Find quality tenants for your residential property

It’s easy to keep costs low when you have sensible renters that care about their residence, adhere to your agreement, and are happy to do minor maintenance jobs for you.

But how do you find good tenants? Where do the best ones spend their time? Let’s take a look and find out.

The importance of finding good tenants for residential properties

When it comes to managing a profitable residential property, occupancy rates are key.
Tenant turnover can cost you an arm and a leg, so managing their experiences is in your best interest – and this starts right from the moment they start hunting for properties.

If you can make the best first impression with your professionalism, you put yourself in a great place to encourage good tenants to make a long-term commitment that will result in a consistent cash flow for your business.

However, raising the number of quality people applying for your property doesn’t just happen overnight. There’s some homework to do.

How to find good tenants for residential properties

Step 1. Optimize your website

It is surprising how many sites out there are not mobile and tablet device ready, and, if this is the case for you, you are:

A. Alienating a significant portion of your audience.
B. Ignoring one of the best places to find tenants.

According to recent research, over 91.34% of internet users are on a mobile device, which means, in order to generate their interest in your residential property, you have to accommodate their needs.

Step 2. Build your traffic

When people have questions these days, we go to Google. With that in mind, how impressive is your search ranking? If you have to actively go through seven to ten pages before coming close to finding your property using basic company-linked terms (if not your property’s name in general) then you need to work on your SEO.

Step 3. Increase your online presence

When it comes to finding good tenants, it seems pretty apparent that social media is a major time consumer for many people. So, it makes sense to go where your audience is. Having a social media page gives potential customers a chance to get a better “feel” for what you have to offer.

Step 4: Manage social proof

Another tip for finding tenants is to actively monitor and respond to what people are saying about your property on product/company review websites. These sites not only let you into what potential residents are learning about your property, but they can also give you an insight as to what your current residents actually think about you.

Step 5: Empower your residents

Once you are up-to-date with today’s digital environments, it’s time to make your services as accessible as possible with residential property software (a tool that allows you to control tenant experiences to stimulate referrals). Finding tenants online is a lot easier when your current renters are leaving you positive reviews.

Creating the best tenancy ad for your residential property

Wait, there’s more.

Alongside the internal strategies you can execute to find good tenants, you can expand your marketing through either PPC ads (like ones on Google) or partnerships with various listing services in your area.

Despite the cost involved, both of these have been proven as two of the best ways to find tenants for residential properties. Before you can begin, though, you need to make sure the ad you want to use is:

• relevant
• eye-catching
• informative

Tip 1 for finding tenants: Take clear pictures

To capture the attention of prospective quality tenants, your ad should include comprehensive and accurate images of the property you are listing. Too often, landlords provide inadequate photos that stop any tenants with good intentions from asking for more information. How can they expect you to deliver on your promises and look after their personal safety with building maintenance if you can’t even take the time to take a few photos?

Tip 2 for finding tenants: Write detailed descriptions

The best ads are clear, extensive, and authentic. You should write a detailed summary of the property (such as the size and number of bedrooms/bathrooms) and could even include some information on the surrounding area (such as how the property is a five-minute walk away from the shops). These details are going to intrigue potential tenants and increase your number of queries.

Tip 3 for finding tenants: Set your residential price

No matter what property you are listing, and where, there’s something you need to do before you list your ad: always decide on your residential price. The last thing you want to do is waste time responding to people who don’t have the budget for the property you’ve listed and risk upsetting them as a result. This can damage relationships, decrease your efficiency, and stop you from finding good tenants.

Tip 4 for finding tenants: Widen your tenant pool

Targeted ads don’t necessarily have to be restricted to the exact area your property is in. You could consider widening the zone of your listing and therefore increase your chances of finding a good tenant online. You never know, perhaps someone will ask about one residential property of yours only to end up viewing multiple.

Tip 5 for finding tenants: Always screen your potential tenants

If you want to make the most of your residential property, then you need renters who are going to pay you on time and take care of their space. When it comes to finding good tenants, you should always:

1. Look at their property history: Previous landlords they have rented from are likely to be able to provide a review on the quality of the tenant. This can also help you avoid property management fraud.
2. Request a guarantor: Where applicable, it is entirely appropriate to request a guarantor for young or financially unstable tenants.
3. Analyse their employment/income stream: Great tenants will have long-term employment history and have stayed in the same job for more than six months. They would have a decent credit score, and not have too much debt.
4. Take a deposit: A deposit is not only a residential property best practice, it’s a necessity for finding good tenants. Being able to pay money upfront shows their financial management skills and ability to save.

How to find good tenants for residential properties – FAQs

As you can see, there are numerous ways to find good tenants. If you still aren’t sure, browse these FAQs.

How long does it take to find a tenant?

Properties tend to start getting responses within the first few days of a job listing; however, it may take you longer to screen the reviews and decide which tenant to accept. Therefore, you could be looking at a timeline of anywhere from a week to several months.

What qualifies as a residential property?

Residential properties can include apartment complexes, a duplex, and even condos. Essentially, it’s any building that has a full set of facilities to sustain more than one family.

What qualities make a good tenant?

A good tenant would be respectful of the property they live in and their neighbours, pay their rent on time, be willing to do minor maintenance jobs, and have great employment and address histories.

What are the positives and negatives of a residential property?

For managers, residential properties can induce more complaints than most. If neighbours aren’t being respectful of each other, you’ll be the one to have to deal with issues. However, due to the nature of residential properties, they are often highly profitable.

How residential software can help you find tenants online

There’s one more tool you can use to find tenants for your residential property – residential property management software.

Capable residential property management software can help you build your website and its usability, but can also encourage engagement with your community.

Functions like:

• unit availability and apartment reservations
• prequalification applications
• lease agreement distribution
• online bill payments
• digital lease renewals with electronic signatures

All work together to ensure you are creating an accessible and enjoyable tenant experience.

When used correctly, you can create a positive brand reputation that leads to a successful word of mouth marketing strategy. As one of the best ways to find tenants, residential property management software should not be ignored.

Reach out to MRI for a demonstration today.

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