Showing your rental property in Pittsburgh
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 for new residents, and writing a Pulitzer Prize level advertisement to get the attention of those prospective residents; your phone and email should now be ringing off the hook with inquiries for the property.
Most new landlords in Pittsburgh think they will simply spend a minimum amount of time to show their rental property. Even if you live close to your rental home, this is simply not the case. Showing a rental property will require significant time for an 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 the phone for an initial discussion and prescreening the tenant, plan to talk 15-20 minutes
- Drive to property, show tenant inside and outside, all features, 15-90 minutes
- The 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 the property ten miles away, then the total mileage deduction would be $11.50 per time driven
- Car gas – About one gallon per visit – about $2.70 per gallon
- Each showing will require about 1.5-2 hours, $13 of wear & tear on the car, and $2.70 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 (depending on the quality of the property) 5 to 15 showings to find a quality and qualified applicant. Based on the above numbers per showing, performing 5 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, see our Landlord Calculator.