Email Hacks to Save Time On Rental Requests

During the process of filling a vacant unit, many landlords feel as if they could really use an answering service to help field all the questions they receive from interested people.

It can be frustrating and a waste of a landlord’s time to answer the same questions over and over again. This is especially true when the basic information is already mentioned in the advertising.

Landlords definitely save time and keep their sanity by implementing automated email replies to rental requests.

Canned Responses Save Time on Rental Requests

Landlords don’t have to hire an assistant or contract with an answering service to set up an automatic response system for email inquiries. Gmail includes some handy features that can be put to work right away for the landlords.

Gmail has a feature called “canned responses” that lets landlords compose a basic email that includes all the basic information about the unit. After the landlord composes the generic response email, they can save it and then apply it to any incoming emails about the unit.

The canned responses email can include anything the landlord finds useful. For example, it could include basic information about the rental, explain the screening process and show the office hours when the landlord will be available by phone. It gives applicants a chance to decide, before filling out an application, whether or not they really might qualify.

Here is an example of a canned response email that can answer most applicant questions automatically:

save time on rental requests

Setting Up Auto Response Emails

There are many levels of auto responses emails that landlords can set up. The first method is to answer each email individually using the canned responses feature in Gmail.

Landlords an also boost the service a little more by setting up the auto response system. This provides a canned responses email when one is incoming from specific sources. It can be generated from places like a Craigslist ad or local rental property website, for example. Landlords can even customize unique auto response emails using canned responses for different properties. Of course, all this can save time on rental requests.

For step-by-step instruction on how to use canned responses and auto email generation using Gmail, check out this video:

 

RentPrep’s Take on How to Save Time on Rental Requests

Of course, a landlord’s time is precious, so any effective and free features that can help them out are definitely worth exploring. With Gmail, the canned responses feature and the auto response email ability give landlords that extra layer of communication with interested parties.

This way, landlords can provide details on things like the unit specifications, the screening process and more. Then, applicants can self select and therefore give the landlord exposure only to serious applicants.

Using these features, landlords can figure out ways to systematically improve their process for handling rental requests. It really can help reduce their stress. Plus it gives them more time to attend to other areas of their real estate business.