How Do You Successfully Market Your Rental Property?

The process of finding your tenants begins with a good rental listing and marketing strategy. Your initial goal as a landlord should be to attract as many suitable prospective tenants as possible. In order to achieve this, the way you advertise your property must be appealing, complete and competitive.

Drawing from marketing strategies, you should consider the following principles:

• Get to know your property well: As a landlord, it's fundamental to know your property's strengths and weaknesses. What sets your property apart from others that appeal to similar tenants? Get to know the neighborhood where your property is located. See how your rent price compares with similar units. Make informative decisions about your investment property with key information about local vacancy rates, county rent trends, and other metrics. Research the qualities that are sought after by your target consumer. The more you learn about your property, the easier it will be to market it.

• Avoid discriminatory language: When writing your listing, make sure you avoid language that discriminates against certain groups. You are not allowed to express a preference for any protected demographics (such as race, age, gender, religion, or occupation) in your listing, nor are you allowed to choose your tenant based on these demographics. Doing so could open up a discrimination lawsuit in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

• Target your marketing efforts: When trying to attract prospective tenants, you need to decide where you want to advertise. Most landlords focus on posting their listing online. Think about the sites that are popular in your area and where your listing is most likely to be seen.

Some landlords will choose to employ more creative strategies, like posting on social media or taking out an ad in the newspaper to attract more tenants. Even a "For Rent" sign in the neighborhood could help attract the notice of people driving by.

• Be clear and concise: Note that the real estate market is known for being competitive, and your future tenant may already have different options. Therefore, in order to attract prospective tenants, your listing should be clear and concise. Include the price, the size of the property (in square feet), additional amenities, standard photos of the property and the neighborhood, and other relevant information to help attract your future tenant. Including quality photos and colorful descriptions will attract more applicants and let them picture their day-to-day lives on your property.

• Follow up with prospective tenants: Once you have inquiries from prospective tenants, you will want to make time to show the unit to them. Some landlords prefer to do this individually and get to know each applicant personally. Others prefer to host an open house for all prospective tenants at once to save time. Whatever you choose, you should expect that not everyone who comes to see the property will end up applying. For this reason, it's a good idea to follow up with your prospects after they have come to see the unit to keep the ball moving.

• Be honest: Honesty and integrity are essential qualities in any business relationship. This is especially true in the case of a tenancy agreement. With this agreement, you are letting a stranger occupy your property for an extended period of time. If you conceal key information from your tenant at the beginning of the relationship, then you can expect them to do the same in the future.