Owning and renting out property can be a very lucrative business if done right, but placing a piece of property on the market doesn’t automatically guarantee patronage from renters. Landlords and estate owners still have to put in the work to make their properties attractive enough to entice people to live in. Trying to do this without prior knowledge might leave you flailing in the wind while your property sits on the market, gathering dust. Here are some tips to enable you to transform your rental into one of the hottest properties on the market; or at the very least, as hot as it can be.
Start with the cleaning basics
This includes sweeping, mopping, waxing, and all other activities that end with your property looking spotless. Remember to mow the lawn — if your property has one — clear the yard, and scrub countertops (that sort of thing). Showing a clean house to prospective renters displays it in its best possible light, and that is what you want renters to see.
Repair, replace, repaint
People are generally reluctant to live in houses where the door handle is missing, where the wooden stairs creak, or the sink is rusty. So before putting the house on the market, make sure everything is in good working condition. If the paint is old, faded and chipped, then repaint. If the toilet leaks, call plumber. If the roof has a leak, seek out roofing solutions like Everdrain™. Don’t let old, worn out appliances, fixtures and facilities dissuade renters.
Highlight the benefits of your property
Houses perceived as unique attract more people. Mention how one-of-a-kind your light fixtures are or how your doors are made of wholegrain oakwood. Details like these may not seem like much, but they have an effect on renters’ decisions.
Highlighting the benefits of your property goes beyond talking about how great your house is. It also involves talking about things in the immediate environment that shed a better light on your house. An example of this is a great neighborhood — renters would rather live in an average house in a great neighborhood than in a great house in a bad neighborhood. Talk about how close your property is to the grocery store or the shopping mall, and relay how safe the neighborhood is.
Emphasize the benefits of living in your property until renters feel like they are missing out by not living there.
Organize an open house
There are several reasons why holding an open house is good idea. One reason is that it creates an avenue to invite renters to experience your property first-hand, and the other is that it provides an opportunity to display your property in an ideal light — less of a house and more of a home — emphasizing its homely features by arranging furniture, laying carpets, and making provisions for children.
An important thing to note when planning an open house is the type of property and demographic of potential renters. Your efforts must be tailored to these factors. Laying carpets, baking cookies, and other homely touches may be wasted on more high-class, luxury properties in upscale areas in the heart of big cities.
Hire a third-party
If the work involved in touching up your property, putting it on the market, highlighting its benefits, and organizing an open house seem like too much of a hassle, you can always hire someone to do it for you. There are third-party services for every point highlighted in this post. Realtors can take care of putting your property on the market, organizing open houses, and everything down to closing a deal with a renter. Online third-party services offer a range of benefits like optimized pricing, effective advertising, and a tenant background check to make sure you rent out to the right tenant.
Selling your property just got a whole lot easier. These tips are not all there is to make your rental property attractive, but they are a step in the right direction.