LO gone, new one in- less than 3 weeks!

In early July my wife got a call from a neighbor of one of our LO rentals. He is a family friend and wanted to know why our leaser’s were leaving. This was a surprise to Shannon since they had not told us anything. She soon learned, by going over to the house, that the husband was forced into early retirement and that they had decided to move to a smaller home in a different city, giving up their option deposit ($7500) and monthly down payment assistance ($2000). They felt they would just send us a letter after they had left. Of course it was the 6th of the month and they had yet to pay their payment. Although surprised at this move, we were more disappointed in their behavior. If they would have just told us the situation we would have worked with them. They had to spend money on moving vans, deposits and new rent when they could have just called us and we would have worked something out. Now we were stuck in the position of getting a new LO or renter in there ASAP.

We could have been concerned about that prospect, seeing that rentals are all over the place here. However, we focused on the great value we would be creating for anyone we put in there. We did the normal putting up a sign in the from yard. Then we did what to many forget to do, told everyone about our place. We let the neighbors know. We told our family members, we told people at church. literally opened our mouths.

Less than three weeks later we had our first potential client. A neighbors’ brother moving in from Chicago. We were willing to take a bit of a negative cash flow on the property since we had made about 20K from our last optionees. Unfortunately, that person thought we were desperate to get it rented and as and attorney, tried to control our terms and fees. (HINT- NEVER let the renter/ optionee control your terms. You should always stay in control. Even if you are desperate to get it rented out, you will pay for it in the end.) So we let that one go.
THE SAME DAY, within an hour we had a referral from another source. This person was willing to pay more; still giving us negative cash flow, but really WANTED the house.
Not an hour later, I called a family friend who has been able to get me cheep refrigerators in the past; she told me that she was just talking about me that morning, wondering if I had any of my houses open because she wanted a place. She could pay enough to cover my payment and a little cash flow with a 5K down payment.

So in less than three weeks I had leased out the place and had a back up. (We took the cash flow family and are looking for a new home to buy for the other)
The point is not to brag but to remind you that sometimes we get so focused on marketing through signs or adds that we forget the most important type of marketing WOM- word of mouth. Don't panic, or get desperate, get talking. Put it out there and it will come back to you.

Happy Investing.