| Phase | What happens | Where days leak |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Notice → "known vacant" | Notice logged, move-out date set | Internal gaps, late registration |
| 2. Marketing → first interest | Ad goes live, applicants reach out | Too-narrow distribution, slow ads |
| 3. Selection → signed lease | Viewing, credit check, references, lease | Manual screening, slow decisions |
| 4. Lease → move-in | Renovation, inspection, cleaning, keys | Renovation booked too late, queues |
Most property companies measure vacancy as a percentage. That's the right metric for the board, but the wrong one for whoever actually fills the units. The vacancy rate hides what costs money: the number of days each unit sits empty between tenants. If you want to genuinely reduce vacancies, stop counting units and start counting days.
Vacancy is a chain of days — not a single hole
From a tenant giving notice to the next moving in, a let passes through four phases, and days leak in each:
The point: the most expensive idle time usually sits not in marketing (phase 2) but in the internal handoffs — phases 1 and 4. A unit can be let on paper yet sit empty for three weeks because the renovation was only booked after move-out.
