Time is money, and never more so than when you have a property sitting empty and a mortgage payment due. Being professional property managers, we’re in the business of getting good tenants for empty properties as quickly as possible, because we don’t get paid until you do. Here are our tips for getting your property filled as fast as possible.
Make It Look Good
Tenants, like everybody else, want to live in a nice-looking place. Therefore, your property will be more desirable if it has curb-appeal and crowd-pleasing amenities. Sometimes, this is as small as making sure the walls are freshly painted, the carpets cleaned, and the yard nicely landscaped. But if there are any niggling little repairs to take care of, make sure to get those fixed. In a tight market, you can even try home staging to make potential renters feel at home.
Be Competitive About Rent
This is a rookie mistake. No matter how attractive youthink an attached garage and walk-in closets are, tenants see them as bonuses and usually won’t pay more for them. Go by the standard rates for your number of bedrooms and bathrooms in your area, and use these bonuses to lure the very best sorts of tenants.
Advertise, Advertise, Advertise
Finding good renters is really a numbers game, so the more people who set eyeballs on your ads, the better. These days, its best to advertise online. Craigslist is a common one, but there’s also usually regional sites and advertisers that provide targeted distribution. Do your research, and it will pay dividends.
Screen Potentials
This is one area where landlords can potentially run into a lot of trouble. Between landlord/tenant law and anti-discrimination laws, there are a lot of rules to keep in mind, and the learning curve can be steep. Savvy landlords and property managers screen using a combination of credit history, criminal history and past tenancy behavior, but be very careful. Do your research, and run your application process by a local real estate lawyer to be certain you’re not opening yourself up to liability. Or, you can simply save yourself the time and effort and hire a property management firm. Professional property managers, like the ones at Real Property Management, handle the filling of vacancies and screening of tenants every day of the week, along with a myriad of other landlords’ chores. You can count on them to do things right, in full compliance with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
