Marketing your Rental

In any business, marketing is one of the most important activities. Businesses need to get their name and product in front of as many potential customers as possible. This is the same for rentals.

Unless you have a large word-of mouth referral network or a superb location, you will probably not find the best tenants. Good tenants are responsible and financially stable, and we want a pools of good tenants to choose from.

Great places to advertise include print newspapers, online sources, signs, flyers and bulletins. However, it is important to first establish a budget, we don't want to break the bank while pushing every angle.

Print Newspapers is historically one of the simplest forms of advertising. Buy a small classified ad in your local, and possibly national newspapers, like the Denver Post. You should plan to run your ad over the course of one to two weekends. To save a few dollars you could consider running the ad in the Sundays paper only, since it is the largest distributions. Additionally, the second and third Sundays in a month are typically when most individuals are looking.

Online Sources have become one of the best methods of advertising properties, mainly because of it lower cost, higher availability and the ability to add richer content. Most newspapers today will automatically include an online ad in their online editions, but we should consider other sources like Craig's List (which is free) and Rent.com. Further, you should prepare a photo gallery for prospective tenants, which might help them get a feel for the property. Using free tools like google's picasa web or sutterfly, allow you to arrange sideshows for prospective tenants to flip through.

Signs, Flyers and Bulletins round out the list and will help generate word-of-mouth advertising. Most people know where they want to live, be it for school or family reasons, and tend to walk or drive around neighborhoods looking for signs or ask locals. Make sure your sign is highly visible and legible with a local contact number. I'd recommend protecting your privacy, by not using your real number, but getting a temporary expiring number from inumber.

Additionally, you should inquire about local town, church and office bulletin boards. These tend to attract more stable and working class individuals, who tend to be great candidates.

Next time we'll get into writing a good ad and how to avoid getting slapped with a discrimination claim.