A critical period for a rental property is when it’s vacant. It’s not earning money, and finding the right tenant is critical to the profitability of your rental business.
There are three key steps in order to fill a vacant property:
- Advertise the vacant property so you attract the best rental applicants.
- Make sure the property is fully repaired and cleaned so you get the best potential tenants to fill out a rental application.
- Conduct a thorough tenant screening process to get the best tenant for the property and also to protect yourself from fraud.
Best Practice to Advertise Your Property
Your prospective tenants are comparing your rental listings with thousands of others. It’s important your rental ad is seen and eye-catching.
A sample list of websites to post your rental ad to get the most exposure:
- Zillow.com
- Apartments.com (and its family of listing sites)
- Rentpath.com (and its family of listing sites)
- Craigslist
- Facebook Marketplace
You should also create a rental ad that attracts prospective tenants, here are some things to focus on:
Headline: You should give all key information about the property in a way that grabs the attention. It should include the rent amount, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, address/location, and a feature that appeals to your target tenant. For example, if it’s a one-bedroom unit in a lively downtown area with lots of young people, bring up that it’s close to lots of restaurants and clubs within walking distance.
Pictures and Video: The next most important factor is the pictures and video. Take the time to take quality photos and consider investing in staging your rental property.
Consider a discount: If it’s a competitive market, you should consider offering a discount in the ad, such as a gift card or something else to make your ad stand out.
Highlight the key amenities: Whether it is great internet, security for the building, or parking for cars included. Emphasize the amenities that are most valuable and in high demand in your ad for the target market
Get your rental property ready to show to prospective tenants.
It’s always important to have a checklist as you’re preparing your vacant rental property for showing to potential tenants.
Have a robust move-in and move-out process that is executed with detailed forms that have pictures and comments on each aspect of your rental property, noting down repairs needed.
Have a thorough deep cleaning done to the property.
Consider staging the vacant unit with rented furniture to help prospective tenants picture living in the unit. It also helps you improve your rental ad photos.
Make sure you are giving a good first impression of yourself as a property manager as you’re showing the property. Not only is the tenant considering the property, but they are also evaluating you. Do you have a professional appearance? Are you punctual? Are you thoroughly answering their questions?
How to conduct a thorough background check?
A thorough background check – consisting of rental application, tenant screening, and checking on references- can save you lots of problems with tenants that cause problems later.
Did you know that the American Apartment Association Owner found that 23.8% of eviction filings were from tenants that had falsified their rental application information?
In fact, most property managers are seeing fraud of some type, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council:
If you pick the wrong tenant and have to evict them, the cost can be astronomical:
- 2-4 months lost rent
- Loss of leasing commission
- Court filing fees ranging from ~$100 to ~$400
- Sherriff’s notice fees ranging from ~$50 to ~ $400
- Miscellaneous filing service fees can run up to ~$500
- Cleaning fees ~$200
- Marketing feed to relist unit ~$100
- Legal fees can run up to ~$1000
So what should you do? Run a thorough background check and check on references. Use the latest fraud detection technology as well.
- Make sure you have your applicants fill out a rental application.
- Check all supporting material (bank statements, paycheck stubs, identity information)
- Use fraud detection technology to detect potential fraudulent documents.
- Do thorough reference checks on employment and previous landlords.
- Do credit and criminal and eviction history checks (with approval from the applicant).
Get to know the potential tenants as you’re showing the property. As you’re showing the property its a great opportunity to get pertinent information about them:
- Where do they live now?
- Why are they moving?
- What is their preferred move-in date?
- Do they have pets?
Are they willing to fill in a rental application and go through a tenant screening?
How does SimplifyEm Property Management Software help with getting the right tenant?
SimplifyEm has all the features you need to get the right tenant into your vacant unit:
- Advertise your vacancy on all major listing sites to get your property maximum exposure to potential tenants.
- Use SimplifyEm’s State-Specific Attorney-Approved Rental Application or upload your own Rental Application. You can send it to any applicant online and have them sign via e-signature and collect the rental application fee online.
- Use our income verification tool to help as an extra check against paystub fraud.
- Run a tenant screen on any applicant and get their credit, criminal and eviction history.
- You can also use SimplifyEm’s State-Specific Attorney-Approved Lease or upload your own Lease. You can send it to any tenant online and have them sign via e-signature and collect their Security Deposit online.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
- Why is it important to find the right tenant for your property?
Nearly a quarter of eviction filings were from tenants that had falsified information on their rental application. It’s important to have a thorough background check to make sure you have the right tenant for your property. - What steps should I take to advertise my vacant property?
You should make sure you advertise on all major listing sites. Have a great title that gives key information and the most important amenity that target customers will care about. Finally, have great pictures for the property. - How do I verify a tenant’s income and employment?
The best ways to verify income and employment are to ask for permission to run a credit report, use an income verification tool that analyzes a bank account to cross-check income, and finally call an employer to verify employment. - How can SimplifyEm help with tenant screening?
SimplifyEm Property Management software provides all the tools and features to allow you to get all the information you need on a rental applicant: Credit Report, Criminal Report, Eviction History, Income Verification via bank account analysis. You can also use SimplifyEm’s Rental Application and Attorney-Approved State specific lease.
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