Landlords will argue with me all day about two points on a management fee. They will not always do the same math on an empty apartment, and that is usually the bigger invoice.
If a unit that should rent around $1,700 sits for 90 days, that is about $5,100 you did not collect. That is this apartment, at this rent, for this many days. It is not a gospel number for Fall River. Plug in your own rent and run the same arithmetic.
Our published Full Lease fee is one month of that unit's rent. On a $1,700 apartment, that is $1,700 to have us list, show, screen, and sign. Sixty empty days at the same rent is about $3,400. Ninety days is about $5,100. Sitting is not the cheap path, even if it feels like you saved the fee.
What vacancy actually costs
The formula is not fancy. Monthly rent times days vacant, divided by 30. That is lost rent. It does not count the water bill, the insurance, the interest, or the turnover you still have to finish. It is just the rent that never showed up, which is already enough to change the year.
| Days vacant | $1,400 | $1,500 | $1,700 | $2,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 days | $653 | $700 | $793 | $933 |
| 26 days (our published median) | $1,213 | $1,300 | $1,473 | $1,733 |
| 45 days | $2,100 | $2,250 | $2,550 | $3,000 |
| 60 days | $2,800 | $3,000 | $3,400 | $4,000 |
| 90 days | $4,200 | $4,500 | $5,100 | $6,000 |
Look at the 90-day row. A mid-market unit in that band has already burned more than a Full Lease fee, and you still do not have a tenant. That is the comparison I want owners to make before they shop the cheapest percent and tell themselves they are being careful with money.
Compare it to the lease-up fee, not to zero
People compare a lease-up fee to paying nothing. The real choice is paying a published fee and getting the unit producing again, or paying the empty days and still needing a tenant at the end. Nothing is not actually on the table. The unit is either rented or it is not.
On our lease-up page the packages are public. Lease Assist is half a month's rent plus $99 lease prep if you run the showings. Full Lease is one month's rent and we run the whole thing. Always Leased is $79 to $159 a month on a 24-month subscription with re-leasing included. None of those numbers are secret, and the vacancy math should not be secret either.
We also publish the fill time: a 26-day median from list to signed lease, across 312 listings since 2019. That is on the same page. We wrote about why that number is public, and we keep every leased unit on the Rented Compendium so you can see the unit-level days, not just a trophy median.
Why the unit is still sitting
If your apartment has been dark longer than 26 days, that is the conversation I want. Usually it is the rent, the photos, the floor plan, or a slow or cheap turn. It is rarely a mysterious marketing problem. New construction in this city is the competition now. Tenants vote with their wallets. A tired unit at last year's rent will sit, and sitting is the invoice in the table above.
Late concessions make it worse. You already ate 45 or 60 empty days, then you cut $200 a month or throw $500 off at move-in. You paid the vacancy and you still cut the product. Price it from comps on day one. If five other units in the book have a crowd of showings and yours has two, same marketing, it is a rent conversation. The market will tell you. You have to look.
That is the same thesis as you get what you pay for. The cheapest published percent does not pay you back if the unit is dark. Two points of fee over a year is a rounding error next to 90 empty days on a $1,700 door.
What you should ask any manager
Ask for their median days from list to signed lease, and what sample that is based on. Ask what a 60-day sit costs at your rent, out loud, with a calculator in the room. Ask whether the lease-up fee is one month, half a month, or a monthly subscription, and what you actually get for it. If they cannot show fill time, you are buying a story.
We would rather take an extra week when the file is not right than rush a tenant who will not pay. That patience is already inside the 26-day median. It is not an excuse to let a unit rot for a quarter because nobody wanted to have the rent conversation in week two. Call (508) 671-7228 if you want us to run this math on a specific door.
Fall River landlord FAQs
How do I calculate what vacancy costs on a Fall River rental?
Take the monthly rent and multiply by days vacant divided by 30. A $1,700 unit empty 60 days is about $3,400. Empty 90 days is about $5,100. Use your actual rent. Those figures are a worked example, not a city-wide rule.
Is a 26-day lease-up the same as zero vacancy?
No. Twenty-six days is our published median from list date to signed lease, across 312 listings since 2019. The unit can still be empty while we show and screen. The point is that 26 days and 90 days are not the same invoice.
Does a Full Lease fee cost more than just waiting it out?
Often the opposite. Full Lease is one month of that unit's rent, published on our lease-up page. On a $1,700 apartment that is $1,700 to have us run the whole lease-up. Sixty to ninety empty days at the same rent is two to three times that number, and you still do not have a tenant.
Why do Fall River units sit longer than a month?
Usually it is the rent, the photos, the floor plan, or a slow turnover, not a mystery marketing problem. We publish fill time so that conversation happens early, before you burn a second month and then cut the price.
Should I drop the rent after the unit has already sat?
Late concessions are expensive because you already ate the empty days. Price from comps on day one. If the live demand on your unit is quiet while the rest of the book is busy, that is a rent conversation, not a hope conversation.
Educational only. Vacancy figures are worked examples using rent times days divided by 30. They are not a bid, not a guarantee, and not your unit until you plug in your rent. Package prices and the 26-day median are as published on fortifiedrealty.net/rent-your-fall-river-apartment/. Call (508) 671-7228.