5 Tips To Attract Tenants to Rental Properties

TopRight was recently engaged to build the brand for an exciting new senior living community called the The Alder. The brand story is centered on a promise of “enhanced senior living” that offers tenants an alternative to traditional retirement homes and more expensive assisted living facilities.  Community members enjoy an experience that allows them to live their best life, in and amongst their peers, in the walkable communities they prefer. They have the access and the freedom to enjoy an independent lifestyle – with the backstop of the support network and health care resources they may periodically need.

Through this project we have learned that attracting and converting tenants is no different than attracting and converting customers with a new product or service.  You must first give them a reason to care, a reason to listen, a reason to engage and then a reason to buy. You must have a simple and clear brand story for your rental property, before you start formulating marketing strategies and tactics to reach your target audience. If you just launch into posting flashy rental ads, without a deep understanding and a compelling story for your target tenants, it is highly unlikely that you will succeed.  Furthermore, in a noisy and competitive rental marketplace, it is tough for tenants to find you unless maintain laser-focus on reaching your target audience with the right message, at the right time and in the right place.

Here are 5 tips that will help you attract prospective tenants, request a tour of your property, sign a lease, and ultimately, renew their lease every year:  

1. Make Listings Compelling

First, you have to write an irresistible listing based on your brand story. Keep in mind that most prospective tenants will first discover you on internet listing services when they are searching for rental properties. Your listing will be your primary mechanism to grab the attention of tenants, give them a reason to care and persuade them to book a tour check. Before posting your listing, be sure to answer the following questions:

• Does the headline spark interest and give the tenant a reason to care?
• Does the story resonate with the tenants and motivate them to listen to your offer?
• Is your story compelling and differentiated enough to give tenants a reason to engage?
• Is your listing informative and descriptive, yet simple and concise enough so you don’t lose your audience?

If you answered any of these questions with no, you should consider rethinking your listing. A good listing will draw in a larger, more qualified pool of potential tenants – increasing the possibility of leasing up your rental property quickly.  A weak listing will fail to stand out in a highly competitive marketplace.  It may also make sense to work with property management companies who specialize in your local market. These professionals will help to assure that you have timely, relevant and compelling listings.

2. Include a Clear Call to Action

Make sure there is an easy way for tenants to book a tour or get more information about your property.  If they have too struggle to find contact information on your profile and listing, you will lose them. And it is unlikely that they will be back.  A clear call-to-action button serves as the gateway that tenants can use to reach you. Business pages, particularly on Facebook, provide some options for sharing your mailing address, esmail address, phone number and business hours. Take advantage of this feature so you can increase your chances of engaging qualified tenants. Without complete profile information, potential tenants are more likely to move on from your listing.

3. Invest in Professional Photography

In the real estate world, the old adage is definitely true:  “a picture is worth a thousand words”.  For today’s digital native consumers, images are more persuading than text because people are trending more towards visual learning. So, when potential tenants don’t see any pictures of your property, they’re likely to distrust your offer and move on to other listings.  If they see low quality photos, they may not fully appreciate the true quality of your property. A blurry or cluttered image speaks volumes about your lack of care for the property.  A stock photo communicates that you’re not willing to invest the time and money to portray the property in an authentic way.  To make sure you portray your property in the best possible light:

• Use a digital camera instead of using a smartphone. But you can still use smartphones when taking real estate photographs as long as the latter has high-quality lenses and quality.
• Seek natural light and other lighting paraphernalia so you can produce well-lighted and bright photos.
• Find the best angles. You must also include the different views of each room such as the bird’s eye view, worm’s eye view, and the like.
• Capture the features of your property. That way, you can show what makes your rental unique and more worthwhile than other rentals.
• Make sure your property is neat and pleasing before you take photos. Even small clutter can affect how tenants can envision your property.

4. Show Floor Plans

Technically speaking, you can’t demonstrate the layout of your property by simply showing some photos of it. With the conventional approach, floor plans are only introduced when marketing properties are for sale. However, tenants nowadays are even more particular with the floor plans. They can use the floor plans to visualize the arrangement of their furniture easily. Or they can have an overall view of how your rental would look even before they physically check it.

5. Include The Community and Amenities

Every tenant has unique preferences when it comes to amenities. But one thing is sure—all tenants have the highest consideration of the community where they’ll live in. Depending on the demographics of your tenants, the community can mean various things.

Tenants who are just building a family find a community with proximate schools and child care most appealing. Environmentally focused tenants may prefer a property that has invested in green amenities like renewable energy sources, electric vehicle recharging stations and recycling programs with attention to sustainability. On the other hand, senior citizens would love a community that has access to local walking trails, parks and the convenience of onsite health care consultants. As such, marketing a rental property is about much more that the physical structure. Instead, you must market the entire community and it’s unique amenities because that is what will attract most tenants.

Conclusion

When marketing a rental property, you need to consider the strategies mentioned above. That way, you can boost your chances of attracting potential tenants. However, you must always align it with who your target tenants are. So let us be a resource for you: reach out to us here to discuss how you can build your place story and strategy.  And if you’re looking to transform your marketing and deepen relationships with your customers, sign up for the TopRight blog! If you’d like to receive more great marketing tips like this, please follow me @TopRightPartner, connect with me on LinkedIn, or buy a copy of my latest book, Marketing, Interrupted.