There are five major mistakes that people tend to make when they are trying to rent out their properties on their own. Professional property managers can help you avoid these costly and frustrating errors.
Marketing Photos
Don’t use low quality, unprofessional images. The only thing worse is using no images at all. When a prospective tenant finds your listing online, one of the first things they will do is flip through your pictures. If the photos aren’t bright or the room size isn’t shown well or it looks like they were taken from someone’s cell phone, they will move along to the next listing. Your photos have to make a tenant want to live there. All the amenities in the house won’t matter if your pictures aren’t clear. Take the extra time to get great photos.Pricing
Don’t list your house for the wrong price. This is one of the biggest mistakes that almost any owner representing themselves on the rental market can make. Everyone knows a home that is overpriced will take longer to rent. Pricing your home for too low can also cost you money. The only way to make sure you have an accurate price is by doing an exhaustive market search for everything that has rented in your area over the last year. A good property management company will rent your property as quickly as possible while making you the most money.
Response Times
Managing leads is the most important part of property management in its vacancy. Make sure each lead gets a response as quickly as possible. The number of leads you can generate is diminished compared to the professional management companies because we have more resources at our disposal. Don’t hesitate to respond to calls, texts and emails. Waiting more than five minutes means you have an 80 percent chance of losing that potential tenant. After you have shown the property, follow up with folks so they don’t forget about you. When you have someone who wants to rent the property, give clear and concise instructions on how to apply.
Marketing Description
Don’t undersell your property with the description. Pictures are important but a picture cannot tell everything. The picture should get them hooked and your description should share all the most important specifics. Talk about the balcony overlooking the water, the master suite, oversized rooms, a converted garage. They should make it into the description so people know what they’re looking at.
Relying on Craigslist
Don’t rely on Craigslist exclusively to market your rental property. Many owners think this is the only way to get their listing out there and viewed by many people. It’s an excellent tool, but get your listing on as many sites as you can afford. We send listings out to over a hundred real estate sites and we also get it on the Multiple Listing Service, where thousands of Realtors in Hampton Roads can share that listing with their rental clients. You don’t have that at your disposal, so get on as many sites as you can.
We know the struggles of being a landlord and how you have to market. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Ron Sawyer Property Management. Call us at 757-447-4881
