Open listing feedback please.

Has anyone done any "open listings" of their rental property? if you are not familiar with the term, it means approaching a few agencies, and giving management rights to whoever finds you a (good) tenant (that you approve of).

If you've done it before, any tips on what to watch out for, and how many agencies would you use?

Cheers.
(newbie to the forum)
 
What is the incentive to the agent? Does the successful agent get the management? If not you risk getting the worst tenant as the agent is not there for the long run.
 
howdy ScottNoMates, yes that is what i alluded to above in the question... "and giving management rights to..."

Judging by the responses, it appears this is not commonly done by the forum regulars. Anyway i will attempt it and report back down the track.
 
So let me see, the agents have current landlords that they are "responsible" for, and then they have your listing that is with a few agents that no one is "responsible" for, and you see that as working in your favour to get a tenant quickly. If is does not let quickly, who do you talk to about what strategy to use to get tenanted? When you inform the agents that you propose to give to a few agents, and then ask on what their thoughts are as to achievable rent, I cannot help but think one may give you a figure that makes his "responsible" properties look good value ... :)

A few years ago, I spoke to a number of accountants, and said, run your eyes over my records, and tell me what tax refund you can get me, and I will engage the one with the highest estimate of my refund ... :)

Interested to read about your experiences.
 
Open listing update - NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

Just an update for anyone that may be interested. Can be done. Property is leased. 3 agents actively looking, 2 others passively in the background.

Agents will try to talk you out of it, because they reckon it doesn't work in your favor. Seriously? It doesn't work in THEIR favor more like it, because it doesn't guarantee any particular agent the management rights, it is the luck of the draw. i.e. tenants turn up to one particular agent's inspection slot.

Other things i found out.
- No such thing as tenants already on their books. Most tenants come thru the 2 major websites.
- RE Agents are pushy -bas tards-, not just to tenants, but to landlords as well.
- the word of a RE Agent means nothing. promises to call at a certain time mean nothing. appointment no shows do occur without any explanation, phone call, or apology. However, the next day they will act as if nothing occurred.
- next time i will not pay 1 weeks rent as a leasing fee. My weekly rental is $750, ad costs $200 on the two major websites for 1 year; will conduct the inspection times myself, take applications, pre-select.. and only then pass to the agent to verify tenancy database, etc.

Over and out.
 
Just an update for anyone that may be interested. Can be done. Property is leased. 3 agents actively looking, 2 others passively in the background.

Agents will try to talk you out of it, because they reckon it doesn't work in your favor. Seriously? It doesn't work in THEIR favor more like it, because it doesn't guarantee any particular agent the management rights, it is the luck of the draw. i.e. tenants turn up to one particular agent's inspection slot.

Other things i found out.
- No such thing as tenants already on their books. Most tenants come thru the 2 major websites.
- RE Agents are pushy -bas tards-, not just to tenants, but to landlords as well.
- the word of a RE Agent means nothing. promises to call at a certain time mean nothing. appointment no shows do occur without any explanation, phone call, or apology. However, the next day they will act as if nothing occurred.
- next time i will not pay 1 weeks rent as a leasing fee. My weekly rental is $750, ad costs $200 on the two major websites for 1 year; will conduct the inspection times myself, take applications, pre-select.. and only then pass to the agent to verify tenancy database, etc.

Over and out.

I've heard of open listings. Never tried it though, and personally wouldn't do it. Although I'm sure there are many situations where it could work out just fine.

Some of the things you've found out may have more to do with it being an open listing? For example, I've never had issues with a Property Manager being too pushy? Nor have I had one not show up to appointments or not call? Could just be bad agents, but both those things also make sense if it's an open listing and there's no contract yet in place as they don't want to waste their time if there's quite a good chance they won't get paid - an open listing doesn't work in the agents favour, but it also might not work out as well in your favour either.
 
I have no issues working with an open listing as I have no fear of my competitors and I normally find a good tenant before them. Biggest issue you have is that you have it listed with too many agents and to a prospective tenant they wonder what is the problem with the property if advertised with 5 agents. As for feed back from agents you get for what you pay for.
 
next time i will not pay 1 weeks rent as a leasing fee. My weekly rental is $750, ad costs $200 on the two major websites for 1 year; will conduct the inspection times myself, take applications, pre-select.. and only then pass to the agent to verify tenancy database, etc.

Over and out.

Why would an agent want to process the paper work for chump change?

I'm sure there are people out there who MAY. But geez, what do they value their time at.
 
Good luck. I hope the tenant works out well for you.

While I have not done the exact same thing, I have been in the following scenario:

Agency #1 is advertising the property. After 3 weeks, no nibbles.
I tell Agency #1 i am engaging Agency #2 and the one who finds me the tenant gets the management
Agency #1 finds me a tenant within 2 days and tells me these people are excellent tenants

If i compare those tenants against those bad tenants stories on somersoft, they don't look too bad.

However if compared to the tenants across my rental properties over the years, they definitely have been the worse.

Obviously when i renting my IP to these people i thought they were the norm. How wrong I was. It was only they moved out and I got another tenant I realised the agency simply put the first person they could find in there.
 
Why would an agent want to process the paper work for chump change?

Because they get to skim off a percentage throughout the property management period, which will run for at least 6 months, and can go on for many years.

And how hard can the paperwork be? Couple of hours work in the office, few phone calls, etc.
 
While I have not done the exact same thing, I have been in the following scenario:

Agency #1 is advertising the property. After 3 weeks, no nibbles.
I tell Agency #1 i am engaging Agency #2 and the one who finds me the tenant gets the management
Agency #1 finds me a tenant within 2 days and tells me these people are excellent tenants

How wrong I was. It was only they moved out and I got another tenant I realised the agency simply put the first person they could find in there.

That's interesting Nek. I have done exactly the same thing: gone to another agency when the first didn't find me a tenant (after three weeks) and let the first agency know. In fact, from memory I went to two other agencies and let the first one know.

In one case, I organised for four real estate agents to give me their thoughts on the going rental for a property. Each of them told me that they would keep their eyes open for a prospective tenant. Found a tenant within two weeks. Admittedly, the tenants have been a pain in the backside.
 
Because they get to skim off a percentage throughout the property management period, which will run for at least 6 months, and can go on for many years.

And how hard can the paperwork be? Couple of hours work in the office, few phone calls, etc.

It's by no means hard at all. You need to see it from an agency point of view however; If I'm having my staff members process and screen applications on a sure thing (the current management solely with the office) or an application on a listing with a 50/50 or less chance I'm having my staff I'm paying focusing on the "exclusive" listing first.
 
Thanks Josh and IS. Management fees and letting fees for open listings have just been increased. If you're prepared to go lucky dip for the first tenant then it's a lucky dip for the agency as well.

It simply puts the risk back to you with less objective analysis of what you're setting out to achieve.
 
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