Marketing vacant residential units

[Tucker Long]

Hello,

Working with some partners to decrease vacancy rate of 160 residential units in a large Ohio town near Columbus. Currently have about 9 empties, we will get them rented eventually but recognize the large amount of money lost every month that passes. Right now, most of our new tenants come in by word of mouth. This company has been around for over 60 years and is a house hold name in this town. Other, larger portfolios in the area are using apartments.com, rent.com, apartmentguide.com etc. We've used local newpapers advertising for years but cut that off last year due to low return on investment. So wondering:

1. For $250 per month would you think that aforementioned websites are worth trying out? Keep in mind our competitors are using it. This may seems like a no brainer, the reason I'm asking is we also have options like PPC for our website and/or facebook ads.

2. What are the most effective marketing tools you are aware of for a situation like this?

Thanks for any thoughts!