Vacancy Is the Biggest Drag on Multifamily Returns
Every day a unit sits empty, you are losing rent and still paying the mortgage, insurance, taxes, and maintenance on that space. In competitive LA County submarkets like Pasadena, Glendale, and Burbank, effective vacancy management is the difference between a property that cash-flows and one that bleeds.
Price to Market, Not to Memory
The most common vacancy mistake is pricing based on what you think the unit should rent for rather than what the market will actually bear today. Pull comparable rents weekly. Use tools like Apartments.com, Zillow, and local MLS data to benchmark your asking rent against similar units within a half-mile radius. If your unit has been listed for more than 21 days without qualified applications, your price is too high.
Maximize Your Marketing Reach
A For Rent sign in the window is not a marketing strategy. Professional listings with high-quality photos, virtual tours, and compelling descriptions should be syndicated across all major rental platforms simultaneously. At Highland Pacific, our leasing team photographs every unit, writes optimized listings, and distributes them across 20+ rental platforms within 24 hours of vacancy.
Make-Ready Speed Matters
The days between a tenant moving out and the next tenant moving in are pure cost. Compress your make-ready timeline by pre-scheduling vendors, standardizing unit turn procedures, and having materials on hand for common repairs. Our construction management team runs unit turns on a 5-7 day timeline for standard make-readies.
Retention Is Cheaper Than Turnover
The best vacancy strategy is preventing turnover in the first place. Responsive maintenance, clear communication, fair rent increases, and a well-maintained property all contribute to tenant retention. Calculate the true cost of turnover — lost rent, make-ready, leasing costs, and administrative time — and you will quickly see that investing in retention pays dividends.
Pre-Lease Before Vacancy Occurs
When you receive a notice to vacate, marketing should begin immediately — not after the tenant moves out. Pre-leasing lets you schedule showings while the unit is still occupied (with proper notice), and can eliminate vacancy days entirely. This single practice can improve your effective gross income by 2-4% annually.
Want a vacancy analysis of your portfolio? Call Highland Pacific at (323) 515-0826 — we will benchmark your performance against market averages and identify specific opportunities to improve.
