5 Steps to Write an Effective Rental Listing

Follow our five steps below to find high-quality tenant leads with your online rental listing:

Write a Catchy Title

The title is the first thing a tenant sees before he or she clicks your listing. You need to pull them in and tell them immediately what they want to know. At Rentalutions, we always recommend to our landlords to write a title with this formula:

$$$$$ – ## Bed / ## Bath apartment|house|condo|duplex in neighborhood with great feature(s)

This title immediately tells tenants what they want to know: rent price, number of bedrooms and baths, the neighborhood, and a few compelling amenities. Here’s an example of the formula in use:

"$2,600 – 2 Bed / 2 Bath apartment in East Lakeview Chicago recently renovated with a view of the lake"

Write a Great Property Description

We recommend writing about 4-5 sentences. Here’s an example of a great property description:

"Spacious, updated 2 bedroom, 2 bath in East Lakeview available November 1st. Close to nightlife with views of the lake. $2600/month, $200 move-in fee. Building is pet-friendly with utilities included. This property is managed by a responsible landlord using Rentalutions landlord software. Applicants are required to complete a rental application and authorize a $45 credit and background check. Call John at 312-847-0427."

This description is great because it entices and informs tenants. It also lists your tenant screening requirements, which we’ll delve into more next.

Include Your Tenant Screening Requirements

In your property decription, we recommend mentioning your tenant screening requirements. From the description shown above, we know the landlord requires a rental application, a tenant credit report and background check, and has a $200 move-in fee.

The landlord also included the line about how the property is managed, which builds credibility. Tenants want a landlord who is responsible and is transparent about how the property is managed. High-quality tenants also like to know the requirements- it shows you’re a landlord who has high expectations. On the flip side, bad tenants will be dissuaded by the requirements and won’t reach out. This is a great way to avoid bad tenant leads.

Check out our post for more on tenant screening.

Set Your Rent Price

One of the most important aspects of your listing is your rent price. Tenants usually flip through listings to see which listings are in their price range. You want your rent price to make sense in your rental market. You can look at what similar units in your neighborhood are listing for. Seasonality also affects rent price. Prices are higher in the summer during peak rental season.

Check out our Guide to Finding Tenants for a complete look at how to set your rent price.

Add Stunning Photos

Last, but not least you should add beautiful photos of your rental property. People are drawn to visuals, so it makes sense that tenants immediately look at pictures of the property. Listings without photos are typically ignored by tenants. You should aim to upload about 5-10 photos. Luckily, it’s easy nowadays to take high-quality photos- your iphone’s camera is sufficient.

Spending time on property photos is a great idea because stunning rental listing photos help you rent your unit fast. You can also re-use photos every time you list your property.

Conclusion

If you follow our five steps you’ll be in great shape to find and keep high-quality tenants. For more tips on finding tenants, be sure to check out our Complete Guide to Finding Tenants.