At Bay Management Group, we know that an unoccupied rental property in a best case scenario is a wasted opportunity. In most cases, however, it’s a money pit that swallows your mortgage payments with no return on investment.
That’s why it is important that you find a tenant as fast as possible to start profiting from your income property. And to do that, you will need to advertise.
Yard signage, word of mouth, newspapers and community boards are all great advertising media, but not as popular and far-reaching as internet. More and more people search for rentals online and if you are not advertising online, you are missing out on potential tenants.
As a Philadelphia property management company, we think that the greatest thing about online rental listings is that you can feature a lot of information at low (or even at no) cost. Many landlords don’t take full advantage of online advertising by limiting their listings to a newspaper-like brief format. Don’t repeat their mistakes by including the key content that will get your property rented out faster.
5 Ways to Create a Great Ad for Your Philadelphia Rental Home
1. Detailed description
To save both your time and your potential tenant’s time, highlight all the key features of your rental. We are not advising you to mention color of the curtains and exact dimensions of the bathroom, but be sure to address main concerns of every tenant, such as:
- Exact address/neighborhood
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- Pets and kids policy
- Furnished or not
- HVAC features
- Availability of cable/satellite TV and internet/wi-fi
- Included appliances: refrigerator, type of stove, washer and dryer, microwave
- Type of flooring: hardwood, carpet, tile, etc.
2. Competitive pricing
Research the rates in your area and offer competitive pricing. Don’t forget to mention what kind of rental agreement you are offering (monthly, quarterly or yearly basis), what is your security deposit procedure, and which utilities are included in the price.
3. Attractive photos
Pictures help visualize, so do feature them in your listing if you have such an option. However, only include high-quality images of your neat and clean rental. Grainy cell phone pictures of a messy room won’t do any good. You are often limited in the number of pictures you can post, so make them count! Additionally, you can upload more photos to an external page, such as PhotoBucket, and link it to your listing.
4. Incentives and selling points
Think about what makes your rental a good place to live and highlight these points in your listing. Some things to consider could be:
- Great location: a friendly neighborhood, proximity to highway, stores, schools, parks, etc.
- Great view, plenty of windows, a lot of sunlight
- Recent renovation: new flooring, appliances, furniture, etc.
- Large backyard and garage
- Access to community pool, etc.
You can also work out some discounts or incentives like low deposit to appeal to even the most budget-conscious customers.
5. Contact information
This is one of the most important things to include in your rental listing. Make it simple for potential tenants to get in touch with you, and offer at least two ways of contact (via phone and email) to accommodate everyone.
Featuring all these elements in your Philadelphia property listing will help you get more qualified leads. The people calling and emailing you are already interested in the place and agreeing to your conditions. All you need to close the deal is a property tour, and as long as you depicted the rental accurately in your listing, you should have no problem getting a new tenant.
But remember, to be successful, you’ll have to advertise on multiple websites and manage all those listings, inquiries and occasional spam. If that’s taking too much of your valuable time, let us know and we’ll help you manage and market your properties. Contact us today.
