The festive season is nearly upon and for most it will mean spending a well-deserved break with our families. But what if you’re a landlord with an empty property? Is it worth pursuing tenants, potentially at the cost of your own knees-up?
A quiet time for most
The Christmas period is generally a quiet one in the rental market. Things dry up around December 20, when prospective tenants stop looking for new digs and start looking for wrapping paper and beach towels. Many property managers even shut down from this date and don’t start showing rentals again until the new year.
The hard-working team at McPherson Property Management keep their noses to the grindstone throughout Yuletide, however, serving the needs of tenants-to-be and landlords on all but statutory holidays. Keep this in mind if your December doesn’t quite go to plan!
When do things pick up again?
Kiwis have usually had all their Christmas day gifting, Boxing Day bargain hunting, and New Year’s Eve celebration fun by the end of the first week of January – that’s Sunday the 7th, in 2018’s January.
But be warned, things don’t warm up slowly. People tend to approach the new year with a renewed enthusiasm (resolutions and all that), and the same is true for those searching the rental property marketing.
As a landlord, you need to be ready and waiting to make the most of this market surge. Why not make it your new year’s resolution… that kicks in at the beginning of December! That’s right, you should crack in to all those model tenant-baiting improvements, asap, to ensure they are completed in time for you too to have a deserved break before the phone starts ringing.
Will your property manager have their head in the game?
The spin-off of most people being on holiday over this period is that a lot of property mangers tend to take a lackadaisical approach to filling their client’s properties. They figure, ‘Everyone’s at the beach, so why should we put in the effort?’ If an office doesn’t close entirely, there will probably be reduced staff numbers working to meet your needs. If you want to keep your vacant property listed through the break, perhaps consider changing property managers if you suspect you won’t get the service you require.
The longer a property is empty, the harder it becomes to let
If you’re rental property has been vacant for some time as Christmas approaches, it may be worth your while continuing to actively show it. Prospective tenants are often suspicious of a rental that has been without tenants for a long time. They start to question why, wondering just what may be wrong with it. The days between December 20 and January 7 could be vital in saving your property from this type of scrutiny.
At McPherson Property Management we understand that not everyone spends December with their feet up. If finding tenants would be the best Christmas present you could ask for this year, we’d love to be your Santa Claus.
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