Getting tenants in the dead of winter

[Jay Garrison]

Hi,

I have a 3/1 in a Chicago neighborhood that is "challenged", but is well located and the unit & building themselves are fine. I am offering a move in with neither move-in fees nor a security deposit, just a Transunion background check. Any other ideas to get people in during a Midwestern winter in a neighborhood that is already not in high demand?

[Gloria Wiekert]

@Dawn Anastasi has a great suggestion with an incentive like $500 off the first month of rent. A lot of the high rise apartments downtown use this strategy and it works. This could help in a "challenged" neighborhood where people might want to move into a new place but saving up for first month's rent + fees + deposit is overwhelming. Just make sure you run the same employment/credit checks to ensure they can pay the full rent going forward. 

A lot of people suggest professional pictures - they help immensely now that everyone browses listings online first. If you're not ready to pay a professional, order a wide angle lens attachment from Amazon for your cellphone - it literally clips onto your phone and can be as cheap as $20 - and download an app like Curb Appeal which auto-brightens your photos. My team does this for a lot of our rental listings and while they clearly aren't professionally shot, the photos are significantly nicer than most of the competition.