At Bay Management Group, we know that an unoccupied rental property, in the best-case scenario, is a wasted opportunity. In most cases, however, it’s a money pit that swallows your mortgage payments with no return on investment. That’s why it is important that you find a tenant as fast as possible to start profiting from your income property. To do that, knowing how to advertise your rental effectively is essential. Today, we’ll discuss why advertising is so important and five crucial things to include in your rental listing.
Contents of This Article:
- Why Rental Advertising Is So Important
- How to Advertise Your Rental Property
- 5 Things to Include In Your Rental Listing
- Find Qualified Tenants With Property Management
Why Rental Advertising Is So Important
Investing time and effort in effective rental strategies helps landlords enhance their chances of finding reliable and suitable tenants while maximizing their returns on investment. Rental owners and property managers in Philadelphia work hard to increase the visibility of vacancies and attract a large pool of interested renters.
Knowing how to advertise your rental property effectively is crucial for several reasons. For instance, it helps generate inquiries, schedule property viewings, and secure new tenants in a timely manner. Additionally, rental advertising creates competition among potential tenants, which can lead to higher demand for a property.
Rental advertising plays a significant role in attracting potential tenants, minimizing vacancies, increasing demand and competition, targeting specific demographics, showcasing property features, and maximizing rental income. However, it’s essential to know how to advertise your rental effectively.
How to Advertise Your Rental Property
Yard signage, word of mouth, newspapers, and community boards are all great advertising media but not as popular and far-reaching as the internet. More and more people search for rentals online, and if you are not advertising there, you are missing out on potential tenants.
As a Philadelphia property management company, we think the greatest thing about online rental listings is that you can feature a lot of information at a low (or even no) cost. Many landlords don’t take full advantage of online advertising by limiting their listings to a newspaper-like brief format.
To maximize visibility, use popular online listing platforms like Zillow, Trulia, or Apartments.com to advertise your property. After all, most people use the convenience of the internet and listing sites to find their next rental. Additionally, you may want to consider using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to reach a broader audience.
Then, regularly monitor the performance of your advertising efforts by keeping track of inquiries, showings, and conversion rates. That way, you can adjust your advertising strategy as needed based on the feedback and results you receive. Next, we’ll review five crucial things to include in your rental listing to increase visibility and demand.
5 Things to Include In Your Rental Listing
The goal of your rental listing is to provide potential tenants with all the necessary information while making your rental property as appealing as possible. As such, there are certain elements you’ll want to include in your listing that will help attract interested renters and streamline the rental process. Here are five things you’ll want to include in your rental listing.
- Detailed Description
- Competitive Pricing
- Attractive Photos
- Incentives and Selling Points
- Contact Information
Detailed Description
A comprehensive and accurate description of the rental property is crucial. To save both your time and your potential tenant’s time, highlight all the key features of your rental. We are not advising you to mention the color of the curtains and the exact dimensions of the bathroom, but be sure to address the main concerns of every tenant, such as:
- Exact address/neighborhood
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- Pet policies
- Furnished or unfurnished
- HVAC features
- Availability of cable/satellite TV and internet/wi-fi
- Included appliances: refrigerator, type of stove, washer and dryer, microwave
- Type of flooring: hardwood, carpet, tile, etc.
Competitive Pricing
Set a competitive rental price based on market rates and the property’s condition, location, and amenities. Research the rates in your area and offer competitive pricing. Don’t forget to mention what kind of rental agreement you offer (monthly, quarterly, or yearly), your security deposit procedure, and which utilities are included in the price. Including this information in the listing helps potential tenants filter properties within their budget.
Attractive Photos
High-quality and well-lit photos can significantly impact the interest level of potential tenants. After all, pictures help visualize, so it’s important to feature them in your listing. However, only include high-quality images of your neat and clean rental. Grainy cell phone pictures of a messy room won’t do any good.
Include photos of each room and capture the property’s best features. Show the kitchen, living areas, bedrooms, bathrooms, and any outdoor spaces. Remember that you are often limited in the number of pictures you can post, so make them count! Additionally, you can upload more photos to an external page, such as PhotoBucket, and link it to your listing.
Incentives and Selling Points
Consider what makes your rental an excellent place to live, and highlight these points in your listing. Some things to consider could be:
- Great location: a friendly neighborhood, proximity to highways, stores, schools, parks, etc.
- Great view, plenty of windows, a lot of sunlight
- Recent renovation: new flooring, appliances, furniture, etc.
- Large backyard and garage
- Access to community pool, etc.
You can also work out some discounts or incentives like a lower security deposit to appeal to even the most budget-conscious customers.
Contact Information
Contact information is among the most important things to include in your rental listing. Make it simple for potential tenants to get in touch with you, and offer at least two ways of contact (via phone and email) to accommodate everyone. Additionally, promptly respond to inquiries and ensure you’re available for property viewings.
Featuring all these elements in your Philadelphia property listing will help you get more qualified leads. The people calling and emailing you are already interested in the place and agreeing to your conditions. All you need to close the deal is a property tour, and as long as you depict the rental accurately in your listing, you should have no problem getting a new tenant.
Find Qualified Tenants With Property Management
To be successful, you’ll want to know how to advertise your rental on multiple websites and manage all your listings, inquiries, and occasional spam. However, if that’s taking too much of your valuable time, consider hiring a comprehensive rental management team to handle your listings.
Need More Advice? contact us today!
Bay Property Management Group is a full-service team specializing in all aspects of property management. Whether you need help advertising your property, screening prospective tenants, collecting payments, or performing maintenance, we’ve got it covered. Learn more about how BMG property managers can help your rental business. Contact us today.
