What platforms do you use to find tenants for long-term rentals?

Question

Tell us more about where you've found the best luck finding great tenants: Why do you use the platforms you use?

Nathan Gesner · Answer

A lot of management software comes with a syndication feature. You click a button and it publishes your rental to a variety of marketing sites. Mine publishes to around 50. TenantCloud publishes to 4-5 I think. RentRedi publishes to three.

Kenneth Garrett · Answer

@Katie Miller

I found Zillow works best for single family rentals.  Apartments.com works best for multifamily.

William Richman · Answer

Facebook has worked really, really well for me so far. When I first tried finding tenants last year, I listed every year and 3/3 vacancies I needed to fill came from facebook. Needed one more this year and Facebook was the most responsive as well.

Another benefit I found was having a quick snapshot of potential tenant before hand as well. I know we must be careful of discrimination and fair housing but, many potential tenants profiles had pictures of dogs or other pets which I don't allow and was just a reminder to ask while they toured property.

Phillip Austin · Answer

Be careful advertising on Craigslists! Although you can be successful, I've dealt with numerous scams throughout the years.

Zillow has been most helpful.

If you have a decent portfolio of rentals, consider using companies like Showdigs or Tenant Turner. Both are great companies and allow you to syndicate to multiple platforms.

John Williams · Answer

We've had great luck with Zillow, the local MLS, and Facebook!

Wade Gentry · Answer

Well, I am happy with how my first listing thru Rentredi went. The free version thru BP is barebones. No accounting without upgrading. I really wish I could communicate through the app. The maintenance requests are nice, but we still have to communicate through texting unless I’m missing something.  I like the one-stop screen for all my renters and online payments. I would imagine all software has that. I’ll keep RR until I get 20+ doors and then plan to move to a much more robust system. I can tell my day to day time management has improved greatly.

This is a good first step system that is super easy to setup and manipulate for beginners like me. I have a long list of questions once I set up a phone call for technical support. Maybe I’ll like it more as I understand it more.

Johann Jells · Answer

Zillow & Apts.com here. This fall is 1st time I've gotten significant leads from the latter. I used to use only CL starting around 2000, and actually the quality of leads was much higher! The ease of just tapping a button to inquire compared to writing a little email apparently makes all the difference in the world. The vast majority of Zillow leads never respond back to me, even some who send applications!

Some people click on so many units that when they get called they have no idea of the apt I'm talking about and want me to basically read them the entire ad over the phone. Umm, no.

BTW @Katie Miller, Zillow, Trulia & hotpads are the same company with 3 websites all sharing the same listings.

Sam German · Answer

I posted my SF home on Apartments.com and Zillow. Got dozens of leads on zillow, a few good ones. Apartments.com listing has 2,000+ views and no applications/inquiries. I found it very odd.

Still can't get decent leads for my househack right now. FB marketplace inquirers don't read, and I can't post on zillow :(

Andres Ospina · Answer

Even tho  I am a realtor, I have a local realtor in the area find my qualified tenants. I never want to be the agent on my own properties. When its for my clients, I help them find tenants, screen them, and bring them the most qualified tenants.

In our area the tenants pay the broker fees so it doesn’t cost landlords anything to rent their apartment out.

Nate Sanow · Answer

@Wade Gentry hey I am curious how that goes for you.  I just signed up for Pro in part to move my stuff there, but it seems like some features needed aren't present according to some reviews I read...but now that I say that, I can't remember what they were haha.  So if you come back here or message my sometime how that transition goes for you I'd appreciate ya!

What platforms do you use to find tenants for long-term rentals?

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