Timing the Ad of a Rental

[Carl Rowles]

Hi BP Fam!

We are closing on our first rental property TOMORROW! Very excited! It's a 3bed/2ba SFH that needs just a little TLC. We have the vendors all lined up ready to come in and fix stuff next week and it's nothing that can't be done within 1-2 weeks, even if our own DIY things.

My question: If we want to have a tenant in place on or around Oct 1, when should we begin advertising? I know we want to try to wait to show the property until fixes are done and it looks the best it can, but how much lead time before that? A few days? A week? Or are there other metrics/guidelines/rules of thumb I could use to help gauge that part of our timeline?

[Jonathan Greene]

I would not begin marketing it until it's completely ready. This is a very common mistake that investors make and it will cut into your rent and days on market by a lot. Many people put up unfinished units or tenant-filled unit photos when it looks terrible which gets you worse tenant options.

It's your first rental property. You want to be proud of what you are putting out there to rent. Fix everything you plan to, clean it, have it professionally photographed and listed with a realtor to make sure you get fully vetted tenants and the most options.

If you were a renter in today's market and walked into a new listing with a nice front photo online and it was under renovation, would you pay market value? No.