All Forum Posts by: Stephen Glover

@Ben A Snyder Awesome job, thank you for sharing.  Great way to take advantage of the loan too.

@Alex Bayer it's an awesome city!!!  I've moved around a bit after growing up here, but keep getting pulled back by some great people and great opportunities.  Glad to have you!

@Grant Rothenburger I appreciate all of your input on BP as well.  I've learned a lot from you from afar :)  Keep up the good work!

@Alex Bayer  Happy to be a resource.  Of course this is just skimming the surface.  If you pick up a duplex in Richmond let me know and I'll come check it out personally and provide some rental analysis for you.  Good luck!

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!

Owning rental property is a business. Generally speaking, revenue is earned through rent payments from a tenant. Having an empty space, whether it be an apartment unit or a single family rental, is considered a vacancy. A vacancy is like having no customers for your business. In other words, you have no revenue coming in. Vacancy is one of the biggest profit-killers in the buy and hold investment business.

In my experience as a property manager, landlords sometimes attribute vacancies directly to location and location only. While location does play a major role in the success of an investment, there are plenty of other factors that can tip the scale.

If you have an investment in a relatively poor rental location, the following tips can help boost your chances of finding a qualified tenant. If you have an investment in a prime rental location, these tips can help boost competition which leads to longer lease terms, stronger tenant criteria, and possibly higher rent amounts.

Plan In Advance
Leasing season (in Richmond, VA) is generally in Spring. This may vary in different localities. Find out when your leasing season is and aim to begin/end your leases during that time. It's difficult to find good tenants over the holidays since folks aren't focused on moving. During the leasing process, it's okay to ask for 15 month lease terms to get your leases to cycle in Spring.

With more competition in Spring, you’ll find it’s easier to get longer leases signed and appropriate or high rents than other times of the year when you might have to sacrifice those negotiating tools.

When negotiating a longer lease, be sure to explain how the tenant benefits the most if it ends during leasing season. Should they decide to move out in Spring when their lease ends, they will have much more inventory on the market to choose from! Mutual benefits.  This works excellent for getting our clients multi-year leases.

Take Good Pictures
This seems obvious, however many landlords or Property Managers are moving so quickly that they do not take the time to take quality pictures and adjust the quality of the pictures as needed. Move clutter out of frame, add light, and show detail. The more the tenants can see, the more likely they are to inquire.

Make a Walk Through Video
No, you don’t need a professional video camera. Everyone with a smart phone can take a quality video walking through the home in a matter of minutes. Show the closets, the yard, and any other details that the tenant might want to see that isn’t easily noticed in the pictures. After filming, take a few minutes to edit the video using a stock app on your phone, or download a video editing app to create a more professional outcome.

A walk through video will allow the tenants to see the home and understand the layout without visiting the home itself. This strategy can increase the number of applications you receive with a lower number of showings!

Create A Description With Emotion
When describing your property in the marketing description area, use emotion. Renters tend to connect emotionally with a home they see themselves living in. This is an experience. In business, an investment should never be emotional, however when a prospective tenant looks at a home to rent, they are picturing the memories they can make while living there. Help them feel those experiences.

For example: Instead of writing “home has large back deck” you may want to write “Back deck is perfect for having friends over for a cookout!”

Build A Relationship With Tenants
When you have prospective tenants in your home for a showing, take some time to get to know them. Keep in mind there are restrictions as to what questions you can ask and cannot ask legally, however find a way to connect with the tenants to begin to develop a relationship. The connection will allow for your instincts as a landlord to know if they will be good tenants. Additionally, the tenants will feel more comfortable with a better connection.

The relationship between and landlord and tenant is a professional relationship, but both parties want to have a positive human experience.

Be Responsive

When leads are incoming regarding a vacancy, act fast! Tenants are likely scrolling down a popular rental website and will only remember your property until they see the next one. Outshine your competition with fast responses and schedule a showing. Once a showing is scheduled, stay in touch with the tenant to let them know you are looking forward to meeting them. This will increase your odds that the tenant will show, and the connection will have already been established.

Good Luck!

These simple tips will help landlords achieve a lower vacancy rating. A little bit of attention to details and communication goes a long way.  Best of luck finding great tenants!

@Ashley K. Welcome!  Lots of great folks in RVA that are making moves.   Happy to be a resource if I can help.  Went to @Taylor L.'s meetup group too and learned a lot.  Definitely planning on going again in February.

@David McCauley in which market do you plan on investing? I'm in Richmond, VA. As a local PM, I'm happy to be a resource as needed and have some great connections if you're building a team.

@Shera Gregory First Bank will lend with a signed lease, 0 seasoning, and located in Richmond, VA too. I've spoken with both Union and First Bank and both products are similar. Just chiming in to let you know of the First Bank option.

@Langston Washington Ben Andrews at AndrewsBrown Law and James Driggs at Cawthorne are both great Richmond RE attorneys that could likely guide you in the right direction.  Cannot post contact information but can easily Google.  Both are working at different firms so you have a couple good options.

@Taylor L.  Good question.  Couple of thoughts on this.  

-Everything is negotiable. However, investors and property managers should be on the same team with the same goal in mind.  If one side is only concerned with their own well-being, the relationship won't last.  If you negotiate, be able to justify your reason for negotiating.

-If an investor questions a fee, the PM probably didn't convey the value of the services they provide, assuming it's a GOOD property manager.  It's truly a low-margin business, so it's important for the PMs to explain their processes for things like leasing, renewals, maintenance, etc so that investors understand the fees.

With that said, some negotiations are reasonable.  Tell your PM why you feel an adjustment is necessary and how the team will benefit.  I've seen investors get creative here and have been happy to work with them.  Great things can happen if both sides have an open mind and work together to form a mutually beneficial relationship.

Of course, that's my opinion only.  Other PM's may disagree completely.