There are so many things I wish I knew when I started in Real Estate. That is not to say that there aren’t still so many things that I have yet to learn but marketing is definitely one of them. If you haven’t been in sales before then it’s time to start. Essentially marketing your rental property or apartment is sales. Yes if you have pretty pictures it is much easier to rent a property but it’s also in the way that you write your ad. Many landlords don’t go far enough but the difference in getting your article to produce or not produce a solid tenant is ultimately the difference between having a vacancy or having an occupied unit. In this article I want to not only stress the importance of properly marketing your vacancy but also give you the exact template I use to consistently fill my vacancies almost instantly.
First let me digress a bit. I want to talk to you a bit about NLP(Neuro Linguistic Programming) and how this plays a role in marketing your property. In NLP we control our thoughts as opposed to our thoughts controlling us. In turn we can also control how people perceive us or perceive the information that we put out. Sounds unbelievable that words and how we frame them can control your vacancy rates? It definitely did to me until I began to learn more about how it works. First we have to look at what’s important to potential tenants more specifically the tenants that we want. So how do we do this? Well the question is what would you want in an apartment you were looking to rent? As you think of this, think about what type of posted ad would be appealing to you. As you do this realize that this is your insight into the mind of the tenant you want. In turn the words that are in the ad must be of a certain substance and design as to produce the result you are looking to achieve. I strongly recommend that you do your own research on the topic of NLP as the scope of this article can really only give you a brief introduction to it showing a simple basis for ad structuring.
Now I’m going to show you examples of what not to do straight from craigslist….Then of course I will share with you a proven ad that is proven to be effective in finding the types of tenants your looking for
Example 1(NO PICTURE WITH LISTING)
$650 / 3br – 123 Anywhere St.
3 bedroom first floor unit available NOW! Freshly painted with carpeted flooring!
$650/month plus utilities!! Full security deposit and first months rent required BEFORE move in! NO PETS, DSS OK!
Please email us with questions.
Please come to one of the showing times listed below.
No appointment necessary.
Showing Times: 1/12 @ 4:30pm
1/13 @ 4:30pm
1/14 @ 4:30pm
1/15 @ 12:00pm
So what was wrong with this ad? Let’s move on to another Example of what not to do before we answer that question.
Example 2(NO PICTURE WITH LISTING)
$725 12 ABC St, 3 Bdr House available February 1st (Anywhere, NY)
3 Bdr house available February 1st, dinning room, eat in kitchen, porch. $725 ++
NO PETS.
As you can see in Example 1 and 2 there wasn’t a picture included in the posting. People are visual beings and as a result no posting a picture will return very few results. In fact with Craigslist you can do a search specifically limiting the apartments you see to those that exculusively have pictures. Also these ads leave out anything about an application process. While you may think for these purposes I’m nitpicking both examples also have spelling and grammatical errors. Did you notice? Of course you did. Right from the beginning we want to give the new prospective tenant the right idea about who we are and we want to give them a true sense of professionalism in the manner of which we run our business. The marketing of your property can also do a lot for you by way of filtering out tenants you don’t want and honing in on the tenants you do.
In the next example I want to show you what your ads should look like.
Example
(additional pictures added in listing)
4BR / 2Ba 1800ft2 available February 15th
furnished
no smoking
apartment
w/d in unit
off-street parking
* 4 Bedroom Home available starting on February 15th
* $2405 rent for furnished bedrooms and access to furnished common areas.
* Amenities Include: Free On Site Laundry, Refrigerator, Stove, Flat Screen TV, Furnishings, Cleaning Equipment, and Living Supplies.
* $85 additional fee on room provides the following Utilities and Services: Gas, Electric, Water, Wireless Internet, TV Service, Monthly Cleaning, Refuse Removal, Lawn, and 24 hour Resident Service.
* All furnishings, utilities, cleaning equipment, and living supplies are already set up in the home.
* Simplified Pricing with Hassle-Free and All-Inclusive Billing that can be paid in One-Easy-Monthly-Online-Payment.
* We cater to students who are looking for a clean, studious, and stress free atmosphere.
This 4 bedroom 2 bath home is located across the street from shopping areas and close to the Bus Line.
Application required with $25 application fee. Upon approval applicant will be required to pay a Security Deposit to hold the apartment.
Call us at (555)555-5555 or visit our website at www.wnyhomebuyer.com
As you can see there is a major difference between this ad and the other examples I have given you. In this ad there is much more detail which limits the number of questions you will receive about what the rental includes. Doing this allows the tenant to make a decision without even knowing it. We are all attracted to something that is put together well and we tend to take action because of it. In this case the tenant likes the ad and can see that the information is relevant to what they are seeking and they call as a result.
My intent with this article is simply to draw your attention to the importance of properly marketing your rental units properly. It is really something that doesn’t have to be a unique creation it can be much simpler for you if you create a template using what I have provided then simply change the information as needed then copy and paste it each time you want to use it. Once you have your new tenant picked out check out the other articles on this webpage concerning the proper screening of that tenant.