The ability to market your rental properties effectively can save your business a lot of money.
The faster you fill your vacancies, the sooner you can start collecting rent payments. Therefore, you must know where to advertise a rental property and how to create an appealing listing if you want renters to flock to your units.
In this article, we’ll be going over all the places you can advertise your rental properties.
Listing Sites
Posting your property listings on listing sites is the most effective way to market rental properties these days. Listing sites have become the most popular way that tenants search for properties to rent.
Most of these sites allow renters to add filters so they can quickly and easily find the exact kind of property they’re looking for. This is beneficial for you too because tenants who reach out are usually going to be genuinely interested in your property.
While listing rental property for free is fairly common on listing sites, sometimes you’re charged for listings. It all depends on the platform.
Here’s a run-through of some of the most popular listing sites at your disposal:
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- Apartments.com is the biggest listing site in the US, attracting more than 35 million renters every month. Apartments.com is a bit of a misnomer because it advertises houses and other types of rental properties, not just apartments. Posting listings is free, although promoted listings come with a fee.
- Zillow is a favorite among landlords and renters alike for its easy-to-use interface. When you use Zillow, you can also post your listing to the 26 partner sites in the Zillow network. While your first listing is free on Zillow, you’re charged a weekly fee for any subsequent listings.
- Craigslist didn’t start out as a site for rental property listings, but it’s a very popular platform for landlords and tenants alike. It’s also completely free to use. The more recent the listing, the better the exposure, so you may want to consider reposting your property ad often.
- Trulia is a free platform with an accessible layout and design. Trulia provides helpful information such as neighborhood crime mapping and community insights.
- Zumper is another platform that’s free to use for landlords. Your listings on Zumper can be further syndicated to sites like Walkscore and PadMapper.
- Airbnb is the best site to use if your business is with short-term or vacation rentals. Posting listings on Airbnb is also free.
Social Media
Social media continues to have a growing impact on every aspect of our lives, so it’s definitely worth considering for property management marketing.
Facebook Marketplace is a great place to post rental property listings and reach a large pool of renters. It’s free, and it functions like most listing sites.
Outside of Facebook Marketplace, most other social media platforms aren’t built for posting property listings. With that said, you can use Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms to draw attention to your properties by posting photos or video tours with links to your listings.
Paper Methods
For the most part, traditional methods like flyers, newspaper ads, and yard signs are no longer effective ways to advertise properties. The vast majority of renters these days are looking for properties online.
Paper methods might work in high volume areas with lots of tenant turnover, places like college campuses. In high-traffic spots, a flyer or sign with a QR code that links to your website could stimulate interest.
Otherwise, paper methods usually aren’t worth the time or money.
Listing Syndication
Using listing syndication is a key way to streamline your business as a landlord. Listing syndication software posts your property listing to multiple listing sites simultaneously, which means you only have to write, post, and manage a single listing.
Listing syndication allows you to reach the widest pool of renters in the shortest amount of time. This means you’re more likely to fill your unit and start collecting rent sooner, which saves you money on vacancies.
Conclusion
Even if you have the best property on the market, if you don’t advertise it in the right places, you won’t be able to find any tenants to sign a lease.
Listing sites have become the top way that renters look for properties, so you need to get your listing on as many sites as possible. Using listing syndication and social media are helpful strategies to bring as many renters to your listings as possible. Traditional methods of advertising, on the other hand, are no longer worth the energy.
