While the supply of residential properties has been on the rise, younger tenants are more inclined to use online platforms to rent. However, successful tenancy depends on the quickness of the landlords in replying to queries from potential tenants.
Wong Whei Meng, the CEO of SPEEDHOME (an end-to-end residential property rental platform) said, “Based on the data of our platform, tenants tend to find other properties if there is no reply from the landlords within a day.”
“Renting out a home online has its pros and cons like everything else of course. Landlords can easily publish their listings online, but tenants expect landlords to reply within the day.
According to our operating experience, landlords who take more than 24 hours to reply tend to have a more difficult time renting their house out.”
Quoting the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) data earlier this year, Wong pointed out that there would be an increase of 640,000 high-rises and landed residential properties across the country. With the increasing supply, the entire housing rental market is more favourable to tenants.
Stressing on importance of speedy reply, He said in the past eight months of this year, SPEEDHOME had more than 20,000 landlords listing their properties on its app. Landlords with fast response rate found tenants quicker while those who failed to reply within a day, took more than a month to find a tenant.
Wong advised, “to make it easier for both the landlord and tenant, it’s better to have a list of questions and answers for each other. A basic guide and overview of the home from the landlord and some questions from the tenant would help in quicker decision-making.
“For example, if the tenant wishes to have more furniture, both parties could compromise with the landlord agreeing to provide the said furniture and the tenant paying more to make it equal.”
According to SPEEDHOME, for Klang Valley areas such as Petaling, Subang and Cheras, fully-furnished houses with the average rental of RM1400 were the easiest to rent out due to their proximity to rail/railways and mature communities.
“The quickest transaction on our platform took only 12 hours. Apart from the owner’s positivity, the residential property was strategically located which largely
appealed to the tenant.”
Wong concludes: “While online rental platforms make it easier for landlords to reach out to potential tenants, they also need to act faster. The longer they delay in finding tenants, the higher the cost the landlords have to bear, considering the sluggishness of the property market.”
