How to Find Great Tenants!

Great tenants are the holy grail of property management and successful rental property investment.

And finding them and attracting them strategically could be the key to charging profitable rent prices and seeing consistent revenues from a long-term leased tenant base. The 5 questions to ask involve who, which, where, how, and when.

Let’s explore all about how you can present your best value proposition to these great tenants amidst a pool of mediocre candidates.

Who are Good Tenants Anyway?

• are ideally suited to the lifestyle of the unit, building/house, and neighborhood (they find it valuable)
• are committed to their own life and lifestyle (stability)
• are responsible and won’t damage your real estate asset (respectful)
• have the financial ability to pay the rent price you set (financial capability)
• are balanced and won’t create drama, unnecessary maintenance or trouble with neighbors (maturity/self-esteem)
• are moral, honest and conscientious and will enjoy their rental unit responsibly (good neighbors)
• are accountable to the lease they signed and will avoid breaching it (committed)

Living and lifestyle is a personal thing. The unit you are renting may not be ideal for some renters. They may have all of the ideal profile characteristics, yet they aren’t right for your unit. This isn’t so much of a science, but rather a thorough art to identifying the right tenant.

To find a great tenant, you attract them with your marketing and promotion prowess. And here’s how to do it:

10 Strong Tactics for Attracting the Best Tenants:

High-Quality Advertising & Promotion Channels:  List your vacancy on a syndicated, high-quality vacancy listing service such as ManageCasa’s.

Stellar Property Presentation: A photo is worth a thousand words. Ensure your potential tenants see the best that you have to offer. High-quality photos and detailed virtual tours showcase your property’s finest features, allowing tenants to envision themselves living there.

Detailed Listings: Well-described listings possess a flair that excites your rental prospects. Highlight not just the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and square footage, but also the unique aspects that make your rental unit stand out – from a sun-drenched balcony to a gourmet kitchen perfect for culinary enthusiasts.

Clear and Honest Communication: Renters trust comprehensive details about rental terms, utility costs, and any property-specific requirements, ensuring they understand exactly what to expect before they even inquire.

Impeccable Property Maintenance: Explaining how your properties undergo regular maintenance checks, ensuring that everything is in top-notch condition before a new tenant moves in, is a must do.

Location Benefits: Highlight the perks of the property’s location, such as proximity to important amenities and services such as public transportation, schools, shopping centers, and recreational areas. Tenants appreciate the convenience of a well-connected neighborhood.

Tenant Reviews and References: Include positive experiences from previous and current tenants via your testimonials page, and include them in the listing on your property management marketing website.

Flexible Viewing Options: Provide flexible viewing options, including virtual tours and extended viewing hours, after a short conversation to vett those those searchers who are serious potential tenants.

Personalized Customer Service: Every tenant is unique, and we treat them as such. Our attentive and knowledgeable team takes the time to understand their preferences and needs, helping them find a property that aligns perfectly with their lifestyle.

Value-Added Amenities: We believe in enhancing the tenant experience. Many of our properties offer value-added amenities like fitness centers, community lounges, and pet-friendly facilities, making your property an irresistible choice.

Where to Find the Best Renters

Places to Capture Good Tenants

1. Targeted Facebook Ads – using Facebook’s own profiling system is powerful. The cost is high, however if you learn to fine tune FBs profiling capability, it will help them reach more suitable prospects. It will cut down on advertising spend waste too.
2. Facebook posting – Yes, your Facebook posts can reach good prospects and referrers if you make an effort to make connections and engage with them. Facebook now restricts your posts to those people you’ve engaged with so it’s important to engage with important influencers in your community.
3. Your Marketing Website – your website where you showcase your rentals is the go to resource for all serious rental tenants. A good tenant will be looking for this. They want certainty, authenticity, accurate property details, photos of rooms and amenities, videos, and they want to hear your sales pitch. All marketing and advertising roads lead to your website. Make sure it’s impeccable and you’ll be able to justify much higher asking rents.
4. Google search and blogging – Google draws search results from billions of pages, videos, and blog posts. If you write blog posts that touch on important topics, community venues and events, you will reach prospects who will remember your rentals and company name. The landing page might be the topic, however, it links to your vacancies and your marketing pages. It’s all in the name collecting visitors, growing awareness, and getting shared online.
5. Hotpads – a highly visible, well-trafficked and well-branded website, good for finding good apartment tenants.
6. Zillow – Zillow works hard to build awareness with those who have ambitions of buying or selling a house. However, they do have a rental section which of course, can build awareness in your geographic region.
7. Realtor.com – Similar to Zillow is Realtor.com. Realtor.com, Homes.com offer good reach to high-quality prospects and they have some targeting capabilities.
8. Pinterest – Here’s an interesting alternative because Pinterest users are all about lifestyle. Many of them either produce, sell or enjoy seeing items related to living and homes and lifestyle. That’s important because only quality people spend so much time on home decor, furnishings, kids stuff, and recipes. Make a presence in their world, and you have an immediate emotional connection to them.
9. Linkedin – the world of professional networkers should not be ignored. Linkedin users average income is high and they typically have steady employment and can easily find another job when they have to. Some are too ambitious, however you have your tenant screening system to validate their reliability and true financial capability.
10. Instagram – the growing world of image-based social networking shouldn’t be ignored either. As Instagram’s users get older, they are interested in renting or buying homes. Realtors are venturing into this world now. Users often post daily life items with an entertaining edge, and by creating visual materials related to your building or vacant unit, you may see them shared around by users. Again, getting visibility amongst the rental crowd is one of your marketing goals.
11. Zumper – they are one of the better apartment listings sites and have a suite of advertising tools for landlords.
12. Rent.com – Rent.com also has big reach through Apartmentguide and rentals.com and a number of marketing services to help you get your rental unit rented.

The Best Ways to Find the Best Tenants?

I think the title of best ways to find good tenants says it all. You’re finding them, not the other way around.

In conclusion, the best way to find good renters is via the best websites which your target renter visits, with well-written vacancy ads that lead to great marketing materials on your website. It’s your marketing content that helps good tenants find you, so definitely upgrade those materials to include interesting blogs, videos, photos, and even virtual tours to create the best experience possible for them.

The quality of your targeted search effort is part of the value proposition they’re looking for. It shows you’re trying to reach them and they like that.

Check out ManageCasa’s full property software capabilities including your new marketing website now.

Additional Resources: Property Management Software List | Property Management | Rental Photography | Compare Major Property Software Alternatives | How to Attract Good Tenants | Sources of Good Tenants | Why do Good Tenants Leave? | How to Choose Good Tenants | How to Write Effective Rental Ads | Screening Tenants with Social Media | Tenant Onboarding | Rental Listings | What Tenants Want | How to Retain Good Tenants | How to Get Tenants to Renew their Leases | Screen Tenants |  How to be a Good Tenant | Landlord Apps | Property Management Guide