Suppose you see an advertisement for a rental that you want to call and make an appointment to see.  You want to make the landlord interested in you, so that he will call you back.  Rentals in Berkeley are popular, and if a landlord gets 20 telephone calls on an ad, you want to stand out.

Make it easy for the landlord to call you back.  When you leave a message, speak slowly and clearly.  Spell your name.  Say your telephone number slowly, and repeat it.  If there are best times to reach you, give those times.  Be sure to give the address or location of the rental as sometimes landlords have more than one place they're renting out.

Now, here's the creative part: you also want to say something that will (hopefully) entice the landlord to call you back.  The object is to schedule an appointment so you can see the rental and further impress the landlord with how wonderful a tenant you would be.  You begin this process by saying something like:

"I'm a second year student at Cal and I'm very studious.  Living in the dorms has been too noisy for me, and I hope to find a nice, quiet place.  This rental sounds really ideal and I'd like to see it."

"Your rental is really close to where most of my classes are on campus and since my major is pre-med it's important for me to be able to get to school easily.  I'd love to make an appointment to meet you and see the place at 1234 Elm Street."

"My house mates and I spend lots of time in the library and we want a place that will be safe to come home to late at night.  This rental sounds ideal, and we'd like to see it whenever you can schedule the time."

Get the idea?  Think of it as an advertisement for yourself, who you are, and what a nice, studious person you are.  Landlords like tenants who are quiet and considerate.  They also like people who can afford the rent and will pay it on time, so here's another tactic you can use:

"I'm supporting my way through college and your rental at 1234 Elm Street sounds great and is in a range that's affordable to me."

"My house mates and I are credit-worthy and our parents are willing to co-sign."

Of course, all of these comments are adaptable into an email format if the landlord prefers email as the initial contact.

Next: You've landed the appointment!  You've looked the place over and you like what you see.  What should you do now?  If the property owner (landlord) or manager is showing the rental, try to establish some sort of contact to individualize yourself and make your application stand out.  Tell him or her what you are studying, where you are from, maybe what your hobbies are.  Admire the rental in any way you can and ask questions about it: 'what utilities are included?', 'how's the parking around here?', 'look at all the closet space!', 'wow, great built-in bookshelves,' etc.

Many times, landlords have told me that they decided on a particular tenant because, yes, they qualified for the rent financially, but also they stood out in some way that made the future business relationship a bit easier--a common interest in physics, for example, or a mutual admiration of playing the piano, or coming from the same home town.

Warning: This may not be possible if you are one of fifty students tromping through an Open House!  See if you can come right on time at the beginning of the Open House or hang about a bit later to try to have a little conversation with the landlord.  Tip: Never arrive late to an Open House; sometimes if there are too many people, the landlord will shut it down early.

Coming soon: what should be in your Tenant Resume.