Maximum exposure for your property

With the current state of the economy, every property owner is concerned with finding a suitable tenant to occupy their property. As a property owner, you need good tenants who are capable of looking after your property and paying rent on time. This is one secret that successful property owners know. In our previous blog, we looked at what a good tenant looks like, but the truth is that finding a ‘good’ tenant is pretty challenging. It takes more than hanging up a ‘for rent’ sign on the property. Let’s take a look at how and where to find renters, the more prospective tenants you can find, the better the chance is for landing that ‘good’ one.

You want as many leads as possible, but they should also be quality leads. How do you ensure that the right tenants are enquiring about your property? Unfortunately, there is no guarantee, but there are various ways to make your property look good so that quality leads will be interested. The truth is that hundreds of tenants will potentially view the property online although only a few will physically go and see it and this is why it is essential that a property’s digital look leaves a good impression.

To create an appealing online property ad is in twofold — having great pictures and even greater descriptions. Most property owners in SA prefer to do their own listings, which is a smart thing as no one knows your property like you do. Unfortunately, everyone is not equally skilled when it comes to photography or writing.

Firstly, you’ll need to understand your property’s “selling points”, to provide a comprehensive description, with all amenities and point of interests in the area (schools, malls, highways, doctors, etc.), as well as focusing on the right features of the property itself. When writing, be sure to have at least one more pair of eyes critically read the descriptions written for the property. Spelling errors and typos can give a wrong impression to a potential ‘good’ tenant.

Try to get a professional, or at least a camera-comfortable friend or family member, to take the pictures if you are not confident in your photography capabilities. Quality images of your property “sell” your property like nothing else. Make sure you remove the unnecessary items in each photo and get the best pictures. With today’s smartphones, almost anyone can take quality photos of their property and ensure that the potential tenant has some great images to look at.

Now that you’ve got your content, how do you get it out there to lure as many tenants possible?

  • Take your hunt to rental websites: Thanks to the internet, anyone can now search for ‘properties to rent’ near him/her. Be sure to make use of rental websites that offer free listings for private property owners, such as Private Property and Gumtree. It’s not free forever, but it’s a good start. Private Property lets you run one free advert every three months, after that, you will pay around R300 per advert. Gumtree is more generous with up to four advertisements per property owner, but from property number five you will be paying around R400 per advert thereafter. Check out this easy one-stop-shop: list your property once, get it advertised everywhere! (And the best part is that it’s by far the most affordable and simplest way to list your property on all the available platforms simultaneously). Preferental also sends all leads to you while providing you with weekly reporting to ensure you don’t miss any potential leads.
  • Try advertising on social media: Millions of people across the globe, both young and old visit one social media platform or the other on a daily basis. A platform like Facebook allows its users to create groups around a geographical region. Search for a group based on your locality or neighbourhood and advertise your properties there. You can also explore Marketplaces on Facebook which allows you to promote your property to individuals typically close to the property you’re advertising. Nice!
  • Use professional realtors: This is the easiest and quickest way to find renters, but also the most expensive. Realtors are experts in the field and typically have a network of renters between the different franchises. They also have more experience and knowledge of finding renters and could be an option to explore if you’re willing to pay them the placement fee. You can manage the property yourself to save some cash. Preferental offers this service at an affordable price (while guaranteeing your rent), which makes it the preferred way of renting today.

In these pressured times one should make sure that you start right — get your property looking good on all the available platforms as soon as possible.