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How To Make Your Rental Properties Stand Out On Listing Sites

How can you make your rental properties stand out on real estate listing sites?

Check out these tips and tricks on how to stand out among the sea of homes for rent today.

Price

90% of the battle to rent a home is all about price. If a property is priced right, it will rent, regardless of market conditions. What many property management companies don’t realize is this isn’t just about being realistic or offering a good deal. Pricing has to be strategic and technically accurate too. If you are off by just $100, then the right prospective renters might not even see your home come up in their search. Then it may as well not be listed at all. It’s essentially invisible. Knowing the comparables in the area and what the local market will support is very important. 

Photos

People are so busy and accustomed to immediate information, that pictures are an absolute must. Now some sites allow prospects to search by only listings that have images, or by those that have the most images. Make sure you rank high here. The more you can do to build trust, and give them a real picture of the property, the more qualified renters you will get looking. You’ll also waste less time on prospects who may not be a fit. If you really want to impress and stand out, provide a video or virtual tour as an option.

Amenities & Lifestyle

 Although the number of bedrooms and bathrooms count, amenities and lifestyle features can be even more important than just the basics. Expect renters to know what those stats are or they will move on to another listing that has this information. If they have to do a lot of research they will probably lose your listing and stumble on competing properties. So, if a listing site provides these features automatically, make sure your address and the map is right. If they don’t, include as much detail as you can that will appeal most to your likely clients. That may include local gyms, stores, schools, coffee shops, and distances to major transportation.

Deals

People want to feel smart when they invest in things. They want to get deals that they can brag about at dinner with their friends, and which make them feel good about justifying the decision to spend. Few people really know the market and what a good deal is. Sometimes you have to help them. You might do that by showing the comparison in value to other properties, provide a limited time discount if they can sign a lease by a certain date, or include incentives with the lease. If you are willing to hold seller applications, or contribute towards their move-in costs, work with low credit score tenants or be flexible on deposits, make sure you mention that too.

Clear Contact Info

Make sure that your contact information is clear, accurate, and easy to find. Include as many ways to contact you as possible so that they can reach out in their preferred medium. Too often sites make it hard to contact the real landlord. If they try to go through someone else you are at the mercy of them doing a good job at following up, or not showing them competing properties.  

There are millions of rental property listings out there on the web. Consumers are busier than ever. In order to get your home listing noticed, and to get people to follow through to contact you, you’ve got to stand out and be different.

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Jacob Blackett

Originally from Reno, Nevada, Jacob began his real estate career in 2010 as a sophomore at the University of Nevada, Reno, when he bought and sold his first two residential “fix and flip” properties in Southern California.

In 2014 Jacob founded Holdfolio and by the end of 2019, Holdfolio had amassed a rental portfolio of 141 single-family homes and 412 apartment units. At this time Holdfolio was fully vertically integrated, meaning they were operating every aspect of the investment cycle which included acquisitions, procuring bank loans, raising capital from investors, running a full-service property management company, a licensed construction company, and performing their own asset management.

Fueled by low interest rates and strong rent growth, real estate values increased steadily and dramatically between 2010 and 2020, and by early 2020 Holdfolio could not pay as much as other firms on new acquisitions. Jacob took this as an opportunity to sell all of Holdfolio’s holdings and pivot the business model to see more deal flow and invest with much larger and more experienced firms, which is how Holdfolio operates today.

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Ready to invest in real estate?

We make real estate investing simpler, more transparent, and accessible to individual investors.