There are two ways to fill a vacancy quickly. One is to price it correctly and market it properly. The other is to drop the rent until someone takes it.
The second one works every time and costs you for the entire length of the tenancy. A property under-rented by $75 a month that a tenant holds for three years cost you $2,700 to fill a week faster.
How we lease a unit
- Price from signed leases, not active listings. Active listings tell you what other people are asking, which includes everyone who has priced wrong. Signed leases tell you what the market paid.
- Make it show well before it shows. The make-ready decisions that actually move rent are a short list, and most of them are cheaper than a month of vacancy.
- Photograph it properly. Listing photos are the entire top of the funnel. A property that photographs badly gets fewer inquiries at any price.
- Syndicate widely, so the listing appears where renters in this market actually look.
- Show responsively, including evenings and weekends. In shift-work markets like Moraine and Vandalia this alone changes how fast a unit fills.
- Screen to written criteria — see tenant screening.
- Execute a compliant lease, including the federal lead-based paint disclosure on pre-1978 properties, which a great many self-managing owners in older Dayton stock miss entirely.
Timing the lease expiration is free money
Most owners write a twelve-month lease starting whenever the last tenant happened to move in, and then re-lease in whatever month that lands. That is how you end up marketing a family home in December.
Rental demand in this region is strongly seasonal and the seasonality differs by market. Base-adjacent markets like Beavercreek and Riverside peak with summer PCS season. Student-influenced Fairborn peaks before the academic year. School-driven markets peak in late spring as families plan around the school calendar.
We deliberately steer lease expirations into the right window for the property, occasionally writing one odd-length term to get there. It costs nothing and it is worth weeks of vacancy every cycle.
What this costs you
A flat $750 when we place a new tenant, and $500 on a renewal — not a percentage of one month’s rent. On a higher-rent property that flat structure is meaningfully cheaper than the percentage model used elsewhere. Full fee schedule here.
Questions
How long should a vacancy take?
Priced correctly and listed in the right season, weeks rather than months. Listed at the wrong price in the wrong month, indefinitely. Timing is usually the larger variable.
What make-ready work actually pays back?
A short list, and it differs by market. We tell you which items move rent and which are just spending, as part of a rental analysis.
Why a flat leasing fee instead of a percentage?
Because the work is the same whether the house rents for $900 or $1,800, and a percentage would mean charging you more for doing better.
Do you handle the lead paint disclosure?
Yes, on every pre-1978 property. It is federal, it applies to single rentals, and the penalties are per violation.
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Same formulas as the Ingram Rental Calculator app, so the numbers agree: cap rate is NOI over purchase price, and cash on cash is NOI less debt service over total capital required. Management is billed at 10% of rent or $75 a month, whichever is greater — our full fee schedule is here.
Estimates for comparing deals, not for underwriting one. Closing costs and long-term capital reserves are not modeled. For a real number on a real address, ask us for a rental analysis.
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Send us the address and we will tell you what it rents for today, what it would rent for after specific work, and whether you should rent it or sell it. No cost, no obligation, usually back within two business days.
Rather talk? Call 937-999-3890 or email hello@daytonproper.com. Our office is at 729 Salem Ave, Dayton, OH 45406.