCake wrote: »

Another claimed to work for Google but his email address was yahoo.ie.

That isn't necessarily a lie. He, more than likely set up his personal email address long before he worked for Google. If that just so happens to be a yahoo address, then he's hardly going to change his personal email address over to gmail just because he got a job with Google. He probably would have a Google work email but most people don't their work email for private use.

davo10

I have an apartment in IFSC, when the last tenant moved out I was going to keep it for family use for a couple of months but EA said I was crazy, one day on daft and I must have had 200 emails. I didn't reply to any of them.