The US rental market is surging, but that doesn’t mean finding a tenant for your rental property will be easy. It takes work to make your property stand out from other rentals in your area.

A well-presented home attracts more renters, which means your property will rent quicker and for a higher price. So what can you do to make your property more appealing to prospective tenants? Here are tips on how to spruce up your rental property and entice more prospective tenants.

Curb appeal matters

First impressions have a lasting effect, so if the exterior of your rental property appears neglected, a prospective tenant may not want to even look inside. If your rental property could use some updating on the exterior, here are some inexpensive ways to increase its curb appeal:

• Remove weeds and make sure the lawn and shrubs are well-manicured.
• Put some flowers and plants around the front door.
• Replace torn window screens and remove chipped paint.
• Make sure the mailbox and house number decals are in good condition.

Stage your home

Home staging is not just for people who are trying to sell a home. It’s for people looking to rent their homes as well. Prospective tenants are looking for a home, not just a vacant house.

When done well, home staging can help convey your property’s top assets and play down undesirable features to prospective tenants.

The following are some simple and easy ways to stage your home:

• Thoroughly clean every room.
• Remove clutter and pack up personal items. Take those beautiful canvas photo prints off the wall and pick up any knickknacks that you may have left around.
• Incorporate natural features such as flowers and plants in every room to soften the space.
• Replace outdated window treatments with something more modern. Choose floor length curtains and hang them from the ceiling, as opposed to the top of the window frame.
• Set out crisp, white towels in all bathrooms to give a fresh and clean feel to the space.

Strategically advertise

If your goal is to appeal to a certain audience, then target your marketing and advertising to them directly. For example, if you want to market to young families, highlight nearby schools. For working professionals, mention how close nearby public transit is from the property.

You’ll want to have plenty of professional images and videos of your rental property on hand and available to use for any advertising you do as well. High-quality, professional photos that show your rental properties best features make a big difference in enticing better and more serious tenants.

Use a property management software program

To help simplify the application process for prospective tenants and for yourself, consider using a property management software program. Programs have features for landlords to send out an online rental application to a prospective tenant and secure spaces for a prospective tenant to upload important documents.

The little things make a difference

With high-quality professional photos, your rental property is likely to make a good first impression online, but to keep your rental looking desirable, you’ll want to do little things such as repair broken railings, replace light fixtures, and touch up paint anywhere that it’s needed.

It may seem like a broken kitchen drawer or a loose doorknob isn’t a big deal, but prospective tenants will notice these things. To show your rental property in the best light, be sure to take care of all minor repairs.

The bottom line

Presenting your rental property in the best way possible shows prospective renters that you’re serious about maintaining your property, which means a greater likelihood of your attracting quality renters and fetching a higher price for your property.

If you advertise thoughtfully, put work into making your rental property look as desirable as possible, and use user-friendly online tools, luring prospective tenants can be breeze.

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– With slight growth you need to have some change in the property management strategy.

– For your multiple properties never stick to an outsourced property management company, you may lose control to great extent. It is suggested to have in-house property management.

– It is to always take note that such business requires acquiring assets on regular basis.

Up to 3 properties mean self-management

Yes, for up to 3 properties you don’t need the help of a property management company. You can take care everything of it yourself. You can look after the leasing part, the managing, rental payments and also the maintenance as wel as bookkeeping. If your proerty grows from three to five, it is time for you to take the help of experts as you can’t handle alone. If the growth reaches ten you need to treat it like a business.

More than ten properties

When you reach at least 10 properties, it is time to hire a part time in-house property manager. The person will do all the leasing, managing and rent collecting. For the bookkeeping part you can take the help of software like AppFolio, Yardi and PropertyWare. Whatever you choose, don’t forget to take a legitimate property management software only. Don’t completely depend on spreadsheets and Quickbooks.

If your property count increases to twenty, it is suggested to hire a full-time, in-house portfolio manager. You can also become a manager provided you have enough time to invest in it as it will be a full-time job. Obviously if property becomes your only source of income, you will surely do the managerial part.

As your business grows further you need to structure all the leasing, managing, collecting rent, dealing with maintenance and also the bookkeeping part. The portfolio is now really large and it is suggested to once again go to the property management company. Taking the help of experts will also help you in becoming familiar to the structure part and in future you can do it yourself. It will be required when you own a large rental company. You need to then know how exactly things can be done.

Bottom line

The above tips are proven and it is true too strategy need to be changed as you grow. Taking help of experts is required, but not forever. You need to learn the art too.

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