As a landlord, your main concern should be to land great tenants that will be around for the long-term. It’s no secret that having loyal renters protects your finances and can even grow your financial wealth.
Great tenants won’t cause you stress when staying in your rental. They’ll pay the rent on time, take care of your unit as if it were their own, and report maintenance issues right away.
This will ensure that your rental is always looking its best and that the value is maintained.
While it’s certainly a challenge to find great tenants, it’s not impossible.
In this post, we are going over how you can land great tenants for your rental property.
How to Market Your Vacant Rental to Find Great Tenants
Discovering excellent tenants can be obtained through marketing and screening. There’s a wide range of both online and offline marketing techniques to use to gather a huge cluster of prospects.
Here are some of the ways you can market your vacant rental:
- Real estate listing sites: In the digital space, advertising online allows you to score a high number of views for little to no cost. Popular listing sites are a natural go-to when scouting for new tenant prospects. Check out Trulia, Zillow and Craigslist where you can post images and descriptions of your rental unit for free.
- Yard signs: Installing signs can increase your property’s exposure. The larger the signs are, the more attention they can garner. Yard signs can create a property recall for passersby or people driving around the area.
- Personal network: Reaching out to your personal contacts can help you find quality renters. Use social media as a vehicle to promote a vacant rental property. Your friends and acquaintances can refer your property to someone who’s looking for a place to rent.
- Local neighborhood: Spending more time marketing in your neighborhood is a sensible idea. Most locals will be good prospects. You can distribute flyers or post signs around the neighborhood where foot traffic is higher. They should be attractive to catch attention. Don’t forget to include your contact details in the flyers and signs.
- Open house: A good way to find great tenants is by hosting an open house. This permits interested parties to check out the rental space. If your unit has occupants, it might not be an easy option. However, you can work out a schedule with your current tenant so you can conduct a property showing on some days. This will shorten the vacancy gap of your rental.
- Current batch of tenants: An often-overlooked option by landlords is informing their existing renters that they’re searching for tenants. If the current renter will not renew the leasing agreement, they might suggest potential tenants for you to get in touch with. They can help you advertise the vacancy.
- Word-of-mouth: Spreading the word about your property is an effective way to market your rental. You can inform your network and send an email. Even acquaintances may recommend people they know who looking to rent. Being open about your rental unit can help you gain prospects as your network can pass along the information of your property’s vacancy.
- Social media: Social media is a powerful marketing tool. There’s greater reach in online posting. Views tend to be high in the sphere of social media. You can quickly build up an audience and even land a pool of quality leads. By simply updating your social media accounts, you can find interested and new prospects. Your social network can also help you share your posts to broaden your reach even more.
Once you find your prospects through marketing, you then need to screen them to find the best ones.
Screening Prospective Tenants to Find the Best Ones
While you may attract a large group of potential tenants, you still need to qualify them. Conducting an extensive tenant screening process will protect you from potential problems that can lead to future stress.
Bad tenants can be difficult to manage. They also affect your income negatively. Performing thorough screening ensures you’ll have peace of mind when it comes to your tenants.
To find the best tenants, follow these steps:
- Application – This form captures the relevant information from applicants and should be designed to learn about the prospect’s income, employment and rental history. The application should not be too long.
- Credit check – Running a credit check will help you find out if a potential tenant has any records of evictions and bankruptcies. Credit checks require a prospective tenant’s authorization so you need to obtain this first.
- Income verification – Requesting applicants to submit bank statements and pay stubs is a good move to examine the income. It’s best to review if the prospect is paying out a loan, too. Being aware of the monthly income and the payables of the potential renter will give you an idea of whether they can meet the monthly rent payment.
- Calling references – There’s no harm in exercising due diligence. Go a step further and contact their written references. You can gain reliable information about the prospect when you talk with the former landlords and present employers.
- Requiring a security deposit – Ask your prospective renter to hand in a security deposit before signing the leasing agreement. Be on the lookout for excuses and frequent postponing of the meeting. This is an important step to discuss the terms and conditions covered in the leasing contract.
Bottom Line
Marketing and tenant screening play a huge role in finding great tenants. Thus, as a landlord, you should always remember these steps when marketing your Milpitas, Union City or other California rental home!
If you’re looking for help marketing your vacant rental or screening prospective tenants, we can help!
Contact East Bay Property Management today for all your property management needs.
