Marketing Your Rental - Tips to Lower Vacancy

[Stephen Glover]

Leasing season is fast approaching (at least in Richmond, VA). As the weather begins to warm, people are coming out of their homes and begin to look for opportunity. Spring is the most valuable time to have a vacant rental on the market for those renters who are moving and shuffling.

If marketed correctly, landlords can use the increased demand during this time of year to lock in higher than average rents and longer term leases. If a landlord is not marketing their property correctly, this could be a missed opportunity.

Here are some tips to be sure that you, as a landlord, are getting the most out of your marketing for a residential rental property:

High volume of pictures: Take front and back exterior property pictures as well as pictures throughout the property’s interior. Having only a few pictures of the property will leave prospective tenants to quickly move on to the next post, which likely has plenty of information to keep the tenant interested. If you have something to hide, tenants will find it anyway. Take lots of pictures!

Quality pictures: With today’s technology, you do not need to hire a professional photographer unless you are appealing to the high-end executive rental market or you are competing with vacation rentals that will be using the same pictures over and over again. On a typical longer-term residential rental home, a smart phone will work great. Take your time, turn on the lights, and get multiple angles. Do not storm through in a hurry with dark, crooked pictures with small objects stealing the attention of the viewer. Attention to detail!

Edit pictures: It sounds like a no-brainer, however, how often do you look on Zillow and see a rental on the market for 60+ days with horrible quality pictures? Take the time to edit the photos, use filters, adjust the brightness, and crop as needed. The pictures need to be attractive enough to get these prospective tenants in the home for a showing. Invest a few seconds for each photo that you’ve taken. Why not take the time to stand out?

Walk Through Video: While on site taking pictures, invest a few minutes to shoot a video on your phone. Start out front of the home, talk about the neighborhood and proceed to walk through the house. Walk through slowly and explain the features and benefits. This will lessen half-interested showings and leave landlords with interested candidates only, saving a lot of time. Videos can be "professionally" edited through free smart phone apps in minutes and uploaded to YouTube for sharing. Post the video link in your marketing description!

Marketing Description: Describe the property emotionally. Write about the features and benefits from a standpoint of emotion and creating memories. For example, “Large back deck.” doesn’t sound as attractive as “Spacious back deck perfect for a cookout with friends and family!” Spend an extra 5-10 minutes wording your description to save hundreds of dollars due to longer vacant periods.

After cumulating great photos that are edited as well as a walk through video and a powerful marketing description, the information is ready to go public. Post to various popular rental sites including social media. The more places that a landlord can get the word out, the better!

Consider hiring a GREAT property management company: Yes, they are out there! A quality property management company will do all of this and more. They will have access with the push of a button to get a vacant property on 20+ rental websites within minutes. All of these sites can be updated with a push of a button. Having this capability and saving one month of vacancy will likely pay for a property manager’s fee for the entire year!  (I have another post in BP titled "13 Questions to Ask Your Property Management Company" that is good to use when hiring a PM)

What should a landlord do if they are doing all of this and still not finding leads? Assuming your investment is in a desirable location and presents itself well, the first step would be to recalculate your monthly rent. Is it in line with the market? If the rent is too high then prospective tenants will pass by no matter how attractive a unit will appear.

Best of luck marketing your property this leasing season!