Improve the Marketability of your Rental Property

As a traditional landlord you might be thinking “I’m a landlord, not a marketer.”  In fact, you bring rental units to the market to attract good tenants to earn profit.

We all have mental blocks and self-image issues that keep us from progressing professionally or seeing what we already know. And once in a while we stumble upon something that changes our views and we progress to a better place.

Yes, properties, tools and management skills are what you do, yet your ability to make properties marketable generates more value.  For a property manager it’s essential.  Poor marketing skills can translate to lower than market value rent prices and a struggling business. What if you could manage marketing within your property management software platform?

Benefits of Making your Units more Marketable

Aside from profit, there are a good array of meaningful benefits that arise from being a marketing-minded landlord and improving the marketability of your rentals.  Whether online or in person, a better rental helps you capture its true rental market value:

• improved value proposition: renters adopt your suggestion of how nice your property is and well worth the rent price, thus making them less price sensitive and helping them forget about the better rentals they could be renting
• more leads: more inquiries, more reach to renters, their families and friends, and exposure on social media and search engines means never being without renters when you need them.
• improved targeting: reaching and impacting the best quality tenants who will pay a higher rent price and continue leasing and take care of the unit.
• ideal landlord relationship: renters see the sincerity and respectfulness of your offer backed by the good presentation to them and they feel you’re a classy landlord, not a uncaring one.
• stronger more credible persuasion: good renters more likely to trust you and believe your apartment or house is right for them, helping them get over their discriminating standards and tastes.
• in their comfort zone: renters have their comfort zone  and your presentation makes them believe this home is a place of rest, rejuvenation and personal inspiration.

Mastering the techniques described here (and others on our blog), allows you to create more demand and lasting value, far beyond a new faucet or coat of paint would (impression management).

Paying attention to the details and what’s not acceptable will go a long way to helping you get the best results.

Marketability is the process of improving your product and services, along with allowing your assets to draw a crowd of good renters — the real market. It’s one part product development and one part marketing strategy.

More Leads in Your Pipeline

Why don’t you get more renter inquiries? High quality rentals and new developments get a lot of inquiries — and they’re marketed as products. After all, renters are buying and renting your product. Others hear about the quality, see it, tour it, and hope they can capture a vacancy when one is available.

It’s a common saying with some business people that good products market themselves. Yet having something to rent out doesn’t mean anyone will know it exists or will want it.

Marketability means you’re optimizing your asset and building the best reach to a more relevant and attentive audience.  Consider the built to rent housing phenomenon right now. There’s huge interest and anticipation because of the quality of these highly marketable properties. The phrase “built to rent” carries a lot of meaning for a renter.

See this post on how to improve your rental property marketing.

And new properties often are accompanied by big marketing efforts. They pay attention to esthetics and details.

Perhaps you do get enough inquiries yet they’re not the best prospective tenants. Quality is an issue.

Even the best landlords and property management companies receive calls from unqualified renters. You get the the kind of inquiries/renters that your marketing generates. Make your property marketing campaigns the best they can be and you’ll receive only well-targeted inquiries. Good marketing allows you to focus in on the needs of this specific type of renter. This way you’re spending your marketing dollars wisely.

Better Targeting

The point of property marketing is to target the ideal crowd and get your value proposition across in a way that makes them more than willing to pay your price (or more), or to want further upgrades that can improve your revenues.  Good rental unit characteristics combined with good copywriting and excellent visuals online can improve inquiries from the right prospects.

When you advertise via Facebook or Google, or on popular rental listing sites, it is difficult to avoid catching poor leads and their systems are about growing their lead generation revenues, not necessarily quality. Volume is their priority.

To make better use of your advertising dollars, you’ll want to choose the best rental listing sites and write/create your ads professionally. We’ve got some tips on that. A little effort is needed, but these are tips that can make you or your staff much more effective.

What Renters Don’t Like about Your Rentals

There’s lots to like about your rentals and maybe a few things to dislike as well. It’s nice to know how renters feel and what they believe about the value of your rental to them and then present it ideally.

With each element of your rental they don’t like, the value they attribute to it falls. Here’s a list of troubling features that can cost you good quality renters and diminish your asking rent price.

List all of these on your inspection report and attend to each one at a time.

• dirty, leaky, foggy windows with broken handles
• doors in poor working shape
• lock not changed
• taps leaky and not working ideally
• lights flickering
• floors look dirty, scratched and unattractive
• paint is weathered and needs repainting
• carpets look stained, shoddy and worn
• driveway cracks and pitted with holes
• sidewalk tiles not level
• railings weak and rattling
• stairs and floors squeaky
• front entryway door looks horrible or outdated
• aging washers and dryers that don’t smell so nice
• yard and lawn is not well cared for
• front yard landscaping ruins the property’s curb appeal
• aging bathroom fixtures with signs of water damage on floors, ceilings
• signs of mold, mildew, and unpleasant odors
• kitchen countertops are ugly or cut
• dull yellowy light bulbs
• window blinds broken/not working
• kitchen cabinet doors not closing properly
• exhaust fans not working well/plugged
• sliding screen doors not sliding with holes in it
• shingles worn on roof
• holes in exterior walls and fascia
• ants and other bugs in the basement
• layout of the unit is crowded, close and uncomfortable
• backyard and deck are unappealing wild places that repel those who love outdoor living

As the number of negative factors grows, renters make an emotional decision to pass on this one. They might feel this is a renter experience that could get even worse.

It’s a lot of items to maintain or improve in a rental home, yet all of these represent the features/value tenants expect. They want a comfortable, clean, safe and convenient living space and to rent from a respectable landlord.

There are a lot of articles on the web that tout cheap, quick improvements to manipulate the impression, but that sort of makes it look like you’re doing a quick fix to sell your property fast. That’s not the message a renter wants.

When these features are let go, the result is that the best tenant prospects leave, and they also spread negative word of mouth. And when better rentals become available, even your current tenants will leave to find a nicer place. Fixing your rental is the key way to make it more marketable and keep tenants leased.

Upgrading Your Rental Unit

If worn out floors, stairs, windows, walls, appliances and fixtures are ruining your marketability, then it’s time to look at some improvements. You’re well advised to fix those things that matter to renters. They attribute more value to certain features. Women are different from men and those with families have different priorities.

The Best Upgrades for Marketability

The best features of your rental are different for each renter. You may know your current renters, but you may not know what the best renters want or are impressed with. Focus your marketability strategy on those key features they want. Then you can just maintain the other elements for a much lower overall cost.

What are the Best Rental Upgrades?

Consider upgrading to appeal to the best renters, those with discriminating tastes. Rather than being a pain, they’re giving you clues as what really is impactful to prospective tenants.

• new flooring and carpeting – great visual appeal that gives it that new look and creaking is gone
• bathroom upgrades and spotlessly clean – this is their personal zone so no evidence of previous tenants should be seen
• new toilets – makes tenants feel special and respected
• new or more modern appliances — you don’t necessarily need brand new
• new light fixtures with LED lighting – makes your rental bright and sparkling
• new neutral tone painting and all wall holes sealed – shows you care
• all windows fixed – so they know they won’t have to call you later to fix

If you fix everything listed above then market it really well, you’ll enjoy inquiries from very high quality renters. These are clientele you can build a sustainable business on. It helps build your landlord or property manager’s brand image and helps you enjoy impressive results.

I’m sure you knew everything that’s listed here, yet haven’t quite been convinced of your power as a property marketer.

Now you know you control everything from maintenance costs to rent price to overall ROI. Re-envisioning yourself as a marketer takes you from passive to active, and creating success.

Don’t forget the power of digital solutions. Your tenant also want online rent payment, mobile communications, and responsiveness. ManageCasa is the ideal property management software for the modern landlord. Learn more about how it will help you and why switching to ManageCasa makes sense.

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