5 Advertising Essentials for Rentals

Key Points:

• The importance of advertising your property.
• Best practice in advertising your property.
• Knowing the best time to show your properties.

Whether rental property investors choose to hire a property manager or self-manage their rental investment portfolio, it’s essential that your vacant property is being marketed effectively. There are five key strategies to help you market your property for maximum exposure and find the quality tenants you desire. These are also great standards by which you can check that your property manager is doing these marketing actions on your behalf.

1. Do pre-advertise, but don’t show the unit until its 100% rent ready:
   Pre-advertising is a great idea because you can start to generate traction before your property is ready or available to rent. Put an online ad up and get your video tour posted. However, it’s ill-advised to show the property before it is fully ready to rent out. Showing a unit before it is rent ready can generate problems after move in. Tenants should be seeing the product/property as it will be rented. Additionally, the quality of the property is directly proportional to the quality of tenant you will attract.
2. Do video tours:
   Video tours are the future of the leasing industry. The millennial generation is much more apt to use technology for the convenience of seeing the available rental inventory. Online tours are much more convenient to applicants and are a great way to increase the exposure of your rental property. For example, in analyzing a 48-hour period of our own Youtube video walkthroughs, we generated 47 views. That’s 47 virtual showings! Of those, 34 watches were between the hours of 5pm and midnight. These are not business hours, but are prime hours for people to browse the internet when they’re not working. By offering 24/7 access, you will generate more traffic to your available investment property.
   
3. Syndicate:
   Take your videos a step further and syndicate them to other online rental platforms. Sites like Zillow, Trulia, Craigslist, Homes.com, Hot Pads, Vast, and Trovit are all great rental search engines. Stay current on top rental sites that could attract your next tenant.
   
4. Make sure the syndicated partner sites are responsive:
   Most people at least begin their search on their mobile phone. If the sites you are leveraging to syndicate your listing are not responsive, the pages will take longer to load, the user experience quality will suffer, and people will bounce off the site to a more mobile-friendly one. Avoid losing your traffic and only syndicate to sites that are optimized for both desktop and mobile.
   
5. Allow online applications:
   Allowing online applications caters to your customer’s desire for convenience and broadens your chances of getting more quality applicants on your rental property.

If you are using a third-party property manager to handle the marketing and screening of your investment property, be sure to communicate with them to ensure they are already following these marketing best practices. As always, our team is here to serve as an additional resource to help you effectively market and manage your investment portfolio. Contact us today at 303-255-1990 with any questions.

QUESTION: I own a Broomfield rental property and my tenant is moving out of state. How come I shouldn’t start showing the property before the turn is complete? I want to ensure it is tenanted as soon as possible.

ANSWER:  You can, and absolutely should, pre-advertise your property. However by showing your property before it is rent ready, you might find an unhappy tenant on your hands if their expectations don’t align with the finished product. It’s best to simply wait until the property is in its final, rent ready state before doing live showings.

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