Tactics to make your rental stand out?

Question

Hey BiggerPocket Folks-

I need your expertise! Does anyone have any creative good tactics to draw traffic to a rental? I created a great looking Postlet, which is syndicated out to Zillow, Trulia, Hot Pads, etc and it is on Craigslist and I regularly refresh it there. I have decent pics and the place is spotless. It's in an upscale townhome community in one of the best neighborhoods in Greensboro, Starmount Forest. It's been listed for 50 something days, been available since September 1 and I want to attract a (well-qualified) tenant asap (don't we all, right?).  Here is the listing http://www.postlets.com/rtpb/9612467

I need help with two main questions but I welcome any other feedback as well (suggestions on the listing, price feedback etc):

1) Is there any other effective marketing I should/could be doing?

2) Should I offer some sort of deal to attract folks...$300 off first months rent, $300 Best Buy Gift Card, anything like that, and if so, what?

Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Tina

Dev Horn · Answer

Real estate has just a few levers to pull:

- Price (lower it)

- Condition (improve it, hard to do in your case - it's beautiful)

- Features (furnish it to make it more of a corporate rental, etc)

- Marketing (make more people aware of it, help people see it - video etc)

Unless you are going to do something to move the levers OTHER than price, you have a price problem at 50+ DOM.

Your place is very upscale - you are not looking for the average 3/2/2 renter - it may just take time to find that upscale family that needs a short term place; this is a marketing challenge.  If I did a give-away to drive awareness I'd make it something equally upscale - such as a set of cookwear from Sur la table, a wine fridge, etc.  Use your $300 to buy something that seems much cooler than $300.  =)

Good luck!

David Krulac · Answer

@Tina Wells

Nice place, but its always the price.  Whether renting or selling, whether appealing to low income or high income, its always the price.  If you were asking $500 rent it would be rented in a minute.  you need to find the right middle ground of what the market will pay.  Its the old Bell curve, the higher the price the fewer potential renters (or buyers).

And if adequately advertised and it hasn't rented in 30 days, then the rent is too high.

Here's a lesson from HUD.  On their foreclosures they drop the price every 30 days by 10%.  It you look at the days on market they seldom get to 100 days, because they have dropped the price at 30 days, at 60 days, and at 90 days.  so even if the price is too high, it eventually get to the level that somebody will buy it.  I know that is an aggressive and bold action, but you could try dropping the rent 10% every month until rented.

Douglas Larson · Answer

@Tina Wells

As a general rule, finding potential tenants takes the following:

- Appeal

- Exposure

- The right price.

- A little patience - especially during the slower months (Oct-Feb in most places).

Your property looks great in the ad so I think you have the appeal part. Regarding exposure, have you tried any other advertizing that might be popular in your specific location (small niche papers, local websites, grocery store bulletin boards)? Sometimes a For Rent sign in the grass is the most effective tool in certain neighborhoods. Also, make sure in your on-line ads to list anything someone might search for like a school name or a landmark or well-known recreation spot. I can't speak to the pricing as I don't know your area but if you have maxed-out your exposure and appeal, pricing must be considered.

Hope that helps.

Elizabeth Colegrove · Answer

@Tina Wells I personally reduce the rent by $25-$50 every week -2 weeks it is on the market. I rewrite the ad every time so it doesn't look like the house is being reduced.

Honestly, I have found that higher end home make harder rentals.

Tina Wells · Answer

Mike H, I appreciate your input a great deal but I am not certain where you are looking for rental info in Greensboro.  Hot Pads lists 11 3BR rentals over $1700 with the highest one topping out at $2850 and Trulia has 26 3+BR houses over $1700 with the top being a rare $4500. There are only just over 400 listings for all of Greensboro on Trulia so those #'s aren't awful given how few listings there are. I'd just hate for others to read this post thread and think your stats are accurate and that I am trying to get 1900 for a house in a 1300 market and then focus on that in their replies rather than offering up creative marketing suggestions and attention-getters that I am really looking for. Of course I'll lower if I don't get bites, I just want some creative ideas for marketing.

Both you and Kyle H bring up a good question...I didn't buy this as a rental.  It was my primary residence for a few years and I bought something else and opted to keep this one. I did the same with my former home before that and have been renting it for a few years for $1975 a month (4BR) (Yes, in Greensboro, about 2 miles away from this property).  That one is way more cash flow positive than this one will ever be (HOA fees+ other factors) but I want to hang on to this property in case I want to move back to a townhome in my older years.  I got a great deal on it, have little cash in it and it is worth holding onto.

Kyle-good perspective on square footage.  I will keep that in mind for sure.

Kyle Hipp · Answer

Tina, I have found that higher sq footage does not usually equate to a larger rent or even sales price past a certain point. A 1600 sq ft home with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths can easily sell or rent for more than a 2600 sq ft home.

If I woke up in your shoes I would sell the property. It sounds like it is in a desirable area and I just don't see it being a good long term investment with that desired rent. Otherwise I would drop the rent at least $1,600/m and go from there.

Please share if you will how you acquired this property? Did you purchase for rental purposes, was it your old residence, did yiu buy to flip and now decided to rent? Also if you have owned it for a while what has the rental history been like.

Mike H. · Answer

It is a nice unit. But there are a lot of other nice rentals available as well.

And the highest rent amount I see in the entire city of Greenesboro is $1,600 and there's only one of those out of 100+. There are a couple at 1500 and the rest are 1300 a month or less. That being said, I also dont' see a single rental that has over 2,000 sq ft either.

So that really puts you in a tough spot. You have a very unique product that is going to require you to find the one renter in a hundred that would be looking to pay for that kind of space and yet share a wall with someone and have no garage or yard.

Just curious but did you buy that as a rental or was that your residence at one time and you are now renting it out?

Given the rental market there, I think you have two choices.

1) Continue to market the upscale value of the property and possibly drop the rent a couple hundred to get the phone ringing.

2) Drop the price into the range of the masses there and at least get some money coming in for it. I hate to say it, but I actually think you need to be in the 1300 range if you really want to get it rented.

At 1900, thats the most expensive rental in the entire city by 300 a month. I'm seeing a nice 1,800 sq ft home built in 07 that is renting for 1200 there. While I understand you have more square footage, you also don't have a yard or a garage. And that, I believe, is what is really working against you - at least in terms of appealing to the sweet spot for renting.

Someone mentioned it earlier but that product/price seems to fit in the category of luxury rentals. And thats not something thats as easy to rent as the bread and butter homes - especially when you're $300 more than any other rental in town. And even moreso when you look at what time of year it is.

The other thing I would add is that these units were built in 85 so I'm not sure if they would necessarily be considered luxury units that people would pay a premium for either. Usually, new construction (or built in the last 5 years) might get you a premium. Or maybe if you had some other community amenties (is there a pool? a clubhouse? on a golf course?), you could get a premium.

But basically I'm seeing a 1985 built unit with no garage and no yard and have to think that the renter pool for that kind of product is going to be extremely tough to hit.

Tina Wells · Answer

Thanks so much for the input so far. As far as rents in the area, the neighborhood is mostly owner occupied but most rentals within a square mile are 3/2 single family homes sized at about 1600 SF and the updated ones go for about $1500-1650.  This townhome is 2750 SF and is in a small (only 46 units) upscale townhome community that just doesn't have any other rentals to use as comps. There are no other townhome communities like this in that area (which is one of the most desirable in the city). There are similarly sized single family homes adjacent to the townhome but there are rarely, if ever, rentals in those properties so I don't have comps from similar sized homes.  So, I just made an upward adjustment for the size given that it is over 1,000 more SF than most of the other rentals.  So $300 more for an extra 1,100 SF seems like too much?  I will make a downward adjustment if necessary to get it leased before the slow season.

The townhouse is empty now so it wouldn't look as good for a video as it did for the pics but I love that idea and will do it in the future. Any creative marketing ideas are really really appreciated!

John A. · Answer

Nice ad!

I always show the floor plan of my rentals as one of the pictures.  It helps tenants to visualize the layout of the home.  Prospective tenants always mention how much they liked to see the floor plan in the ad.

Scott W. · Answer

I would drop it even below market rent as starting Nov 1st it is very difficult to find renters until Feb or March.

Tactics to make your rental stand out?

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