Every PadSplit host wants their properties performing at their peak, but on occasion we see hosts who simply aren’t following best practices – harming the performance of their investments.
Here are the top six mistakes we see from PadSplit hosts that ultimately harm their performance.
Failing to account for seasonality
Demand for PadSplit fluctuates with the seasons just like all rental properties. If listing in the late fall or winter, you improve your chances of booking to price more aggressively than in the summer. But expect all leasing activity to be slower in the winter.
Adding overly stringent qualifications for applicants
PadSplit’s effective collections rate has been around 97% since we started in 2017, and we’re currently at 97.52%. We want all our hosts to carefully screen their residents, but our initial screening criteria is already based on thousands of use cases.
We’ve long since debunked rental industry myths around requirements for 3x income or high deposits being required for quality tenants or long tenure. So if you’re being overly choosy waiting for that perfect applicant, you’re likely just costing yourself more than you need to and turning away good members.
Bad photos or no curb appeal
First impressions matter. We’ve seen dramatic differences in lease-up rates between identical properties based on just the quality of photos. Make the effort to get good photos and a create a 3D tour to make sure applicants know you care.
Prospective members in your home will often make a decision about whether they want to continue living there within the first couple of minutes at the house. Improving curb appeal can make the difference to members, and to neighbors. Make sure the yard is well-kept and the exterior of the home looks like someone cares about it.
Getting greedy with room counts
The income from that 10th bedroom sure looks great on the pro-forma, and you might just be able to squeeze it into 80 square feet with a twin bed and a clothes hanger. But these scenarios rarely work out according to plan, and tiny rooms just aren’t that attractive to applicants.
Shoving too many bedrooms into a house can often create more conflict between roommates, additional parking issues, and longer vacancies. It’s best to assume that you’re going to give a full property tour to your mother or even a local political official. What will be their impressions of your PadSplit home? If you aren’t excited to show it to them, PadSplit members probably won’t be very enthusiastic about it either.
Rigid or overly aggressive pricing strategies
PadSplit’s pricing recommendations are based on the largest datasets available. If you’re pricing higher than what’s recommended, you should have strong conviction that your listing is significantly better than most rooms on the platform.
But don’t ignore your basic market research either. Check Craigslist, or Facebook Marketplace. Look at what frontline workers are actually earning in your market or submarket, and try to price your rooms around 33% of their gross income.
Move-in directions and ratings
You only get one chance to make a first impression, and our data indicates that the initial experience of a member moving into a PadSplit is one of the single biggest determinants of their tenure in your home. Moving to a home you’ve never seen before is really stressful, so make sure your move-in instructions are as clear and welcoming as possible, that lock codes are up to date on the platform, and that the home looks and smells clean on move-in day.
Reach out to the applicant directly upon the request to book your room. Manage their expectations appropriately and ensure they understand what your expectations are as well. Hosts (or their property managers) should monitor their reviews and ratings on the platform and use this feedback to improve their processes and member experience.
