Ideas Needed: Renting Out Tenant's Messy Home

[California]

Any BTDT suggestions? Tenants are moving out after several years. We've been fortunate that they have been overall great tenants. Now though, I'm trying to show the home to get new renters-- and the condo just doesn't show well at all with their stuff in there! Lots of knicknacks and piles of paper and the smell of cat everywhere- our great place seems so much smaller and less appealling.

Any ideas on how to draw in new tenants? What to say while showing it? Anything that might help people see past the clutter? The 10 year old carpets are being replaced which should handle the cat smell. It's not dirty at all-- and if we were just hanging out the home would probably feel very comfortable. It just doesn't show well. We've been spoiled in the past and I'm feeling very discouraged.

[Smillow]

I would wait until they move out - not ideal but it is going to be hard to get over a first bad impression & you might get better renters if they don't see the place trashed first.

[mikala]

I'd also wait. You'll lose a month or two of rent but will likely attract tenants who are willing to pay more in rent. The type of people that would be put off by the current condition are exactly the type of people you want as future tenants.

[crl]

I agree I'd just wait. I would schedule for new flooring and fresh paint ASAP when the tenant moves out and then be ready to show as soon as the paint dries.

Catherine

[edurnemk]

I'd also wait until they move out if you can swing it, many people find it difficult to imagine what a space could look like.

When we were searching for a rental apartment in Evanston back in 2007 I was shown many messy places and that really gave me a bad impression, even though I tried to look at the potential of the place and kept reminding myself to look past the mess. The place we chose was one of the worst messes, the only reason we chose that one was that we saw another one in the same building which was beautifully decorated and well-kept, so I go to see how it could look like, and the carpets were going to be replaced (we chose the messy one instead of the nice one because the orientation was better and it got a lo more natural light). Honestly if I hadn't seen the nice apartment I probably would not have wanted to rent the messy one.

[Momit]

I would wait until they move out. You risk turning off a lot of potential renters. As they say, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.

[hillview]

Originally Posted by Momit

I would wait until they move out. You risk turning off a lot of potential renters. As they say, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.

[kozachka]

You'd be able to find better renters and potentially even charge more for a place that looks nice and clean. Wait to show it until after you changed the carpet. You might also have to strip and re-paint the place to get rid of the cat smell.

[California]

Is there a downside to showing now in case a potential good renter pops up? DH and I were discussing this and we agree that it's likely we won't find a tenant until the new carpet/paint is in. But-- we're also concerned that the person who waits until the last minute to find a place (which is who we would be looking for if we have to wait) wouldn't be a great tenant either. So we're thinking we'll continue to market it just in case we find someone who can see past the clutter, while planning financially on it not renting until we can spruce it up.

I keep reminding myself we are very fortunate to have rented this place out for eight years now and never facing this problem before!

[crl]

When we rented both times we looked at places a month beforehand. Around here that seems to be standard--no point in looking sooner as places will be gone.

Catherine