28 Apr Steps when dealing with a vacant rental space

Steps when dealing with a vacant rental space

One of the biggest fears we hear that real investors have is what happens if I have vacant space.

Don’t panic

Real estate vacancies happen. Empty space comes with the job of being a Landlord but how you handle leasing out the unit can be stressful if you don’t have a plan ahead of time.

Dealing with a vacancy starts way before your tenant gives you notice that they are leaving. Even with a system in place every unit will take some time to rent back out so doing research on how long that will take and putting aside enough cash for your expenses for that period eliminates any stress over cash flow. Rental spaces as well always will need repairs and upgrades in between tenants so you will want to start researching and creating relationships with trades that you will need.

Take time to have on call trades like plumbers, electricians, cleaners etc that can be scheduled in quickly to help turn over an empty space. Now is the window of opportunity to fix and paint the space, replace faucet washers, install LED lighting, service and check the appliances and eliminate all those items that can fail during a tenancy.

Advice your insurance company of any vacancies and keep a log of visits to the site. If you don`t want to keep a log take a photo of the interior with your smart phone that will date and time confirm when you were at the property.

Price Out The Vacant Space Correctly

Overpriced rental units are not your friend. Do proper market research to determine how much you should come to market at. Depending on how long the previous tenant had been renting the space you may well be under what the current market price is right now.

Researching does not have to take much time. You can ask a realtor like us at Blackwall Realty to help you or a real estate appraiser. You can also find market comparables yourself through many online services that also make it easy to see what other landlords are asking for their space.

Creating A Buzz

So you have tidied up and repaired the space. You have researched and know what a competitive rental rate should be. How to create a good buzz about your property.Most tenants today find the space they are looking for online either through seeing a listing on the MLS or other websites. Take clear, well-lit pictures of the rooms or commercial space. Include in your ads highlights of your property’s location such as shopping, transit, parks and special features such as any decks, parking or upgrades the building has.

Create a walk through video showing the space that you can post on Youtube. Also an inexpensive website for the address can be used to contain much more information that you can link to in your advertising. Print ads can still be used however their cost and effectiveness is not the best use of your money.

Invest in better for lease signs. A good sign company can make you a more eye catching for lease sign then you can pick up at a hardware store. Use a separate email and cell number for all your correspondences with tenants.

Showing The Space

So after doing effective marketing both online, with signage and print you should be getting enough calls to start showing the property.
Depending on the rental price point and the type of property you may want to stage all or some of the space. Staging can be done by a professional company or if you have many units invest in some furnishings that can be stored and reused in the future.

From past experience some of the best tenants are in the first group you will encounter. They are the ones actively looking for space. To set up a competitive environment have an open house (even for retail) and arrange as many of the tenants that have called to arrive as close together as possible.

Have a printed feature sheet and term sheet for the space ready that you can hand out as well as a tenant application.

Deciding On Your Next Tenant

So if you have created a plan beforehand, fixed up and priced out the space correctly, created effective ads and arranged a competitive environment amongst the prospective tenants you should have no issues quickly renting out the space.
Don`t feel rushed and make sure to verify and check all references of the new tenants before picking out who you want to work with .