I've used the local, small town paper instead of the nearby, big city paper with limited success. A decent sign in the front yard brings in 3-4x as many calls as the newspaper ad.
Next time I need to list an available house I'll stick with the sign and try Craigslist.
Loveland, CO · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 123 votes
20y
A sign in the yard has always been the most effective for me, definitely the most cost effective by about 30:1. "Guys" may shop for a place to live in the paper and on-line. Women don't! They're looking for more than just shelter, they wan't a safe, respectable looking neighborhood.
After they've called on your ad, they'll "drive" the neighborhood before they come to your door. If you're getting lots of calls and lots of no-shows the neighborhood might be the reason. If they call on your sign they've already pre-qualified the neighborhood!
Real Estate Consultant · Somerville, MA · Member since 2008 · 339 posts · 52 votes
20y
A few more free resources are:
oodle.com
backpage.com
They syndicate a bunch of listings from various sources.
Rent.com costs a ridiculous fortune.
Yahoo rentals has never yielded even a single call as far as I know.
In college towns, some of the off-campus housing offices maintain websites with listings--those have been really good and worth whatever money I've paid into them.
Good point abuot the neighborhood; probably explains a number of no-shows around a sketchy place I owned...
Investor · buffalo, NY · Member since 2008 · 354 posts · 23 votes
20y
Local newspapers are good.
Local colleges (depending on your market)
Your company break room( if you also work)
Local supermarkets and other busineses that allow postings.
craigslist.
A simple for rent sign in the yard also helps.
Residential Real Estate Broker · Conroe, TX · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 43 votes
20y
18x24 white poster boards w/black magic marker @ .60 apiece posted on poles and medians around the general neighborhood of the property. Always creates plenty of leads to sift thru. Effective and inexpensive.
I usually advertise my rental units two ways. The first is craigslist and the other is by hanging a sign in the front of the building itself.
However, my experience is that the method of advertising is much less important than the advertisement itself and the unit. With regard to the unit, even for rental properties, I think it's critical to stage the unit with reasonably nice, and color-coordinated furniture that allows the prospective renter to "visualize" living there. With regard to the ad itself, I use as few words as possible to list the facts (e.g., square footage, bedroom/bath). I emphasize the "intangible" parts of the units - walking distance to charming downtown area, private porch in the back for those quiet evenings with a cup of tea and that special someone, etc. These are the qualities that "sell" my building and I want the type of tenants who attracted to the quality of life that I have to offer. My units are not cheap, I only acquire nice buildings with these intangle qualities because I know that, in the long-term, this is sustainable.
That said, my sweet spot are small 4-10 unit apartment buildings that I manage myself, so I need to stage and advertise in this way. If I ran a large, corporate-owned faciliaty of 100 units or so, I wouldn't necessarily do this because then it may be time and cost-prohibitive.
We've been advertising in Craigslist and offcampus website and including digital photos of exterior and interior. Include distance from campus, downtown and hospitals. Renters are pickey in our area, so laundry specifications, dishwasher, CH&A, off street parking etc. are necessities. Now everyone wants high speed internet wiring. These sources have been very fruitful while the local classifieds have yielded nothing. Don' t use the local classifieds anymore since it is expensive and non productive.
I use Craig's list and the website for a local univeristy. I set up both ads to direct traffic to a webpage that I host myself -- with a detailed description of the unit, the neighborhood (including businesses within walking distance), photos of the outside of the property and of the individual rooms within the apartment, and a floor plan. I've found that giving people a lot of information up-front gets me more qualified people calling/emailing me.
I also put a sign in the front lawn, but have found that online advertising usually gets me the most inquiries from the kind of people that I'd most like to rent to.
I always use a property manager . He puts an ad in the local newspaper and a sign on the lawn . He puts an ad on his website also. But the most effective way is the MLS . When you use a property manager make sure he is a real estate agent . Iprefer to pay 5% of the lease one time not monthly fee .
I know a young investor that offers $260 referral fee to like aged students who refer groups to him. He says he's turning people away. He's renting 3-4 bedroom houses for parties of 3 or 4 students.
Craigslist and the local university website has been dead in these winter months. VERY SEASONAL.
Dayton, OH · Member since 2008 · 517 posts · 17 votes
19y
Originally posted by "rye":
4. How to reach section8 tenants? I have not figured that out.Any ideas?
In my area this is actually really simple. The section 8 office has bulletin boards with housing rentals and best of all it's free to list your property! So I always list there if I'm willing to rent the unit to section 8. Ask the receptionist when you call their main line and you should be set.
Craigslist. The first time I used it, I received 20 emails within the first hour of posting. I haven't looked back ever since.
However, I think referrals from existing tenants works the best. They end up doing a lot of the pre-screening for you. I've noticed many landlords and property managers offering incentives, usually $X credit for rent, to get referrals. But, I think the best referrals are ones made organically by happy tenants, without any incentives.
you shouldn't have to pay to find and apartment these days. what if you pay and the service stinks? look around for FREE websites. my friend paid to find an apartment. it took him a long time and he didn't find anything worthwhile. what a waste of $$. he's on the internet 24/7. why not look around for free service websites?
Title Representative · NJ · Member since 2008 · 9 posts · 0 votes
19y
I personally use craiglist but, alot of investors I work with have a list of management sights you can link your site to and return you are able to advertise your available properties through there web site. In return they ask you to use there services.
There are several Link Exchanges, I do not personally use this method but have heard it works good.
CraigsList is good, but old news. There is no magic bullet. Multiple methods work best.
Look at renting apartments for what it is: MARKETING. Most realtors and property managers (ironically) are clueless on even basic marketing strategies. A few humble suggestions...
#1: KNOW YOUR ROLE
Signs in the yard are MASS marketing. It's a shotgun approach. If you go this way make sure you have a darn good voicemail system that screens out all the rif-raf who's going to be calling.
CL, websites, college BB's, and referrals are (largely) TARGET marketing. If you know what you want, find out where they are, and pursue them! TM works faster and much more efficiently than shotgunning and hoping for the best.
"If you've got no direction any road will take you there."
#2: BE SEEN
If you're going to drop a sign in the yard, how about buying one you can actually see and read? How many times have you driven by a property or house and been unable to even read the number! Hello? Why bother?
Do yourself a favor and buy reflective numbers (not markers). Place it prominently. Place more than one. Better yet, surround it with something crazy that grabs folks attention when they drive by. This is advertising and the name of the game is grabbing attention. How many seconds do you think your sign's actually getting when people are flying by you at 40 mph? GO BIG!
Ex: We place flashing xmas lights around our signs for nighttime and used car lot flags covering the entire fence around the yard. How many people do you think make it by w/out noticing the place is for rent? We rent 5 apts for our clients in the time it takes the neighbors to rent 1.
#3 TRACK & FOLLOW-UP
Marketing is an investment. Good marketing is a tracked investment. If you're going to spend the time to post, sign, refer, or advertise you might as well know what's actually working for you! ALWAYS ask your callers where they heard about the apt. Every market is different. Track all information that comes in. Use this information to build on past successes. The next time you need to fill a vacancy, you'll already have a solid rental marketing strategy in place and ready to rock!
I'm getting nada from Craigslist although a friend of mine did rent up a 3/2 this month from a Craigslist photo ad. He struggled though and it is a 3 year old house he bought from me. In perfect condition. I know he struggled because I had to take a dog when I rented it two years earlier and went the entire month of March trying to get anyone. Tried local real estate (1/2 month's rent if they send someone that rents up), newspaper, everything. March is just tough---Feel April is going to yield more traffic.
They only sold 74 houses in our downtown area in February...Must be 2 million agents to yield those sales.