When you become a rental property owner, then the first thing on your mind is how to rent out your property and how to make it different from your competitors’. The process of creating a unique and quality rental property for your tenants is what will bring you serious profits in the long term. The problem with rental properties is that the competition is extremely high and even fierce at times, which makes the need to improve even more significant than ever before. Rental listings are the equivalent of first impressions in the real estate investing business, and this is what you should focus on first.
Creating rental listings that are unique in the rental market in which you are competing requires a lot of creativity, marketing skills, and attention to details. For real estate investors, the rental listings should be the first selling point to potential tenants who are going to rent their property. For the average tenant, it is all about first impressions when viewing a property’s listing. The pictures, descriptions, contract details, reviews, and rental price all form the bigger picture for the potential tenant. It is said that a tenant spends 3-4 seconds on average viewing a rental property by its description and pictures only, without going into any details.
How to Create the Best Rental Listings
Pictures Speak Louder Than Words
The presentation of a listing is extremely dependent on the photographic quality of the listing. Rental listings that have better picture quality through the hiring of professional photographers are always met with more demand from potential tenants. There is no doubt that most tenants would just continue scrolling if they happen to stumble upon a property that has no pictures or bad photography. The reason is simple: there is always more competition that will provide better and more accurate photographic descriptions.
Now there are two types of rental listings when it comes to the importance of photography and display in real estate. The traditional rentals do not demand such high photographic quality and presentation simply because a traditional rental is a long-term one. Any long-term rental gives the potential tenants an opportunity to neglect the presentation because they can change it to whatever they expect it to be eventually. However, the other side of rental listings is the short-term ones, like Airbnb and HomeStay. These types of rentals are highly dependent on presentation and quality pictures to attract guests. This is because short-term rentals are there to give guests what they expect from a rental right now. Guests – or tenants – want to check in and feel extremely comfortable straight away.
In all cases, having the right presentation layout will boost the chances of renting out your investment property easily by eliminating a high number of competitors who neglect such details.
Related: 6 Tips to Help You With Marketing Your Property for Rent
The Headline Matters
When people read the headline of rental listings, they expect to have some details straight away in order to save time and effort finding the property they need. A tenant expects to see the price, the property type, the number of rooms, and the location all in the same headline. This matters because it shows how practical and honest the owner is by giving all the details straightforward; the owner is not exercising what is currently known as “click-baiting”. This is a method used by many rental listings in order to lure tenants into looking at a property because of an incomplete headline. Tenants are usually aware and skeptical about owners who fail to give a catchy and complete headline.
Importance of Reviews
As an investment property owner who is looking to boost his/her rental listings, never neglect the importance of reviews when it comes to listing quality and appeal. The reviews from other tenants who have previously lived in your property can be used to attract new tenants. The truth is quite simple: tenants trust each other more than they trust homeowners. Having many positive reviews from previous tenants just puts you on a higher pedestal in the listings platforms or websites. It allows you to distinctively send a clear message which is “Great experienced guaranteed, my previous tenants testify to that.”
A review system becomes even more important and effective in short-term rental listings like Airbnb. Airbnb has installed a 5-star review system that allows guests to grade their hosts on all different aspects, whilst also leaving the option to comment for fellow guests. It is a great tool to force real estate investors to improve the quality of their listings while also improving the actual property in terms of amenities, facilities, and hospitality.
Related: Airbnb Reviews: Top Influencers Affecting Your Occupancy Rate
Rental Prices
The price you have on your rental listings has so much pulling power, because the world today as we know it is all about money and how to spend it. Tenants have no problem in paying money for the value they get back. Rental listings must have a specified and reasonable rental price displayed on the headline of the listing. Failing to do that leaves some potential tenants wondering if this is authentic and if it is worth it to waste time to call or email to know more details. The rental price must also include in more details any other extra payments that are expected from the tenant, which can include deposits, utilities, and taxes. Failing to mention them just gives an untrusting relationship with potential tenants.
Related: Save Your Rental Income For These 3 Things
Strive to Improve
Improving your income property itself by renovating it, buying new appliances, and providing better services goes a long way into improving rental listings. When you have more things to show to potential tenants on listings, that shows that as a homeowner you care about tenant’s comfort. The property improvement itself has a positive correlation with rental listings.
Conclusion
Rental listings are all about the creativity of homeowners or real estate investors in improving and adapting to the needs of tenants throughout the years. Marketing your rental property through a very well organized and catchy listing goes a long way into increasing the demand for your investment property. The higher the demand in today’s rental market, the higher the rental price and the rental income in return.