Time and Costs for Showing Your Rental Property in San Antonio
Having researched and followed applicable laws with regard to renting out your property, setting an appropriate rent and security deposit, making the home ready to rent to new residents and writing an attractive ad to get the attention of those prospective residents; your phone and email should now be getting inquiries to visit the property.
Most new landlords in San Antonio think they will simply spend about half an hour to show their rental property. Even if you live within 100 yards of your rental home, this simply is not the case. Showing a rental property will require significant time for initial discussion on the phone, applicant paperwork, and driving to/from your property. As such, time management becomes key to find a quality and qualified renter for your home. A few things to keep in mind as you schedule your time and expenses for tax purposes are as follows per showing:
- Time spent on phone for initial discussion, plan to talk 15-20 minutes (This conversation will usually rule out several potential renters if you give them enough detail-make sure you give them enough info so that you don’t take a trip out to the home to show it unless they are REALLY interested)
- Drive to property, show tenant inside and outside, all features, 25-90 minutes
- Applicant will fill out paperwork, this varies greatly; anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 days or longer
- Car mileage: 57.5 cents per mile. If property is ten miles away, then total mileage deduction would be $11.50 per each time driven
- Car gas – About one gallon per visit – about $2.50 per gallon
- Each showing will require 1.5 hours, $11 of wear & tear on car, and $2.50 in gas
Another trap many new landlords fall into is showing the property once and taking the first applicant with money in hand. However, it takes on average 7 to 15 showings to find a quality and qualified applicant. Based on the above numbers per showing, performing 7 to 15 showings will burn approximately 10-20 hours of your time, $80-$230 for wear and tear on your car, and $17 to $37 in gas.
The above information should give you a solid idea as to the time and costs required for showing your property so that you can plan accordingly. For more information, contact Real Property Management Alamo at 210-787-3876 or email amanda@rpmalamo.com. Ask about our tenant placement only program which allows you the option to have us handle only the advertising, showing and qualifying and lease signing portion of the rental process, the day to day managing is still in your command, if you so choose. Of course, we do offer full management services if that is what you are looking for.
