Find Success By Stepping Into Your Prospective Renter's Shoes

One of the best ways to evaluate the prospects for a particular neighborhood is to play the role of a residential tenant looking for the best place to call home. Go back in time to when you made the decision to live in your neighborhood. What were the primary criteria you used to make that determination? You're probably typical of many of your potential tenants. They prefer rental properties in close proximity to employment centers, transportation, schools, child-care, places of worship, shopping, recreation, and medical facilities. These details can be captured in what is called a "property knowledge sheet."

What is a property knowledge sheet?

One of the best ways to have the answers to the questions that may be raised by your rental prospect is to prepare a property knowledge sheet for each of your rental property locations. A property knowledge sheet contains all the basic information about your rental property, such as the size and type of the rental unit and the unit number (for multiple-unit properties), plus the age, type of construction, and other important details about the unit.

A thorough property knowledge sheet also contains important information about the local neighborhood and general area. Like the chamber of commerce or visitor's information bureau, you want to be able to answer questions about the area. Rental prospects are generally interested in knowing about employment centers, transportation, local schools, child care, places of worship, shopping, and medical facilities. You can really make a positive impression on your rental prospect if you can tell them where the nearest dry cleaner or Thai restaurant is located. With all this vital information from your property knowledge sheet at your fingertips, you can be ready to answer your rental prospect's questions. The more you know about your property, the easier it is for you to offer important reasons for a prospect to select your rental over the competition.

Property knowledge sheets can definitely give you the edge over your competition. Because you'll often be competing with large multifamily rental properties, you need to be prepared to answer important questions about the area. Often, immediately knowing a detail such as whether a certain child-care center is in your area can make the difference between success and failure.

Looking at a property from a tenant's perspective is also useful if you're investing in commercial properties. Remember that your commercial tenants are in business to make money - and their location is often a key factor. Have you ever seen a small retail center that includes several vacant suites with butcher paper in the windows? That is the universal sign that a property is in financial trouble and in need of proactive ownership, management, and leasing - or the spiral toward foreclosure will continue.

Right down the street from a failing property, you may find another retail property with long-term leases and a waiting list, because successful retailers almost always flock together. That explains the success of many regional shopping malls that command high rents. Sometimes, just getting the right anchor or primary tenant in a commercial, industrial, or retail income property is all it takes to start the chain reaction toward the dream for any landlord — high occupancy, high rents, and low turnover!

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