Filling Vacancies in the Off Season

This article was submitted to us for publication. It provides a good alternative outlook on dealing with those unexpected and unwanted vacancies during the slower times of year.

Depending on where you live, you will have heard quite a bit about when the “hot months” are for rentals. If your rental property is, for example, near a university, then you’ve probably come to expect that the rental market is driven by students who are looking to rent in August and September. So what do you do when your unit empties out in February?

Some owners do the exact wrong thing: they panic, take out extra advertising, and lower their rental rates. Or, they do the opposite, equally wrong thing. They are discouraged by the thought of hunting up the mid-winter tenant, write it off as a loss, and wait for some opportunity to drop out of the sky.

The thing to remember is that the off season is not necessarily a time when supply outstrips demand. Sure, in September there may be 9,900 renters who are going to select from 10,000 available units. But now, in February, even though there might only be 99 renters out there, the number of available units has also shrunk, possibly to only 100 units. The point is that the laws of supply and demand are independent of the number of units that are going to be turned over that month.

The right thing to do is usually to stick to your game plan. Try to think about where those off-season renters might be coming from. In our college town example, you might want to change the wording of your flier ads to include “Roommate problems? Try renting this affordable one bedroom on your own!” Sometimes a little tweak like that can really make a difference. And it’s certainly more economical than accepting a huge loss because you fear the altered market.

Finally, if it does turn out that the off-season coincides with a disadvantageous change in the local supply and demand situation, then ask your prospective tenant to sign a 6 or 18 month lease. This way, you won’t be caught with your pants down next year.

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