Overview
How You Handle Showings is the Biggest Factor in a Smooth Re-Rental. These tips are valuable to help cope with a standard re-listing of your rental after you have decided to move, but they are particularly helpful in instances where we are working with you to get out of your lease by finding a replacement resident.
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Dear MoveZen Resident,
Immediately upon receipt of this letter, we will start the process of rerenting your property. Our goal is to ensure you fully understand the steps involved and to minimize any disruptions for you.
We use a showing scheduling software called ShowMojo. This tool automates much of the showing process for our team, potential renters, and you.
Process and Scheduling
Note: Obviously the more available the home is for showings, the cleaner it is, and the better presented in general, the faster, smoother, and more stress-free this process will be. We’re including some great pointers below that will help ensure you don’t miss anything important. While obvious, and despite our notices, many tenants completely fail to heed these tips and those are the ones who usually have negative experiences, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
Potential leads who meet a set of standard criteria will have the ability to request appointments with 24-hour notice. You will be notified of this appointment, and will then need to confirm the appointment with Showmojo or propose a time to reschedule. Do not contact the lead directly, we will handle that part. Our policy is to notify the contact we have dealt with most during our relationship, by email. If this is not sufficient, notify us asap.
Once you’ve confirmed the time is acceptable, we’ll contact the lead twice. Once to let them know the appt is scheduled, then our software will reach out to them one more time prior to the appointment to confirm they still want to move forward. If they have not confirmed the appt 2 hours in advance, the appt will be automatically canceled with you, us, and the lead, and this is final so you’ll be free to go about your day.
Once you’ve confirmed that an appt is acceptable, it is 100% confirmed until you receive a cancellation, so there is no need to keep checking with us, and it’s important that you be prepared for the showing.
Unless it’s already been agreed that you will handle your own showings, our staff will always accompany potential leads into your home.
If you have any questions please reach out to your account manager and they’ll address them.
Home Preparation Tips – Pets and First Impressions
1. We love pets too, and more than likely the person viewing will have them, however not everyone loves your pets and their smells. It’s a well-documented fact that most pet owners do not notice the off-putting issues so common with our furry friends. During heavy showings, have your pets off-site whenever possible. Otherwise, secure them in a crate. For pets that bark excessively or act aggressively, even crating may not be enough—you should remove them from the house entirely. Lastly, if you choose not to use a crate, plan to be home during showings and ensure that no pets block entry. Smells! You most likely will not notice this but if you have a pet, do not doubt there is a clear odor in your home. Of course, constant cleaning is the best thing, but also load the home down with quality air fresheners, use carpet powder as much as possible, vacuum, if you have your own, steam clean high traffic areas (it will still have to be done entirely), and keep your air temp low. Cooler air hides smells more. Also, air the home out as often as possible.
2. Perform a grounds / landscaping inspection.
Common issues include:
Exterior and Interior Cleanup
3. If the home is blocked from view, removing low-hanging limbs & branches is recommended (head high or higher is best)
4. Address mildew, pollen, insects/webs/nests on the house, driveway, sidewalks, and roof. Pressure washing is a very cheap trick to remove a massive amount of renter turn-offs that are usually clear in photos
5. Lay fresh mulch or pine straw in all flower beds. Also very cheap and highly effective.
6. Clean out gutters. Technically this is a lease requirement, however, we usually only enforce it for tenants who have been in the home 3 years or more. However if you’re hoping to rerent it might help, a lot.
7. During showing season, move or hide all trash, recycle bins, trailers, cars, campers, and any other items that aren’t strictly decorative.
Decluttering, Staging, and Final Touches
8. Asses what furniture you can live without for the next 60 days or so, and store it away in the attic, garage, or off-site. When in doubt, remove it! Almost always the least amount of furniture possible is best.
9. Do an inspection of your own, and fill out an inspection form (we can provide) to get an idea of what others may be turned off by, and also what you might be charged for.
Tips for inspecting
Property Management Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
10. Arrange living room furniture to maximize open space in the middle of the room.
11. Remove all but a tiny portion of knick-knacks such as baskets, candles, personal pictures, figurines, accolades, collectibles, etc.
12. Remove everything that isn’t decorative ie remote controls, DVDs, (do people still own these?) games, as many electronics as possible, pet toys, crates, leashes.
13. Consider thinning out artwork, tapestries, and other wall hangings. In general leave only the best most Zen-feeling pieces to become the focus points. Definitely remove most or all personal photos.
14. Touch-up paint. IMPORTANT! If you are not planning on using a professional painter, then do not attempt to do your own touch-up. If not matched correctly it could actually lead to substantially more problems / charges. We’re happy to set you up with one of our vendors if you’d like to just have a pro handle at a very reasonable rate.
