Marketing Co-Living Rentals: The 3 Must-Know Strategies for Filling Your Units Fast

[Grant Shipman]

Hey BiggerPockets Community,

If you’re investing in co-living real estate, one of the biggest challenges is keeping your rooms filled with great tenants. While traditional rental marketing works, co-living requires a targeted approach to attract the right tenants efficiently.

I’ve been in the co-living space since 2020, and here’s what I’ve learned: Your success in co-living is directly tied to how well you market your rentals.

3 Must-Know Strategies for Co-Living Marketing

1️⃣ Use Technology to Syndicate Your Listings

There’s no need to manually post your rental everywhere. Use property management software to automate syndication to 20+ rental listing sites at once!

🔹 Best Free/Low-Cost Option: RentTech Direct
🔹 What It Does: Pushes your rental listing to sites like Zillow, Apartments.com, Rent.com, and more—all at the click of a button.
🔹 Why It Matters: This boosts SEO and exposure while saving you time.

2️⃣ Leverage Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is one of the most powerful free marketing tools for co-living rentals.

✅ Post Your Listing with high-quality images and a detailed description
✅ Join Local Housing Groups to reach renters actively looking
✅ Engage with Inquiries Quickly – the faster you respond, the better your chances of filling the unit

3️⃣ Tap into Roommate-Focused Platforms

In addition to traditional rental sites, roommate-specific platforms are a goldmine for co-living.

🔹 Best Sites for Co-Living Tenants:

• Craigslist – Still effective for shared housing leads
• Roomies & Roomster – Designed for finding individual roommates
• SpareRoom – Another great co-living-focused platform

Final Takeaway: Make It Easy for Tenants to Find You

🏡 Syndicate listings using property management software
📲 Use Facebook Marketplace to maximize free exposure
🤝 List on roommate-specific platforms to target ideal tenants

If you do these three things, you’ll keep your co-living properties fully occupied with minimal effort.

Discussion:

1️⃣ What’s your best strategy for filling vacancies in your rentals?
2️⃣ Have you had success using property management software for syndication?
3️⃣ Are there any lesser-known sites or strategies you’ve used that work well?

Let’s share and help each other optimize rental marketing! 🚀👇