The Best Offer Experiment

I’ve been having a bit of difficulty renting my own home. This is odd as most houses are renting within days. I began to ask myself why?

The main reason is because on the higher end properties, it's a RENTER’S MARKET (lower end, Landlords are getting multiple rental offers).

This means that a decent tenant can pretty well tell the Landlord a rental amount and they either take it or they can go find 10 other Landlords that will.

I have turned down about 10 offers as I knew the applicant could not afford the price. In other words they should be renting a house that is about $200 to $400 cheaper per month.

I had two decent prospects but they were playing the waiting game (a typical business strategy).

It got to the point where I had to do something -- so I advertised "For Rent. Best Offer."

But I had these stipulations to enclose with the OFFER:

• Bring a deposit cheque (first, last month’s rent).


• Bring a proof of income letter.


• Bring references.

The reason I did this was because there are three types of people that look at a rental:

1. A person that just wants to know if you will actually go down to an obscene amount for the rental (like $700 inclusive instead of $1200 non-inclusive).
2. A potential renter that can ALMOST afford, will pay near market value but has something wrong with their application.
3. A potential renter that can more than afford it but wants a deal.

(NOTE: Notice I said “potential renter” for the last two and not first. The reason is most tire kickers are merely feeling the market out. Which is good as you get an idea of current market values this way).

I advertised an Open House and quickly received about 10 emails and 6 calls. Some wanted to see it previous to me showing anyone else. Here is the breakdown of each category:

Tire Kickers/Dreamers: 9 (56%)
Hopefuls: 4 (31%)
Deal seekers: 3 (19%)

The interesting thing I noticed was the response was triple the amount a typical ad would produce. And a typical ad would produce about the same percentages as above. So I reached more of my target (somewhere between #2 and #3 above) in a much shorter time. And I had the #3s excited about seeing my house (which places me as a Landlord in a better bargaining position).

The one that showed came with all credentials, letter, etc. and it rented.

The lesson to tenants is to be ready. I don’t know any Landlord that would not listen to lower reasonable offers if the tenant has a cheque and letters at the ready.

Happy renting!