I know this sounds funny or ridiculous, and is kind of embarrassing to me but I don't know what to do. I'm just new in real estate, have been working only in rentals for the last 5 months but I'm having a lot of trouble keeping rental leads. I swear that I am very nice to them, I tried to help them in the best way possible. I always answer the phone or return calls shortly, I reply emails within minutes or few hours, I qualify them properly, and I have showed them properties. After that, they just disappear. I have told this to other agents in my office asking them and tell me honestly, if its my personality or what that people don't like me and disappear. They said that its nothing wrong with me, that all this prospective tenants are not loyal and are very volatile. They just keep looking and looking until they find what they want and the agent that show them that property get lucky. Is this really true?

So how all the agents that have been working only in rentals (with tenants) have made it for so long? I just don't understand how they do it. I have spent hours and hours looking properties on MLS for leads that I got everyday, talk to them on the phone, explain to them everything, exchange emails with them, sent them pictures of all properties that meet their criteria, some of them they not even want to see them, the others that want to see them, they disappear after. I'm so tired of this situation, that people think I'm a tour guide.

I just change my strategy now, in asking them to fill out the application form and pay the application fee up front, BEFORE showing them properties, in that way they can give some commitment to me and show me that they are serious in renting and are not in a house tour. I just started doing this recently and any lead had done it yet. I think this is a good thing to do not only for the commitment they show, but for safety. You know... showing a vacant property to a man, me being a woman, its kind of scary sometimes. So I think that its very important to do this before showing properties. The problem is that the 90% of agents, they don't ask for the application fee up front, only when they are ready to make an offer.

Please help! Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thank you!

I got into property management about two years ago. From a marketing/lead generation point of view, the rental business is really the same as the selling side. It is important to have rental listings. Rental listings drive potential renters to our website because of an IDX connection with MLS. Just like buyers, it is a numbers game. Qualifing a prospective tenant is key. The more listings you have the more renters you have to talk to. If my listing doesn't work for them (and they are qualified as far as past rental history, employment/income, and credit) then I show them listings that do and earn a co-op fee. And during this process I am building a relationship and continuing to do some low key qualification through conversation. A lot of renters do set appointments and never show up. So I call 30 minutes before the appointment. If I can't confirm I don't waste my time. If I call and get voicemail, I leave a message that I won't be there if they don't call back to confirm. Hang in there because it is a learning process. You will get to the point where you can easily determine if it is a waste of your time on the first phone contact. I qualify for motivation, time frame and ability to pay. I don't work with anyone that does not need to move in the next 30 days. I'd say take a good look at your qualification process. Like I say, it is a learning process. We would all like to help everyone but some people just aren't ready to be helped. Get some listings and I think you will have a different experience.