Having a great tenant can make your life as a landlord much easier. You know you’ve got someone dependable who pays their rent, takes care of the property, and lets you know when there are problems. The problem, of course, is when they move and your rental becomes vacant. Every month it sits empty, you’re losing money.
The rental market, like the rest of real estate, can go up and down depending on the time of year and what’s going on in the local market. When potential tenants aren’t falling into your lap, you’re going to need to market your rental in order to make sure you have a wide pool of tenants to select from.
Here are just 29 ways to market your rental.
Clean and freshen up your property so that it looks good in pictures.
Spruce up the front yard and think about the curb appeal.
Have high quality, professional photographs taken to highlight the property in the best light and from the best angles.
Write a description of the property, including special features, new additions, and details like square footage and available amenities.
Make flyers on your computer. Save the file as an image to post online and print several to distribute to various locations.
Post paper copies of the flyers at churches, community organizations, the post office, and anywhere else that will let you.
Put up yard signs. Make sure to monitor signs that may be removed or stolen so you can replace them. Also consider signs to lead people from the main road back to your rental.
Hold open houses, ideally on the weekend, so potential clients can come view the property. Make sure you have enough applications on hand so they can apply on the spot.
Take out an ad in the Northwest Florida Daily News.
Take out an ad in the local paper where your rental is located: Crestview News Bulletin, Destin Log, The Bay Beacon, etc.
Ask for referrals from your tenants. You can offer an incentive to encourage referrals. You will likely need to remind your tenants you’re accepting referrals for as long as the property stays vacant.
Ask for referrals from family and friends. Try not to be too annoying but also make sure you remind them from time to time until the vacancy is filled.
Post your rental on Facebook.
Consider posting on other social media accounts you may have including Instagram, Twitter, and others.
Record a video as you walk through the home and post it to YouTube and/or Facebook.
Post your rental listing to Postlets.
Post your rental listing to Craigslist. Yes there are scams out there but it can be a valuable tool.
Post your listing to Zillow.
Post your listing to Hotpads.
Post your listing to Trulia.
Post to Rent.com
Post to Padmapper.
Post your rental listing to Oodle.
Post your rental to RentalHouse.com.
Post to Rentals.com.
Post to Rentdigs.
Post to Zumper.
For short-term rentals, post to AirBnB. Check any COA, HOA, or local ordinances regarding short-term rentals first.
Again, for a short-term rental, post your rental to VRBO.com.
Once your rental is listed, you’ll need to take down your listing from all of the websites, remove the signs, take down any flyers still available in public spaces, and do what you can to make sure you don’t get calls after your new tenant has moved in.
If that sounds like a lot of work, it is. You can market your rental in one easy step by hiring a good property manager to take care of it for you. All the necessary marketing still takes place, and you can have as much or as little control as you’d like, but you don’t have to put in the time to do all the tedious details.
At ERA American Real Estate, we know the best websites to post rentals to and can put your rental on Realtor.com as well as many others. We use the best marketing tools to make sure you have the best qualified tenants in the least amount of time. Give us a call and let us help you market your rental property in more than 29 different ways.