How to Do Viewings
How to do Viewings
In my last post, I explained why I am not a fan of group viewings and why bidding wars for properties to let are most unlikely to happen in practice, (at least if a landlord or letting agent is doing their job properly).
So, following on from that post, how should a landlord or letting agent arrange and conduct viewings?
Now bear in mind, a lot of the hard work of screening out applicants who cannot afford it or who are simply timewasters should have happened before a viewing even takes place, as explained in the previous post.
So, come a viewing session, I like to have three or four applicants at most. The sessions are spread out about 15 minutes apart (for a typical two or three bed property) over 45 minutes to an hour. Allow longer for a bigger property.
I prefer to show more than one applicant at each session to give a sense of urgency. The idea of having different applicants 15 minutes apart is so that as one walks out the door, the next applicant is already waiting on the doorstep. It creates its own demand. It is all about psychology.
All my applicants, (who pass our screening process), will have been sent a pack on the property in advance, so all questions on how we work, how much the bills are, what the EPC is, what the deposit arrangements are, what documents we need to see, even what day bin collection is etc., have already been answered in full.
This means I am not having to waste time answering such questions at a viewing. There is no time for that anyway. This means the applicants can just focus on the property.
If there is anything that might put them off the property, I have also told them this in advance too. So, one property I have has rather steep stairs. I make that known before they come to a viewing too, as it is hard to make this very clear on photos.
Basically, I want to get rid of all possible objections in advance, so that the viewing of the property becomes simply a way for them to confirm they would like it. Still, I do find it annoying when they reject because a room is “too small”. I have already given them the room sizes in advance! Sadly, such time wasters still get through any weeding out processes.
I don’t like to do more than three or four applicants at a session, as it gets hard to remember them all and give them the attention they are all due.
Usually, the sessions are arranged for the evening from 630pm to 730pm, when most people can make them after work, though I always do a Saturday late mornings slot too. I don’t work on Sundays.
If the property is still occupied by outgoing tenants, I always ask the occupants permission, of course. They can say No, of course, though this is very rare. If they do, you must respect that. It is their home, you cannot insist on it like you can with urgent repairs (though even on urgent repairs your rights of entry as a landlord are still limited, albeit to a more limited degree).
Most of our outgoing tenants are reasonably accommodating for viewings. I tell the current occupants to remove valuables, even though I accompany all applicants on the viewings. You can never be too careful.
Very rarely, we may have a tenant who keep their home so untidy and/or filthy that it is just not a good idea to do viewings for new applicants as, sadly, most people just cannot see through grime and mess. In these cases, we must wait until the current occupants have left, when we can get the end of tenancy cleaners in (the current tenants pay for this). We have one set of current tenants like this right now, so when they leave, which I hope is soon, we will just have to take the hit and accept a void, whilst we get the place cleaned up, before we can get viewings going.
We tell applicants who want to go ahead (which is about 50% of those who view) to get all the documents to us as soon as possible to avoid being beaten by other applicants. They usually do.
My post about block viewings and the unicorn of bidding wars is here: https://www.lettingfocus.com/blogs/2024/08/block-viewings-and-bidding-wars/
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