Smart Ways to Market Your Rental Property and Attract Quality Tenants
Between the millions of rentals available across Canada and the increase in scams, having your property listing stand out has become more difficult. Nowadays, marketing is crucial to attracting quality tenants. The way you advertise your property can make or break your ability to pique the interest of good candidates. With this post, we hope to help elevate your marketing strategy and make your property a magnet for quality tenants.
Elevate Your Listing
To effectively market your rental, boosting the quality of your listing is key. Hire a professional photographer to capture the essence of your space with high resolution images. Include photos of both the interior and exterior of therental. Showcase the property’s charm by capturing photos of any outdoor spaces that residents would have. When taking photos inside, make sure the space is clean and uncluttered. Open the blinds and turn on all the lights to brighten the room. If you offer unique amenities – such as fireplaces, storage spaces, smart appliances and more – take some up-close photos of these key features to highlight them in your listing.
Property descriptions should be very detailed and describe the space in a positive and compelling way. Start by outlining the space, mentioning its square footage. Follow this by shining a spotlight on unique attributes, amenities and utilities. Next, mention all significant nearby retail locations to illustrate the convenience of the rental property.
Make sure to regularly update the listing. If there are changes in the pricing and availability, potential candidates will need to be aware of this information. Additionally, refresh the listing by swapping out the photos periodically.
Determine The Way to Market Your Property
There are numerous ways to promote your property listing, so explore your options and decide which would work best for you. There are online listing websites, such as Rentboard.ca, where landlords can utilize the user-friendly interface to connect with ideal tenants. By adding relevant information – such as lease terms, rent amount and contact information – these websites will help you reach a wider audience.
Social media marketing is crucial in this day and age as most of the population is on apps like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. This can lead to increased traffic on your listing and interest in future availability. Furthermore, search for local groups on these platforms and create eye-catching posts to advertise your rental. You can directly engage in discussions and answer questions in a timely manner.
Experiment with different advertising strategies. Online options include Google Ads, Meta Ads, in-stream videos and more. These options allow you to target individuals who best align with your preferred tenant lifestyle. Alternatively, you can explore offline marketing like yard signs and entries in local newspapers and newsletters.
If you have an arsenal of rental properties, consider implementing a tenant referral program. If one of your current residents recommends a candidate that you end up signing an agreement with, they can be rewarded with prizes such as a discount on rent, free amenities for a month or a gift card to a specific establishment.
Whichever method you decide to use, make sure to include relevant contact information that is checked regularly. This is to ensure you don’t miss out on any applications or frustrate interested individuals by not responding.
Offer Incentives
Not only could you offer incentives to your current tenants, but potential candidates as well. For example, move-in incentives will create a positive impression and further motivate prospective tenants to put in an application. These could also be things like free rent, free internet for 6 months or gift cards to places like Esso, Loblaws or IKEA
Improve the Property
You want to offer the best living conditions possible to future residents, so improve your rental with renovations. Prioritize any that could cause potential health and safety problems for the tenant, then consider cosmetic alterations. These can be highlighted in your listing and give you a competitive edge, thereby attracting quality tenants.
Consider Open Houses and Virtual Tours
Open houses have been used for over a century, inviting people into available homes to view the space and place an offer. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, this offering has dwindled greatly. Offering this to prospecting tenants would be a great way to market your property. Conducting a pre-screening beforehand will allow you to choose the strongest candidates to invite into the home, ensuring all of them are of good quality.
Also, technology is gaining great traction in the rental sphere with many companies and landlords opting to use virtual tours. This allows people to understand the layout of the property remotely with 360-degree coverage of the space. This is great for people who don’t want to attend open houses or live out of the city or province and would be unable to attend those showings.
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