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Finding Tenants: 12 Creative Rental Marketing Strategies

As any experienced landlord will tell you, vacant rentals are expensive. Assuming you have a mortgage to pay, it’s likely that any vacancy lasting more than a couple of months will essentially cost you a full year’s profit on your rental.

Given this reality, skilled property managers use a diverse range of marketing tactics in order to fill vacant rentals within 30 to 60 days. Here are some professional tips and tricks that you can use to find a qualified tenant within a comparable amount of time:

Use Great Signage

One of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to attract interest in your property is to create good “for rent” signage. “Good signage”:

• Looks professional: We’ve all seen the “for rent by owner” sign that features sloppy handwriting scrawled on a piece of scrap plywood, which is then propped haphazardly against the mailbox. While this certainly is eye-catching, it doesn’t leave the best impression of you or your rental. Typical “for rent” signs are available at hardware stores, but they don’t leave much room to include information. For best results, consider ordering an inexpensive, custom-made sign from a service such as BuildASign.com.

• Is visible from the street: Take a cue from professional realtors and make sure to locate a sign near the street. You can use a reader board for this purpose. If you really want to go for the gusto, attach some balloons to your sign.

• Contains key rental property details: Be sure to include key information such as how many bedrooms the house has, what the monthly rent is, and whether utilities are included. A phone number and email address round out the “must have” information. If you have the space, you can list other key features, such as recent upgrades and other attractive amenities.

Tap Your Network

Professional rental agents aren’t shy about putting the word out when they have a new rental property available, and you shouldn’t be either. Take advantage of your circle of acquaintances to generate some free, or low-cost, advertising.

• Email friends and family: While other means of contacting your nearest and dearest are okay, too, email’s key benefit is that it can be easily passed on. Be sure to include some photos of the rental house, along with a compelling description of its features. With any luck, your mail will forwarded on to one or more potential tenants.

• Send postcards to the neighbors: Have 100 postcards made and mail them to all the neighbors within a few-block radius of the home for rent. These people have a vested interest in putting a responsible tenant in your property, and beyond that, may jump at the chance to recommend that a friend move close by.

• Put up flyers at local businesses: This technique is an oldie but a goodie. Find community bulletin boards where you can post flyers. Grocery stores, coffee shops, and community centers are logical targets. If you live near a college or university, don’t forget the student center and/or admissions office.

Use the Internet

There are multiple ways to use the internet to advertise your available rental:

• Time your Craigslist ads: A recent Zillow study shows that houses listed on a Friday get many more viewing, and sell much faster than, houses listed on other days. No doubt, the same holds true for rental houses. Don’t be afraid to repost your ad several times—most professional rental agents do.

• Create a website for your rental: Applications such as WordPress make it easier than ever to create a website in an hour or two—so why not make a site dedicated to showing off your house. If you use targeted keywords (including the terms “rental house,” “house for rent,” and your area), you’ll likely get some traffic.

• Post a video tour on YouTube: Create a short video tour of your rental house and post it on YouTube, making sure to use targeted keywords in the image tags. You can make the video part of the website, and/or point to it from your Craigslist ad and social media accounts.

Open Your House

By far the most convincing way to sell potential tenants on the prospect of renting your house is to let them view it. While this can certainly be done by individual appointment, the more opportunities you give the casually curious to view the rental, the more interest you’ll create. Here are some creative ways to attract viewings:

• Leave the blinds open: If you’ve got the “for rent” sign up, and no cars are parked in the driveway, it’s likely pretty obvious that your rental house is vacant—so why not go ahead and pull the curtains back and let curious passersby have a look?

• Host a social event at the house: Whether this takes the form of a party or a garage sale, having people over increases only helps your chances of renting your house quickly.

• Time your open house right: If you do decide to have a traditional Sunday afternoon open house, time your event to start an hour earlier or end an hour later than local open houses are traditionally held. That way you’ll create a window in which you can have the open-house going crowd all to yourself.