You’ve got one or more excellent properties that are ready for tenants. Congratulations! Now comes the tough part – finding a variety of applicants that will be a good fit for the home or apartment. If you’ve been having trouble attracting the right number of applicants to give you a well-rounded selection, it may be time to step up your game. Here are our top four tips for not only attracting more applicants, but better applicants.
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Create visually attractive rental listings.
We’ve gone over multiple ways to create better rental ads before, but if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that a picture is worth a thousand words. No matter how great you make your property sound in the description, potential renters want to see the place so they can judge for themselves. Adding high-quality images to your rental listing will give you a significant increase on the amount of clicks and applications you see, guaranteed.
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Do your research and post to multiple online spaces.
Avoid limiting yourself as to where you’re posting your ads. Depending on your area, you may even find that different mediums attract people in your various target audiences. Direct mailing has more or less gone by the wayside, but that doesn’t mean that advertising in local newspapers or community boards is a lost art. A great way to improve both the quantity and quality of your applicants is in diversifying your ad approach. Figure out where your target renters are and advertise across any platform they frequent, whether it’s Craigslist or Facebook. Once you brush up on targeting algorithms, you’ve got a really powerful tool on your hands.
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Be flexible in your lease contract times.
Feel free to list standard lease times for prospective tenants (six months, a year, even two years), but also consider making it clear that you’re flexible for people who need some wiggle room in their lease. Be mindful – a month-to-month lease may attract a great number of short-term applicants, but if you want people for a longer term, keep those contracts limited. However, you might want to consider renting to military personnel if you’re in an area with a high military population, and they need more flexible leases.
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Offer open houses and property visits.
By allowing potential tenant applicants to actually come see the property, you greatly increase your chances of them filling out an application later. Some may just be coming to get a look at the property, but most people who take the time to actively visit rentals are pretty far along in the process of actually committing to one. A nicely staged property will go a long way toward bringing in a tide of applications, and if you let everyone know that you’ll be using a screening service, you’ll also see an upswing in the quality of those applications.
If you have any other questions regarding how to attract more applicants, let us know and we’ll be happy to help! We recommend our RentalConnect program as an added tool for selecting the right tenants for your property. RentalConnect offers property owners and landlords a great alternative to the expense of full tenant screening. This service requires no on-site visit, sign-up, or membership fees, making it extra convenient. The service fee is paid by the applicant. Available 24/7, RentalConnect is fast, easy, secure, and delivers reports needed to make an informed decision, including a credit report, a national criminal search, and a national eviction search.
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