3 Ways to Make Your Rental Stand Out
Posted by on October 24, 2015 under Landlord Tips, Marketing for Landlords, Tenant Screening & Background Checks | 
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If you are renting your home, you want to attract the best tenants. To attract the best tenants, you need to make your rental stand out among other units in the sea of available housing. No landlord wants to find themselves in a position of having to offer their unit to a less than desirable tenant because they simply did not get enough high value tenants applying.
- Don’t overcharge for screening your tenant. Ideally, you won’t charge them more than it costs you. In fact, in some states this is the law. Applying for housing costs renters a fortune, especially in competitive markets. Being reasonably priced during this time will ensure you have a variety of applicants to choose from for your next tenancy. Charging a reasonable fee for the application also lets your tenants know that you will be a reasonable landlord. Online tenant screening companies like E-Renter.com can provide you with the ability to push payment for the tenant screening report to your tenant – that way, your tenant is assured they are paying only for the cost of the screening.
- Consider bundling maintenance services with the rental price. For example, a lawn service or even a house-cleaning service that comes every other week can often cost less than $100/mo., but can provide your renters with a huge sense of relief that these things will be taken care of during their time in the house. You get the added benefit of knowing your property will be kept in top form, too.
- Gather your OWN references and get a background check on YOURSELF. During the latest economic downturn, many tenants faced surprised foreclosures because their landlords were unable to pay their mortgages. Many tenants have also previously had bad experiences with landlords who unfairly hassled them about returning security deposits, invaded their privacy, failed to maintain the unit, etc. Offering them references from recent renters who had a good experience with you, and including a recent background check on yourself that shows no bankruptcies, liens, or judgments, is a great way of showing them that you understand that renting is a two-way street of trust – you need to be able to trust them, and they need to be able to trust you. You can use a background check service like BackgroundReport.com to obtain a background check, and let tenants know they can call in to verify the report is valid.