How To Attract Tenants
Once you have bought your investment property, you need to
find a way to attract rental tenants. Even if you have the perfect rental
property, you need to make rental tenants aware that it is available. There are
many methods for attracting rental tenants, all of which can be used to keep
your property in use as much as possible.
Driving by
Surprisingly, one of the most common ways of attracting
rental tenants is to catch their eye whilst they drive past your property.
Studies have shown that a lot of people select rental property by simply
driving around their neighbourhood looking for potential rental properties.
With this in mind, it is important to make your property visible from the road
or street when attracting tenants.
Although most large property complexes already take
advantage of this through the use of signposts and full time property managers,
smaller investors often overlook this crucial area for attracting rental
tenants.
If you put up signs that show people your rental property
is vacant, even on quiet roads you will end up with a larger number of
responses. This will help you rent out your property to better candidates in a
shorter amount of time. Try and use signs like ‘Available Soon’ as this gives
the impression the place is not totally empty, and that anyone inquiring will
need to negotiate, whilst still showing that the property is available for
rent. Put contact details on the sign so that people can contact you about the
property easily.
Recommendations
Another great way of attracting rental tenants is through
recommendations. A fair amount of tenants find their properties through
recommendations from other people. If your property is part of a large complex,
let the other residents know, as they might have friends who are looking for
somewhere to rent. Also, be sure to mention that a place is becoming vacant to
your friends and family, as they might also know someone who is looking for a
place to live.
Newspaper Advertisements
Although perhaps less successful than most people think, property
advertising in newspapers can still be a good means of attracting rental
tenants. Most people who are looking for a new place to rent will look at their
local newspaper. The key to making a newspaper advert successful in attracting
tenants is to give good information. A lot of people will refuse to put the
exact address in the advert. This puts a lot of tenants off, because they often
prefer to see the neighbourhood and building before having a face-to-face
meeting with a landlord. Although you might not want to put the address in for
fear of crime or vandalism, concern over this is usually unfounded. Most people
want the address so they can find the property and see if it is to their liking
before entering into negotiations. Other information you should include in the
advert is the number of bedrooms and the cost. This way people know exactly
what sort of place is being advertised, and you will get more people calling
who are genuinely interested. You should also include your contact details as
well as anything interesting or exceptional about the rental property.
Other methods
There are a number of other methods for attracting rental
tenants, which include:
·
Government housing programs
·
Small wanted ads in local stores
·
Adverts in local ‘Want Ad’ publications
·
Listing with an estate agent
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When
attracting rental tenants, the most important thing to remember is to make
people aware that your property is available. The next step is to give
potential rental tenants enough information about your rental property, and a
means of contacting you. If you do all of this, you will be successful in
attracting more rental tenants to your property.