Advertising for Rent
“On the highway of life, if you’ve got something important to say, blow your horn!
No one else is going to blow it for you.”
-Jeff Christensen, 2001
Now that you’ve completed the Property Management 101 course “PREPPING YOUR HOME FOR RENT’ you are ready to try your hand at ADVERTISING. If you happened to go to college you call this MARKETING, but for the rest of us commoners let’s just stick with “advertising”.
- CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION – Go to Craigslist, Zillow or a site of your choice and see what your property will be up against. Remember, the name of the game is BEAT THE COMPETITION. As much as possible, you want your place to be the biggest and best deal for the lowest price.
- SELECT THE PHOTOS – Remember all those photos I told you to take in the PM 101 course? Well now is the time to sort through them and select the BEST 20 to run in your ad. Pretend that you are a prospective renter and think about what you would want to see in the ad … front of house, what you see when you first open the front door, all rooms, washer & dryer, back yard … and don’t forget to take a picture of the neighborhood too! The wording of your ad matters but
IT WILL BE THOSE PHOTOS THAT WILL DO “THE HEAVY LIFTING”! - POST YOUR AD – Pull out the rough draft of that ad you wrote in the 101 class and put the final polish on it. Look for misspellings and sentences that run on. Try to remove as many unnecessary words as you can and yet still convey the basic facts with a sense of drama and flair! Don’t brag too much about your home … LET YOUR PHOTOS DO THAT!
- SIGN IN THE YARD – Buy the BIG “FOR RENT” sign at the box store and add your phone number with a BOLD BLACK MARKER. Bigger is better when advertising to people driving by at 35!
- FLYER IN THE WINDOW – Just the basic information please … bedrooms, bathroom, square feet, lot size, special features, kitchen upgrades, surprises to be found inside. Limit yourself to maybe 10 bullet points. Be sure to include your contact information. This flyer is to serve the folks that see your sign and stop to look around a bit when you are not at home. It’s like the tasty bait on the hook to get the fish to bite!
- TALK IT UP – Don’t be afraid to VISIT YOUR NEIGHBORS, give them a copy of the flyer and tell them the news … YOUR HOME IS FOR RENT!
So there!- YOU’RE OFF AND RUNNING! Stayed tuned for the next step for the D.I.Y. rental property owner:
PM – 103 : Screening Applications