Dealing with the No-Show Part I

One of the most amazing aspects of human/tenant behavior that I had to learn the hard way is that roughly 50% (and sometimes more) of people who go to the trouble of calling you about a rental and set up a time to view it will choose to simply never show up. This was foreign to me - I don't miss 50% of my appointments for no reason, and I didn't think it would be that way for people making appointments with me. I'm also used to calling to let someone know if I'm going to be late or unable to make an appointment. These folks will not bother to call you in most all cases. The fact that you are taking your time and driving to the rental seems to be unimportant to them.

I've tried to determine what causes this behavior, sometimes contacting no-shows and asking them what happened; do these folks all have real emergencies that come up? No. The answer seems to fall into one of four basic areas: 1) They were just "window-shopping" or fantasizing about getting a new place to live. Maybe they are living with family things are going poorly, or they had a disagreement with their current landlord and were just being wishful about moving. The reality of seeing a place and getting the sales pitch would actually burst their bubble when forced to admit to themselves they aren't going to do it, so they keep it at the wishing stage, but setting the appointment makes the fantasy a little more real. 2) They were looking at other places, found something and just didn't think it important to let you know not to waste your time 3) Their life is such that they aren't able to keep hardly any of their commitments. For these folks, realizing that Oprah is on at the same time as your appointment is enough to distract them. 4) They just changed their mind - maybe they checked the school districts or utilities and didn't like something, or realized that some money they were going to use for the move isn't really coming, etc. Once they've realized that they are no longer interested, remembering to let you know just doesn't seem to occur to them. There are some folks who will miss an appointment, but call you right afterwards, or even at the appointment time, to let you know that they've had something come up and couldn't make it. Even though you have been frustrated, those who call are worth a second chance - the fact they called you at all makes them a cut above many, and potentially a good tenant.

The worst/strangest one I had was a lady who no-showed after she had showed. I met her, showed her the apartment, she asked all the questions she could think of and she liked it so filled out the application. We require $100 with the application (all but background check cost refunded if they aren't accepted, applied to deposit if they are accepted). She said that she would need to run to the bank to get the money. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, after about 45 minutes, I called her. It was obvious that either she didn't have $100, had car trouble, or had changed her mind. She had forgotten for some reason that I had her phone number, so when she answered and I asked if she was OK she became so flustered all she could do was stammer. Finally she lied "I'm on my way back now" and hung up. It was more than obvious that she was lying and changed her mind. I waited 20 more minutes to satisfy myself that she was lying, and when I called her again she wouldn't answer the phone. So here was someone who was willing to just leave me standing there not once, but twice, rather than admit that they weren't really going to rent anything. But it helped me understand the mental state of these folks somewhat - she was either too embarrassed to tell me that her renting the unit was just a fantasy, or too embarrassed to admit it even when I called her back on it, but she was obviously embarrassed and lying to cover. Stating the reality that she wasn't really going to rent would apparently ruin the fantasy; whether she was embarrassed because she was caught having the fantasy or caught bailing out (or both) I couldn't tell. For most, just setting the appointment is as far as they take the fantasy - she had just taken it a couple of steps further.

Next: Things you can do to cut down on the "no show" problem