Tips to Find Great Tenants for Your Rental Property

Contrary to what most believe, landing great tenants isn’t based on pure luck alone. Great tenants are everywhere. You just need to learn how to capture their interest. Property managers often end up drawing high-quality renters.

Here are tips to try so you attract excellent tenants out there:

1. Study your target market

Check out the residents in your neighborhood. It already gives you an idea what demographic is choosing to live there. Check your rental’s features. Is it conducive to a young professional or is it large enough to house a family? By taking time to work out your ideal tenant, it will be easier to reach your target market.

2. Be a strategic advertiser

When you’ve narrowed down the type of renters you plan yo attract, design your ads where this group can be reached. Market effectively. If you decide that students are the target demographic, they should be able to access your ad materials.

You can distribute them on campus. For families, you can start handing out flyers in supermarkets or posting ads on weekly family-oriented magazines.

3. Perform online marketing

Given that most people are found online, you can take advantage of this sphere. Post your rental ads in popular online listing sites and platforms. You can also pay for Internet listing services to maximize your rental home’s exposure.

Just make sure to include professional and attractive photos since prospects look for properties that hold visual appeal.

4. Present a completed rental

If your unit is still undergoing renovations, then refrain from displaying it to the potential tenants. People prefer finished construction, and you can’t expect them to imagine how the rental space will look like after all the upgrades.

bathroom with large window

Showing semi-finished or unfinished rentals can turn some off. When the rental improvements are finished, ensure that the unit is pristine to attract more prospects.

5. Look professional

People like dealing with someone who appear trustworthy and capable. When you dress up, a good impression is generated. It’s best to place an effort in looking decent to invite more trust from prospects.

The way you look can either inspire confidence or not. Often, they will equate it to your capability to take care of a rental property in detail. If you can’t be bothered with looking collected, then you might also not treat the rental in the same way.

6. Extend marketing around the neighborhood

Don’t just confine yourself to talking about the selling points of your rental home. Go further and talk about the amenities surrounding the area. Promote the beautiful parks, convenient shops, and hot dining spots.

People aren’t going to stay inside your rental all the time. They’ll be venturing out so it’s important to highlight the features in the neighborhood as well.

7. Try hosting an open house

Maximize the advantages presented by open houses. In general, it attracts multiple prospects since it offers a minimal pressure environment compared to scheduled property showings. It may also attract long-term tenants who want to envision themselves in the home.

couple moving boxes outside

It also saves you plenty of time since you’re able to respond to all inquiries in one setting and you don’t have to make special arrangements one-on-one. People can drop by anytime and leave their contact information and you can pursue these potential leads.

8. Be aware of who your competitors are

Interest for rental investments has not waned over time as more people are seeking for decent housing. This makes the industry competitive as property owners get to earn passive income. Due to this, you may be facing competition when attracting renters.

Always be updated with the trends, property demand, and the rental rates of other landlords. Check out what amenities they offer and the renovations they’re doing and consider doing the same if it’s effective in bringing more tenants to the rental unit.

9. Practice transparency

In a bid to land renters right away, some property owners may end up tricking prospects. This is ill-advised since you may be accused of false advertising. If you want to have a great landlord-tenant relationship right at the start, be honest and reveal the inclusions and exclusions.

Disclose vital information on the accurate distances to gain trust. Inform prospects about your pet policy and the exact rental rate.

10. Be an active listener

Fine-tune your listening skills since this can lead to responding to the needs of your renters effectively. Analyze the reasons they left past rentals and adjust.

person in white office with cell phone and computer

Improve their experience with you. Know the amenities they prioritize. Small details can lead to full satisfaction and help in tenant retention just by being a good listener.

11. Have good boundaries

It’s good to be on friendly terms with your renters. Still, creating boundaries is effective since you need to enforce the leasing agreement. If you’re too friendly, some tenants might ignore the rules, thinking you’re fine with it. Be respectful and firm when it comes to property policies. This leads to the tenants complying and taking them seriously.

12. Offer a variety of payment options

To make it convenient for the renters to pay on time, you can present them with multiple payment channels instead of just one.

Accept credit cards, payments through PayPal and Zelle, electronic fund transfers from the bank, debit payment arrangements, and mailed checks. This can also affect the decision of the renters whether to consider a rental based on the ease in rent payment.

13. Contact former landlords and current employers

It’s essential to communicate with previous landlords and present employers to verify the information that the renter had submitted to you. Some renters can submit fake references, and this is a red flag. Ensure that the renter you’ll be welcoming in your unit has a stable source of earnings from a job and they have a good rental history.

Perform credit checks, too to find out if a prospect is great at managing their finances and can afford to pay the rent every month. They might have a considerable debt that might make it a financial challenge for them to pay consistently, so screening your tenants is the best way to go.

Bottom Line

If you own a rental property, it can be difficult to know how to attract amazing tenants. That's why you should trust the experts at Mckenna & Vane Property Management to help! We'll get to work immediately and find your property high-quality tenants.