Marketing your rental home is one of the most critical aspects of owning an investment property. Your marketing plan will affect the length of your vacancy and the types of tenants you attract.
One of the best reasons to hire a professional Mesa property management company is that you’ll have access to great marketing strategies and advertising resources. Property managers watch market trends. They keep data such as the number of days competing properties are on the market and how much those homes rented for.
Mesa Property Management: Online Marketing Strategies
The days of putting a rental property in the classified section of a newspaper are over, at least in the Mesa/Phoenix rental market. We use the internet almost exclusively to market available rentals. Online ads require professional photos and accurate, detailed descriptions of the property that are inviting and positive.
At Bennett Property Management, we use professional photographers and we also use the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in some cases to rent out homes. Local Realtors will often show our available rentals to their clients, and we pay a commission to the Realtor if their client ultimately rents the property. This is a great way to find qualified tenants quickly, even if it comes with an additional marketing cost.
Mesa Rental Homes Must be Move-in Ready
Make sure the property is ready to rent. This means that you could give someone the keys tomorrow and the property will be ready to move into. If you are marketing an occupied property, take the necessary precautions to protect the current tenant’s privacy and rights. Each state has different laws, so make sure you’re aware of the landlord or agent access rights. This is another great reason to get some Mesa property management help.
A home that’s move-in ready has a great looking lawn, and the utilities are on. If there’s a pool, it’s clean and sparkling. There’s plenty of curb appeal and the inside of the property is clean and functional.
Self-Showings with Mesa Property Management
Many Mesa property management companies are using self-showing technology, which means that there is a lockbox at the property so a prospective applicant can gain access to the home for a predetermined timeframe and “show” the home themselves.
This is a fairly sophisticated system which we find worthwhile. Prospective applicants can view our homes at their convenience (within set parameters), and they do not have to schedule an appointment with one of our property managers.
These are the three key steps to marketing your rental home. First, make sure that the property is rent ready. You don’t necessarily have to do big upgrades, but it does need to be clean, things need to be in proper working order, and it has to be habitable. Second, determine market rent and where you are going to market the property. Third, place the marketing and make the arrangements for the home to be shown.
If you’d like some help marketing and leasing your home from a professional Mesa property management company, we’d love to be your resource. Contact our team at Bennett Property Management.
