'No-shows' at apartment rental viewing

az2wp0sye65487

So I put an apartment on the market to rent. 2 bed, newly refurbished, all the details were there on the ad.... a ton of enquiries came through daft, myhome etc. with all sorts of stories about needing an apartment urgently, becoming homeless if they can't find somewhere to rent ASAP; do you accept HAP etc.

I responded to all enquiries, set up a viewing, and had confirmation from around 10 or more that they were coming to see the place.

So I get there a few mins early, open up & put the lights on....... and wait. During the viewing period only 2 people show up.

Where were those on the verge of homelessness?

I actually called one lady (who had sent me an email about currently living in a box-room sharing a bed with her child and urgently needing to find a place) as i was prepared to wait for her. She just said "oh i forgot all about that viewing" and that she wouldn't be coming. Never asked for another appointment.

WTF?!

Heres Johnny

I believe this homelessness crisis is mainly an exaggeration by the media. If a person can't get the exact location and type of house they want they go into temporary accommodation and are classed as homeless.

Sleeper12

Are you offering reduced rent or something to help those on the verge of being homeless? If not then I wouldn't expect this part of the market to be interested.

People aren't just ringing & emailing you. They are in contact with dozens like you. Many of the enquiries are from tyre kickers. The girl in the box room with the child is most likely daydreaming. She can't afford the rent.

tuisginideach

I find that many prospective tenants reply to any ad that may be suitable in any way / reply to ads multiple times / don't keep a record of ads they have replied to / ignore the details of the ad. When I contact them, they don't even know what ad it was. I have met tenants who have expressed surprise that the apartment is a x-bedroomed / is on x floor etc and say 'Oh the ad didn't say that.' Yes it did. Nowadays, I screen the replies (all by email) intently and offer only a particular time slot per viewer. I find it easier in that way to find who is really interested as opposed to those who are looking at a number of properties. If I think someone is genuinely interested, I will do my best to accommodate them with an appointment but if I get the feeling that I'm just one on their list, I don't bother any further with them.

PS I whittle down enquiries and only show to 4/5 and I make back to back appts so that they see others are interested.

colm_mcm

If it’s a situation where 10 people to come look at a place is the norm then you can be sure they’ve responded to tonnes of ads and agreed to go and see most of them for fear that they’ll miss out.

wordofwarning

It is the norm OP. Most potential tenants will not show up to a viewing.

I know the media likes people to think about 40/50 people turn up to an apartment for a viewing during this 'crisis'. If more than 10% of who emailed you shows up, you are doing well

Most people 'badly looking' for a place don't even read the ad. They send you some generic email, that even their price point is nothing like your property. But they sent a message anyway

the_syco

Same over here in Toronto. Was renting a room recently. 40 or 50 replies. Narrowed it down to 20.

Only 5 turned up.

Read about how there are no rooms at least every week, but meh.

qrx

Heres Johnny wrote: »

I believe this homelessness crisis is mainly an exaggeration by the media. If a person can't get the exact location and type of house they want they go into temporary accommodation and are classed as homeless.

Spot on. 3 bed semi d with a garden and stumbling distance to the luas. People need to get real.

gabsdot40

This happened to me last year when we were renting out our property.

Bushmanpm

Sounds about par for the course OP.
We let a flat in Dublin over easter, advertised well in advance with a full description and photos, booked viewing slots over three consecutive days and only had about 35% of bookings actually come to view.
Worse still, on the third day some Muppet rang up for a viewing only to be told she had already booked a viewing for two days prior that she had missed.

Mrs Shuttleworth

Ayden Brave Backside wrote: »

So I put an apartment on the market to rent. 2 bed, newly refurbished, all the details were there on the ad.... a ton of enquiries came through daft, myhome etc. with all sorts of stories about needing an apartment urgently, becoming homeless if they can't find somewhere to rent ASAP; do you accept HAP etc.

I responded to all enquiries, set up a viewing, and had confirmation from around 10 or more that they were coming to see the place.

So I get there a few mins early, open up & put the lights on....... and wait. During the viewing period only 2 people show up.

Where were those on the verge of homelessness?

I actually called one lady (who had sent me an email about currently living in a box-room sharing a bed with her child and urgently needing to find a place) as i was prepared to wait for her. She just said "oh i forgot all about that viewing" and that she wouldn't be coming. Never asked for another appointment.

WTF?!

I logged on specifically to vent about this but the OP here beat me to it.

I have a newly refurbished property in a very busy commercial area - very beautiful and I'm not seeking more than the median market rent for it - I'm getting emails, I reply to the ones I like straight away aaaannnd..... nothing.

I'm also getting about a tenth of the enquiries I've got compared to all lettings over the last seven years.

What is actually going on out there??

dancingqueen

Wow this is baffling! As a tenant, maybe people are afraid that they won't get somewhere, and don't bother showing up for fear it will be a waste of time? It isn't an excuse, I wouldn't do it, but I could see it happening.

Sunny Dayz

I wonder are many of the people expressing interest in renting the apartment only doing so for show. I don't know how housing lists work, are they supposed to show that they really are trying to look for accommodation, that they arranged these viewings (saying nothing about not actually going) and then say they weren't successful. Like the way some people claiming unemployment benefits would apply for jobs to make it look like they were looking for employment when the dole office looks for back up.

Mrs Shuttleworth

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

I wonder are many of the people expressing interest in renting the apartment only doing so for show. I don't know how housing lists work, are they supposed to show that they really are trying to look for accommodation, that they arranged these viewings (saying nothing about not actually going) and then say they weren't successful. Like the way some people claiming unemployment benefits would apply for jobs to make it look like they were looking for employment when the dole office looks for back up.

You may well be on to something. Quite a lot of the emails coming through are threadbare in content, literally "can I view this property" and nothing more.

I usually ignore these but have recently sent back a few polite emails asking for a small amount of background information, i.e. are they working, what general area are they living in etc. You get nada back.

Also if you look at Daft the same properties are appearing for weeks on end now and renewed by the landlord daily. It makes one wonder why the media and Government are pushing a homelessness crisis because for landlords its like October 2008 out here.

Time for a Novena to St Joseph.

arleitiss

I was recently looking for property and messaged over 30 ads.
Those who replied with generic message like:
"Viewing is on at 7 PM next Thursday/[Specific Date]" I just didn't bother, I knew I can show up and there will be 50 others and it feels like some sort of hunger games where you fight for your spot, so I didn't bother.

People who replied more directly specifically with directly targeting me - I attended.


P.S - I landed an apartment for a decent price and landlord was very flexible in terms of arranging viewing.

Maybe it's just me but I hate dealing with landlords who don't bother responding on individual basis and rather just send the copy/paste message, it gives me an idea that it's the kind of landlord who will take your money and just not give a single **** about issues in property.

mrslancaster

Is it just the time of year? Maybe its busier during the summer months when lots of students are looking for places or maybe the rents are too high.

Can't rent at the price you want? Time to start lowering so.

There was always going to be. a ceiling to how much rent people can pay, hopefully we're hitting that now.

stevedublin

Bushmanpm wrote: »

Worse still, on the third day some Muppet rang up for a viewing only to be told she had already booked a viewing for two days prior that she had missed.

okay, did you set up another viewing with her?

server down

These little anecdotes tell you nothing about the actual homeless crisis. For that we have statistics.

K.Flyer

Maybe property rental value is reaching it tipping point and people are pulling back from some of the extortionate prices.
I know an apartment owner who spent a fortune on a complete and comprehensive refurb before putting it back on the market.
Dublin 4 Ballsbridge location, large 100 sq.m. 2 bed, mint condition, private parking, super location.
Agent priced the rent almost 25% higher than owner expected, so they put it on the market annnnd.... waited.
They got someone about a month later.
The owner, a very savvy business person, reckons the market is topping out now and tenants are going to stay put for much longer rather than have the hassle and cost of moving and pandering to agents ever increasing demands for private information and increased rents.

_Dara_

dancingqueen wrote: »

Wow this is baffling! As a tenant, maybe people are afraid that they won't get somewhere, and don't bother showing up for fear it will be a waste of time? It isn't an excuse, I wouldn't do it, but I could see it happening.

Yeah, that actually kinda makes sense. When searching for a place in 2014, I was genuinely checking out the apartment with 30 other people. It was pretty overwhelming. And I had nothing really to distinguish me from everyone else. Very offputting.

chicorytip

arleitiss wrote:

I was recently looking for property and messaged over 30 ads. Those who replied with generic message like: "Viewing is on at 7 PM next Thursday/[Specific Date]" I just didn't bother, I knew I can show up and there will be 50 others and it feels like some sort of hunger games where you fight for your spot, so I didn't bother.

arleitiss wrote:

People who replied more directly specifically with directly targeting me - I attended.

arleitiss wrote:

P.S - I landed an apartment for a decent price and landlord was very flexible in terms of arranging viewing.

Given your experience what would you say are the major differences between a letting which is being handled by an Estate Agent and one where the property owner themselves is the first point of contact?

riffmongous

arleitiss wrote: »

I was recently looking for property and messaged over 30 ads.
Those who replied with generic message like:
"Viewing is on at 7 PM next Thursday/[Specific Date]" I just didn't bother, I knew I can show up and there will be 50 others and it feels like some sort of hunger games where you fight for your spot, so I didn't bother.

People who replied more directly specifically with directly targeting me - I attended.


P.S - I landed an apartment for a decent price and landlord was very flexible in terms of arranging viewing.

Maybe it's just me but I hate dealing with landlords who don't bother responding on individual basis and rather just send the copy/paste message, it gives me an idea that it's the kind of landlord who will take your money and just not give a single **** about issues in property.

Exactly, if I get a vibe that I'll be in competition with a large group of people I just keep looking

April 73

Unless a tenant absolutely needs to move because the LL is selling or moving a family member in or the tenant's job necessitates a change of area - why would anyone move property? The only thing that is sure is that they will end up paying more money than they are currently.
My current tenants are paying €300 below what other properties are going for in the area right now. They'll be going nowhere for the foreseeable. And who could blame them?
The current market was going to inevitably lead to less movement of tenants.

az2wp0sye65487

arleitiss wrote: »

I was recently looking for property and messaged over 30 ads.
Those who replied with generic message like:
"Viewing is on at 7 PM next Thursday/[Specific Date]" I just didn't bother, I knew I can show up and there will be 50 others and it feels like some sort of hunger games where you fight for your spot, so I didn't bother.

People who replied more directly specifically with directly targeting me - I attended.


P.S - I landed an apartment for a decent price and landlord was very flexible in terms of arranging viewing.

Maybe it's just me but I hate dealing with landlords who don't bother responding on individual basis and rather just send the copy/paste message, it gives me an idea that it's the kind of landlord who will take your money and just not give a single **** about issues in property.

There's a problem there though.... everyone that wants to look at the place seems to have a different preference for viewing times & dates. It's just not feasible to accommodate everyone's requirements. But what I can't get over is the amount of people that confirmed their attendance and then just never bothered showing up

Lickin2me

Way to expensive and it was laid out in cheap furniture that was only fit skip

arleitiss

chicorytip wrote: »

Given your experience what would you say are the major differences between a letting which is being handled by an Estate Agent and one where the property owner themselves is the first point of contact?

Letting agents for me were always too much hassle so I never applied for ads that had letting agency mentioned.

I've used to rent apartment in Citywest around 3 years ago and that was via letting agent.

The hassle was real, first the interview with letting agent for him to decide if I am worth his time, then viewing and then documentation (references, work references etc...).

It was really hard to get through to landlord as I had no direct number for landlord and all queries were going through letting agents which took a while.

So since then I've never dealt with letting agents.

arleitiss

Ayden Brave Backside wrote: »

There's a problem there though.... everyone that wants to look at the place seems to have a different preference for viewing times & dates. It's just not feasible to accommodate everyone's requirements. But what I can't get over is the amount of people that confirmed their attendance and then just never bothered showing up

I attended one of those viewings and it was alright, I wasnt chosen but I still attended it only because the landlord was replying to everyone in friendly manner and not just copy paste, it could've been copy/paste but I couldn't tell, not sure how to explain it but yeah.

py

Had the same recently, the ones that did show up (and ultimately took on as tenants) are the ones that I phoned and spoke to. Explained how/when the viewings would work and told them I would send a follow up email to our call which I did. I rented it to one of the people I did this with. The previous viewings I held were all arranged via email and had zero luck getting many at viewings. It's a bit of extra ground work but it worked for me. Keep a track of who you're inviting too.. contact details etc. Sometimes people get delayed and a quick call can save you either waiting around or allow them some time to get there, albeit a little late.

Mrs Shuttleworth

So have four viewings arranged between today and tomorrow.

Will post back on how it went - or not!

bucketybuck

Strange to see OP's like this, it's definitely happening that you could go to look at a place and there will be a scrum of people all there checking it out and trying to get two minutes with the agent/landlord. The idea that there are places available where you don't have to suffer that seems like a pipedream to me.

Its crazy when you think about it, such an important and expensive purchase and you have to make a decision on it and hand over a wedge of cash based on less due diligence than you would make buying a shirt in River Island.