Has anyone found a tenant through Gumtree?

joess

Yep - we've found tenants via Gumtree and despite all the references they gave us they were an absolute nightmare.....

Didn't pay the last months rent - just cancelled the direct debit, disappeared one day with no forwarding address and left us with thousands of pounds worth of damage! They trashed 90% of the walls, took internal doors, took all the integrated appliances, ripped up carpets......

Never again!

greenjellybean

Thank you for picking up on my thread. I have had 2 inquiries from my Gumtree ad. One we have spoken to on the phone and she sounded pretty genuine but hasnt sent my (admittedly perhaps daunting - copied from Renting for Dummies) application form. There is still time I guess. The other one I think was a scam and not heard anything back since my initial email reply.
I dont have photos on the GUm Tree ad but I dont seem to be advertising in an inundated area so I think my ad will stand out anyway. The write up looks personally written so people will hopefully recognise it is genuine.
I will have a look into Upad. Was it £99 per year or per application?

sarahjones4397

greenjellybean wrote: »

Thank you for picking up on my thread. I have had 2 inquiries from my Gumtree ad. One we have spoken to on the phone and she sounded pretty genuine but hasnt sent my (admittedly perhaps daunting - copied from Renting for Dummies) application form. There is still time I guess. The other one I think was a scam and not heard anything back since my initial email reply.
I dont have photos on the GUm Tree ad but I dont seem to be advertising in an inundated area so I think my ad will stand out anyway. The write up looks personally written so people will hopefully recognise it is genuine.
I will have a look into Upad. Was it £99 per year or per application?

Last time I used UPAD it was £99.00 for a listing with discounts if you buy multiple credits.

Try the coupon code W96Y8FN7 for a free listing at Home Abode. It's a little old but it might still work.

You can also look at makeurmove They are free as well but I think they charge high fees to the tenant and expect you to do the referencing through them.

P.S don't do an application form prior to having a tenant view your property. It'll put tenants off - pick up the phone and speak to the tenants, it's the best way to get a feel for what they'll be like.

You can also look at rent guarantee insurance as well which I get on some properties for £95.00 for 12 months - no excess

NEH

greenjellybean wrote: »

Thank you for picking up on my thread. I have had 2 inquiries from my Gumtree ad. One we have spoken to on the phone and she sounded pretty genuine but hasnt sent my (admittedly perhaps daunting - copied from Renting for Dummies) application form. There is still time I guess. The other one I think was a scam and not heard anything back since my initial email reply.
I dont have photos on the GUm Tree ad but I dont seem to be advertising in an inundated area so I think my ad will stand out anyway. The write up looks personally written so people will hopefully recognise it is genuine.
I will have a look into Upad. Was it £99 per year or per application?

Being on the other side I would suggest you put up some photos on Gumtree. Personally that would put me off straight away as it makes me wonder what you're hiding.

I've seen some properties before that didn't have photos even through letting agents and there was a reason for no photos.

daveparker

Personally I'd avoid gumtree. An ad in your local free press is the way to go or use Visum or similar to get yourself on rightmove. Gumtree is completely useless for property rentals - I've tried it a few times myself and it seems to attract timewasters

daveparker

Defo think local press is your best bet - its always worked for me!

sarahjones4397

I tend to find the local press works if I'm trying to find a DSS tenant or an elderly couple. Experiences with gumtree have been hit and miss but you can usually weed out the oddballs in a few emails or a telephone call.

For professional tenants I tend to find that the property portals are the way to go.

jemcart

I’ve used Gumtree to find a tenant before, and you do haveto kiss a lot of frogs to find the price as it were!

There were quite a few time wasters, some who couldn’tafford and were putting in offers of less than half the rental price, but I didfind a really great professional in the end who was a fantastic tenant.
It’s good if you don’t mind putting the effort in, and it’s freewhich is great, but if you want serious people only then best pay for an advertsomewhere else.

camptownraces

We no longer have any local press (not even free sheets)

Landlords have to weed out poor prospects by telephone, and have to get prospective tenants thoroughly checked out by an agency, however the property is advertised.

Perhaps surprisingly my recent experience was that ads on Rightmove, Findaproperty, Prime Location etc (via an intermedidary agent) did not all include the essential information, such as whether the property was furnished or not. These Rightmove etc ads produced two offers after fourteen days.

A Gumtree ad produced about 20 enquiries in 48 hours. Nevertheless, four prospects wanted to proceed with the property after viewing, all done in less than two days.

This doesn't prove anything of course - but you might be lucky and find a tenant with a free Gumtree ad. Best thing is to place the ad late on Thursday evening, so it will be close to the top of the list on the Friday which is when tenants often choose to arrange their viewings.