Don't Let Vacancy Kill Your Rental Cashflow | Ep. #8

In this, the 8th Episode of the [... and Landlord] Rental Real Estate Investing Podcast, I discuss how vacancy kills rental cashflow; and therefore how to avoid vacancy.

On this topic of avoiding rental vacancy, I discuss such things as making sure that your existing tenant leaves on terms that are favorable to your finding a new tenant BEFORE they're gone. This includes having a requirement of 45 days notice to end tenancy (not 30 days unless mandated by law). Also, having it stated in your lease that you have the right to show the home to new prospective tenants during that notice period while the current tenant is still present - along with details on how to handle this properly.

I speak on how to advertise the property for rent and making sure its priced right. For example, might you be able to rent the property faster and for a longer period of time at a slightly reduced rent? And for once you have people inquiring about your rental, I talk about screening those prospective tenants in a way so as to lawfully eliminate those persons who are more likely to create problems for you and likely to be short-term tenants - as you want tenants who will be in the home for years.

This is because tenant turnover is expensive, so I speak on ways of getting your existing tenant to remain longer, so as to avoid not just vacancy, but also the major expense of making the home rental ready again between tenants. Your tenant is your customer, so you must treat them with appreciation, while also running your rental business with professional processes that make them want to remain being a customer (tenant) of your rental property business. This even includes how you handle lease renewals and rent increases.

And lastly, I give an example where one of my better rental homes will soon experience a tenant turnover. The existing tenant in this homes gave notice in April that they would be vacating the home at the end of May (Sunday, June 2nd actually to have one more weekend to complete the move-out). We quickly got the home listed for rent and scheduled showings. There were lots of inquiries and showings, which resulted in 5 applications being submitted. We processed each and approved one for a new tenant to begin occupancy in this home on June 7th. That will give us 4 days (from June 3rd to 6th) to complete touch-up painting and any other work as needed to make the home rental ready again for the new tenant. And because of how we manage our properties, it is highly likely that very little work will be needed to make the home ready, as it passed an inspection just a couple months earlier.

In line with this example, I speak a bit during this episode on property management, such as doing quarterly inspections. This creates a situation where when you do experience a tenant turnover, you already know the condition of the property and its likely to require minimal work if all prior quarterly inspections have been passed and the tenant follows the move-out cleaning guide.

The episode ends with mention of the new [... and Landlord] Podcast Book Recommendations page at: https://www.andlandlord.com/books - and my personal comments here referencing: The 4-Hour Work Week & Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. I highly recommend both books, and you can read details of what they did for me at the above links.