5 Tips on Marketing Your Rental Property
Renting out a rental property isn’t an easy job. It can be tedious, infuriating, and emotionally draining. This is especially true for newbie landlords.
Every day that your property sits vacant means you are losing money. As such, your goal should be to get a tenant to fill your vacant property as soon as possible. But, the million- dollar question is – how do you do just that?
Well, to get a tenant, you obviously need to market your property properly. Gone are the days of just placing For Rent signs and using newspaper ads and hoping for the best. These days, the focus has shifted more to online platforms.
So, in today’s article, the Upkeep Media marketing team is going to share with you 5 tips on how best to market your rental property.
1.Spruce up your rental property
Before you start marketing your property, you need to make sure that what you’ll be marketing looks attractive.
Remember, quality tenants look for good living conditions. Does your landscaping look stark and boring? If so, it’s time you brought it back to life.
Does your paint look a little dull and scratched up? If so, then consider refreshing those uninspiring walls with a fresh coat of paint.
2.Start marketing your property as soon as you receive the vacate notice from your tenant
Once you have brought your property up to snuff, move to the next phase: marketing!
Tenant turnovers are bad for business. However, they are part and parcel of any rental business. No matter how long a tenant lives in your rental, there will come a time when they will need to vacate it.
Generally speaking, landlords usually require that tenants notify them about their intentions to vacate. It’s after receiving this vacation notice that you should begin Planning your marketing strategy.
While laws vary from state to state, a vacation notice is usually a two months’ window. Now, two months is ample time to market your property and even get some leads.
Remember to respect the privacy of your tenant, though. If you need to show your property to prospective tenants, always remember to notify your tenant well in advance.
3.Know who you are marketing your property to
There are a couple of things that you should keep in mind when marketing your rental property. One, you should know your target audience. In other words, you should have a clear picture of what kind of tenant you are looking for.
Knowing your target audience helps make the marketing process efficient. In turn, you are likely to get a tenant that meets your requirements in the shortest time possible.
Two, you need to ensure your rental ad is free from any form of discrimination. That is, it needs to adhere to the provisions of the Federal Fair Housing law of 1968. According to this law, it’s illegal for a landlord to discriminate against a tenant based on certain protected classes.
At the federal level, the 7 protected classes are sex, religion, race, national origin, familial status, disability, and color. With this in mind, avoid including the following statements in your rental ad.
- “Great for students or working folks.”
- “Suitable for couples of mature individuals.”
- “Ideal for females.”
- “Suits single professionals.”
- “Perfect for a quiet couple.”
While your intentions may be good, others won’t think twice about reporting you to the relevant authorities.
4.List your rental everywhere
From new resources like rental listing sites to “old school” options like yard signs and newspaper ads, list everywhere! Your goal is to get your vacant property in front as many eyeballs as possible.
You also want to include social media to your marketing efforts. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook aren’t just changing the world, they are also changing the way property marketing is done.
Some social media platforms tend to work better with pictures while others with videos. So, remember to keep this in mind!
5.Use word of mouth
So, how do you exactly create a buzz around your property from word of mouth recommendations? You could, for instance, consider incentivizing your existing tenants.This usually works great especially if you have already established a great relationship with them.
You could also build good buzz around your property by encouraging and engaging with online reviews. Did you know that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation?
A vacancy is like a tiny tumorous spot that can quickly infect the rest of the body. To build a successful rental business, you absolutely must deal with rental vacancies sooner rather than later. Hopefully, these 5 tips will get you started.
