Everyone needs some kind of space, right? Whether it’s an individual or a family looking for a home, or a business looking for retail frontage, office space, or a warehouse, there’s no doubting the demand for real estate. This should make it easy to rent out properties then, one would think. However, many experienced landlords will tell you that you’re sorely mistaken. Without the proper advertising such as some of the methods suggested below, your real estate can fall by the wayside and fail to attract tenants.
Encourage Referrals
Word of mouth is one of the greatest advertising tools in any business, and is used across many different industries. Some companies will pay out a bonus to employees for endorsing a successful applicant for an open position, and many organizations will provide incentives, such as gift cards, to their customers if they get their friends to become a member or buy merchandise.
This same tactic can be used in real estate; consider giving your renters a break on one month’s rent if they successfully lobby a friend or acquaintance to become a tenant in one of your available properties. This type of incentive is great enough to entice the renter, but is still small enough that it won’t really hurt your bottom line. Plus you get a new source of income. It’s a win-win.
List Well
Having solid, informational listings is one great way to ensure you get more interest in your properties. Disclose as much information as you can that would attract the type of tenant you’re looking for in your listings. Include such things as rent and lease information, size, location, the number of tenants allowed (and if they can bring their pets), and any special features the property may have.
Also, be sure to provide accurate contact information and the date and time of an open house, if appropriate. Giving this information will not only increase the interest in your properties, but you’ll be more likely to find a suitable tenant quickly as interested parties are already well informed by the time they contact you.
Use the Internet
The internet is an amazing tool for landlords. Creating an online listing on a site such as Craigslist is sure to increase the visibility of your property to possible tenants. You can go so much further than this however. Creating a video which can be posted via your YouTube channel is another great way to further spike interest. Perhaps the best possible way to increase property visibility online is to have a website, especially if you have multiple properties. Create a website and list all of the properties that you currently have available on it. No matter what method you choose to use online be sure to keep everything up to date, and remove listings and videos after the property has been rented.