Joe Downs walks through a six-month plan to fill rental units from June to November. Refresh dealer relationships in June, update listings in July, hit waiting lists hard in August, then capitalize on September and October when move-ins peak. Labor Day weekend is the biggest move-in day of the year.
Chapters
6 months from June to November, the operators who fill their spaces fastest in the fall started building the pipeline in June. In June, you refresh your dealer relationships. This is the last visit before the pre-fall window. Drop off updated information, ask about their fallback or their fall outlook, and remind them of your current availability. A dealer who saw you in June remembers you when the fall buyer asks about storage. In July, update your digital presence. New photos on Google Business Profile, updated availability. Any amenity improvements from the summer are now documented and visible. The prospective tenant who searches in August should find an updated active profile. Come August, this is your most active pre-fall marketing month. Contact everyone on your waiting list with fall availability. Send a one-page update to any prior inquiries who did not convert last fall. Last year. Announce the amenity improvements. This is when the motivated tenants, the ones who had the storage problems last fall, are already thinking about solutions. September and October is the peak window. Respond to every Google inquiry within the hour. Work the waiting list as spaces confirm. Be available on Labor Day weekend. That's the single, single highest volume move-in weekend of the year.
