From the Podcast

Ep. #9 - Rental Property Advertising - How To Make Your Rental Home Stand Out From The Crowd

Ep. 9 | How To Make Your Rental Home Stand Out From The Crowd

This (9th) Episode of the [... and Landlord] Rental Real Estate Investing Podcast is titled "Rental Property Advertising - How To Make Your Rental Home Stand Out From The Crowd". As is indicative from the title, the episode delves mainly into Property Advertisement.

So in this episode, I go into things such as posting enticing pictures (lots of them), and making sure that your main exterior and kitchen (or kitchen and living-room) pictures are amazing. These can be taken with a SmartPhone, but you need to know what you're doing and have proper lighting - otherwise, go pro and just pay to have it done right. You can stage the home with some furniture and decor, or showcase your wide-open space - but the pictures have got to be on point.

I continue to say a word on your words... Yes, a picture is worth a thousand, but you still need some words, and they need to paint a compelling picture. So I give an example of how to tell a story with your listing text, instead of just citing bland facts and figures - like all the other rental listings on Zillow and other sites.


And I mention Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, CraigsList, Realtor.com - and other sites, including GoSection8.com. Have you considered Section 8? In this Episode I go into a bit of detail as to why you should, including some stats on the program for Durham County, NC. But I don't tell the full story on Section 8 here (only how it relates to making your rental listing stand out from the crowd) - so in a coming Episode, I will go into more detail on the pros and cons of making your rental homes available for persons with Section 8 vouchers and the process for doing so.

I also provide an example of how to conduct market research on Zillow to learn what the competition is like in your area. And how to use the information presented on Zillow to identify how best to stand out among others listed. And even what your target rent should be as suggested by Zillow, CraigsList and Rentometer.com - but possibly adjusted to target Section 8.


Upgrades? Lastly, I speak on how you can make your rental home stand out from the crowd by making upgrades. Why have fermica or "hard surface" counters when you can have granite? Why carpet when it can be "luxury" vinyl plank? Why have white appliances when they can be stainless steel for not much more? Why not add fans in the bedrooms and living areas, upgrade light fixtures, add a backslash in the kitchen, tile the shower, etc...? Make the home beautiful while also hardening it against tenants.

If you can make people say "WOW!" when they see your listing, and feel a sense of disbelief that it is available within their rent range... You'll get the best tenants; who'll remain for years; while gladly accepting annual rent increases; and having pride in the home - of which they take great care.


This 9th Episode ("Rental Property Advertising - How To Make Your Rental Home Stand Out From The Crowd") is a deep(er) dive into the rental advertising aspects of last week's: Ep. #8 | Don't Let Vacancy Kill Your Rental Cashflow.

So as mentioned in Episode #8, your rental listing advertising is a critical element of keeping vacancy to a minimum. Now learn how to make your rental home stand out from the crowd, like your house has a spotlight shinning on it from above.


P.S. Sorry, but two rental advertising or promotion methods NOT mentioned in this Podcast episode (but highly valuable) are Social Media and YouTube...

Social Media: Zillow, Cozy and pretty much every site where you can (and should) list your rental, also include the ability to share your listing on just about every Social Media site. And when posting to places like Facebook, don't forget to share your post to related local groups.

YouTube: Zillow, Cozy and others also allow you to feature a video of the home. So you should shoot a video walk-thru that you post to YouTube, and then link to the posts on Zillow, Cozy and elsewhere. Plus, you'll always have that video to use in future listings.

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