No, you've done what you can. If they don't call back, let it be.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

I do my hardest to get that horse to the water. When I advertise on craigslist and zillow etc, I don't post my number phone. So the only way they can contact me from my ad is by emailing me.

I have my phone with me at all times when I'm not sleeping and unless I'm doing something I can't step away from, as soon as I get their email I will call them. Most of the time I get them on the phone as they are searching for houses at that very moment, not doing anything else.

But sometimes they can play with their phone but can't answer a call and it goes to voicemail. The problem is, sometimes, maybe 5-10% the phone number will be outdated or just plain incorrect. So if I call them within 10 mins of their email but still just their voicemail, I reply to their email , saying I called them and to double check the phone number. (I never leave voicemail.)

Now at this point, I will call them every four hours to try to reach them (every 2 hours if I have a showing that day and I want to pack them in that day). Smartphones nowadays have a DO NOT DISTURB feature that automatically sends incoming calls to voicemail, BUT sometimes they enable the option to allow a second call from the same caller within 5 minutes. So whenever I call, I always call TWICE in succession.

I will KEEP CALLING someone until either I get them on the phone or the house gets rented. Only about 1% of the time do I get someone POed and tell me not to call.

People will email me at all times of the day. If they email me while I'm awake, even though it may be outside of regular business houses , I will still call them back if its within 10 mins of their email. As I assume they are awake and not sleeping if they were able to email me.

In particular, if I have a vacancy I'm advertising but I happening to be traveling , I will still call people even if its 2am at home.

Once. I don't want to rent to people who are bad at communication. If they're bad at communication as prospects, will they be any more diligent with returning messages or following up as tenants?

One and done.

The problem I find with text and email is that its impossible to know if the msg was received, much less read, by the recipient. Could have been overlooked, sent to spam (good chance as you're a new sender and it gets passed thru CL or zillow), etc

No second chances. I'm not going to chase them down and beg them to look at my house. I don't need tenants where I am going to have to chase them down and beg for my rent.

Orit,

We reply with a message to go to our website for info, pics, walk thru video, and a free application.

My answering machine message is 3 minutes long with a brief description and prices for each home. 6 on the recording today. Still, after listening to 3 minutes of info they leave a message asking "Do you have any houses for rent?"

People don't answer their phones if they don't recognize the number so we leave a message directing them to our website.

We are courteous to everyone, reply, but don't have time to chase them.

If they provide a number I call. I will leave a message indicating the "who, what, where, why and how" type thing and state "If you are still interested please return my call". I will (sometimes) reply to the email indicating I just called and left a message (if I could).

Orit, I will put a reminder on my phone to call them back at the time they request or as close as possible. If not, then I try again in the evening .

David,

One of the main reason I don't chase is because if they want it bad enough, they'll pursue it.

NE, I have to chase and hustle prospective tenants so they can come to showing for the unit to sell itself.

I usually call once; if they don't bother to call back, I move on. So many times they have a VM box that is either full, or is not set up yet (this signals to me that they just changed phones/#'s to avoid bill collectors). Sometimes they can't stand it, and call right back, asking "who is this and why did you call me". Duh, you called me first!

I have our rentals all over the net Zillow, TurboTenant, Apartments.com, etc. and also FB. I get lots of "I am interested in this" responses. However, when I respond to those messages, and ask them to please call XXX-XXX-XXXX, I never hear from them again.

David, I'm basing that off of how previous tenants have came to be. (At least for me.)

Standard pre-screen everyone. Schedule to show as normal. Once onsite, the good ones fill out app onsite or shortly thereafter. (Not days to weeks later.)

Sign lease.

I do initially contact them. If I don't hear back, I don't contact them again.

NE, if you aren't able to actually contact them, what good does that do? This discussion reminds me of a famous chinese parable

If business is slow, I return calls once. If business is normal, my voice mail message tells them everything they need to do so I don't return the call. If they don't follow it, that is the first indication someone is not cooperative with our way of doing business.

Interesting rabbit parable. Depending on how one interprets it, the farmer waiting by the tree could be either the land lord who never calls anyone, or the land lord who spends so much time calling a non-responsive person that they miss someone who is ready to go.

Sid, it takes about 30 secs to get to voice mail. If I call someone 4 times a day, thats 2 mins.

It's okay David. There's no need to defend yourself because I'm not attacking. Remember, "I think we each set our procedures, and if they work in our market...go forth and conquer."

DAVID: I used to call but two things changed. One I switched to open house showings and advertise exclusively on Zillow. It may just be my market but Zillow users only want to use email. I will always respond to an email that has a specific question. But out of 100 responses I may receive 2 or 3 phone calls. And I can almost guarantee they are the ones with the "back story".

"but Zillow users only want to use email. " I use zillow as well and only about 5% of my leads don't include a phone number.

RentsDue, I think that is conflating "prefer to coomunicate by email" with not answering the phone, whether by accident, unable to, or on purpose.

A tenant needs to fall in line during the entire process.

From the point of initial contact to the returning of a deposit once it's all said and done.

If a prospect calls, emails or texts me, I respond. If at that time I don't make contact with them, I consider my part complete. I have left a voicemail if I am able or I have texted or emailed.

Ne, as many posters regularly point out, its not enough just to do the absolute minimum.

DAVID: The phone number is part of their profile when they setup Zillow. That doesn't mean they want to be called.

Pre-screening? I am only interested in screening those who, by their presence at the open house and by their completing an app, demonstrate they are serious prospects.

What is wrong with doing the minimum if it's working well and you are accomplishing your goals? I can only put one tenant at a time in any given property. Granted, if the minimum effort ceases to produce then I agree I need to reconsider my approach.

obviously that should be "by providing their phone number"

NE, you don't have to do more than call them once. But you end up losing a possible lead . They may not have answered because they were in a meeting at work, on another call, their kid was playing with their phone, or a hundred other reasons.

I've returned contact once. I'm not contacting again.

Why?

Too many bums. All of my good tenants and all of my tenants for that matter have found their way into my units as a result of one returned initial contact for me, before moving onto the next step.

I'll disqualify people over the phone or they will turn down my unit for one reason or another and then they contact me over and over and over for the same unit not even realizing they already won't get it or don't want it.

Other markets may vary, for me it's not worth a 2nd call. There's a voicemail for them to listen to, provided they even have it set up. There's a text or email waiting for them to read at their leisure.

Not worth a 2nd attempt. Often times tenants will thank me for even calling them back, because nobody is.

NOW, with that being said, I WILL follow up with a good prospect that has seen a unit and I haven't heard back from them. Usually in a day or two.

DAVID:

"I'm not interested in what they prefer"

People are going to communicate the way THEY want to whether we like it or not. It is apparent that since 97% email that is their preference. If only 3 emailed and the other 97 called then I would have to conform to their preferences. My market is very young. I'm not convinced they even know they can use their smartphones for talking. If they could respond by text I guarantee you that is what the majority would do.

"I'm only interested in what I can get them to do"

The fact is they are doing what I want them to do...attend the open house and view the property. That's all I want them to do. Nothing more nothing less. Either they will like the house or they won't. My calling them isn't going to change that.

@ NCINVESTOR clearly thats not true since I can get 99% of people who email me on the phone. Someone may prefer USDA prime steak but if you put meat n potatoes in front of them , they may take a few bites.

It only takes one motion, a swipe, to answer a call, so I don't know why you think they can't use their phones for talking. It takes a lot more steps to text or email.

You're not pre-screening them, but the OP clearly has a need for that.

DAVID:

"It takes a lot more steps to text or email." Perhaps that is true but it is MY preference and it is on my time at my convenience which for me is much more important than the amount of time.

I am already getting a huge response not only to the ad but to the open houses. I have all of the horses at the water trough that I need or want.

I don't want to talk to them. Not as prospects or as tenants. I want everything done electronically and that seems to suit my tenants.

Pre-screening it's a waste of my time. I want to see credit reports, tax returns for 1099 people, employer and former LL written verifications and eviction reports and anything else that pops up after the initial docs. That's the only screening that I need to or want. Written documented facts that don't lie and can't be distorted.

When my method stops working I will have no choice but to try a different approach but honestly I can't see calling people as being high on the list.

If you want to try videoconferencing there are a few apps where you initiate the conference and send them a link. But that will take longer than 30 seconds just to explain it to them.

That rabbit was an emotional support animal!

I don't waste my time and what's left of my life talking to casual callers because most are tire kickers and most lie.

Once I have their application I can see if they qualify.

LLs spend waay too much time and money on the wrong people.

I'm courteous, will talk to anyone who walks up, but nothing happens until we have their written, signed app in hand.

Keeps me square with Fair Housing Law by working from their app, not words floating in the air.

Also, times have changed. People, even us, communicate differently. WE must adapt.

I find it a huge waste of MY time (and theirs) to schedule showings for people who obviously don't qualify based on what THEY tell me!

These first five are all crystal clear, yes or no questions

Foreclosure?

Short sale?

Bankruptcy?

Eviction?

Repossession?

What kind of pets? Breed of dogs?

Income, source and amount?

All of this phone prescreen takes 2-3 mins.

I don't call anyone and they don't call me because no phone number in ad. Everyone is directed to my website to fill out our pre-screening questions. From there I either send a "Thanks for your interest but no..." email or I send an appointment request form, where they get to pick a day and time to see the place (from choices I have already set up. 15 minutes apart on the same day.)

If they like and want the place, now they do a "real" application, which we just recently moved online as well. I don't want their SSN, driver's licence etc until I know I want them! And simultaneously they pay for and do the background / credit check online.

Obviously David has found a way to make phone screening (as well as calling them back) work for him and get them off the phone in a couple of minutes.

I used to do phone screening but about half of them hadn't read the ad at all, and would ask questions already addressed in the ad. Or they would launch into a long story about their lives and not let me speak. Sometimes I had literally to just hang up on them and then a minute later they would call or text back in a rage because I hung up on them. My phone bill was getting too high also. Finally I switched to a hybrid approach to email first and then phone a brief phone call if they passed the initial email screening.

My new approach isn't perfect either but I don't think I could go back to the old way at this point.