So, you’ve decided to invest in real estate.
It’s a very smart idea as real estate investments are some of the best and most profitable around. You might have purchased a buy-to-let property on its own, or you may have bought a new family home and decided to rent out your old one. Either way, you have one major consideration that can make or break this investment; how do you find tenants?
A tenant is someone that will live in your property and pay rent every month. Effectively, they are your source of money! Some properties get swarms of tenants inquiring about living there, while your property might not get any attention. Why is this the case? Well, sorry to tell you, but your property just doesn’t seem desirable to tenants. For whatever reason – and there can be many – nobody wants to pay to live there.
Consequently, you need to learn how to turn this around and get tenants for your rental property. Mostly, this is pretty easy as a lot of the tips and things to do are straightforward. Let’s look at the advice below to guide you on your journey:
Make the property look nice
First and foremost, make your rental property look as nice as possible. This will mean you may have to invest more money into making a few home improvements. It could require something as simple as getting some replacement windows and a new front door, combining this with a lick of paint on the outside. Right away, the property looks a lot nicer and can attract renters.
Or, you may need to look inside your property and play around with the interior, completely revamping the decor to make it more attractive. Nobody wants to move into a house or an apartment that has terrible decor as it just puts them off. So, focus on improving the aesthetic appeal of your property to instantly gain more attention.
Take better photos of your property
Following on from the above, you need to showcase how pretty your rental property looks. Even the nicest homes can struggle to find tenants because your photos are awful. Think about it, most people will only ever see your property via the photo images you post online when advertising it. So, their first impression is based on this – if they don’t like what they see, they will never even bother seeing it in the flesh and understanding that it actually is very nice.
Therefore, you need professional property photos to really sell your home to prospective tenants. Make sure the images are in HD and that your house is set perfectly for the photos. This means it is clean and the images are taken at the right angles to make every room look bigger and to get everything in the shot. Hiring a professional to do this is definitely a worthy investment if you can’t do it yourself. Professional photos combined with your new home decor will definitely lead to more inquiries.
Set an attractive rental price
One of the biggest reasons rental properties see no inquiries is that the rent is set way too high. No matter how amazing your property looks, or how splendid the photos are, it’s that rental figure that can put everyone off. In fact, you can actually miss out on being seen by loads of tenants who may filter rental prices. Thus, if yours is above what they’re willing to pay, they won’t see you.
Obviously, there will always be some tenants that aren’t able to afford your place. However, the problem stems from you setting your price way too high in comparison to other properties in the area. For example, let’s say the average monthly rent for a property of your size is $1,000 in your area. Tenants know this, they’ve done the research, so they will set their budget to around $1,000 per month. Imagine you have decided to set your rent at something like $1,500 or $2,000; prospective tenants that are looking for a home like yours will not see your listing because they have filtered their searches to find properties that align with the average price!
Basically, do your own research and see what most other properties in your area charge for rent. Consider how many bedrooms and bathrooms you offer, along with the size of your place and any other benefits – like balconies or a garden. You should be able to see an average rental price, and you can list your property for around the same. Instantly, you appear like a more affordable place to rent that people will be interested in.
Make your home energy efficient
If there’s one thing tenants hate, it’s paying bills. So, if you can do anything to reduce the cost of bills on your property, it will be very favorable. Now, you can’t really do anything about the water bill or the phone/internet bill. But, you can do something about their energy bills!
Essentially, you should focus on making your home energy efficient. This will mean that less energy is required when living in the home. For instance, you have great insulation that traps heat in, dismissing the need for the central heating system to be on full blast to keep the home warm. Likewise, you have plenty of windows and a good ventilation system for the summer months, allowing your home to stay cool and negating the need for air-con to be on 24/7.
From an electricity standpoint, you could install solar panels on the property if possible, letting the tenants benefit from free solar energy, subsidizing their energy bill each month. If people know they are saving money, they’ll be more interested in the property.
Ultimately, it’s all about getting people to be interested in your home. This is relatively easy when you know what people are looking for. It starts with a good rental price, followed by excellent photos of your home – and a home that actually looks nice. If you can find ways to lower their bills, then that’s even better. List your property on various websites to get the greatest reach, and you should have inquiries from future tenants in no time.
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