ScaredyCatGuide to Real Estate: Three Simple Ways to Rent Your Property Out Fast!

The less time your rental property is vacant the better.  That is why in this post I want to share three simple ways to rent your property out fast.

Three Simple Ways to Rent Your Property Out Fast!

1.) Advertise on Facebook Marketplace

If you are not doing this, you are putting your rental listing at a disadvantage.  People are already on facebook everyday as is, thus you are putting the listing where eyeballs already exist.   Marketplace has become more and more prevalent in recent years and every rental listing I have had in the past year got five times more inquiries on facebook compared to MLS or listing it on Zillow.

You still need to be smart about it though.  When I list a property on marketplace I change my personal profile setting to private and each person that contacts me through messenger asking about the unit gets a standard response that I copy paste.  It lists a few items that qualify them and provides showing instructions if applicable.

A bonus to this is also seeing what is essentially an "about me" preview from their facebook page.

2.) Put out a Product Slightly Above Average

A big thing you want to avoid with rentals is over improving units.  When you over improve you are hurting your return on investment.  A certain level of upgrades do not increase the rent you will get, you want to max out at the point rents plateaus for value add.

Your goal is always to meet the average expectation of the market.  Then do a couple of cheaper value adds to make the unit stand out from the pack.  This could be something as simple as upgrading the bathroom faucets and toilet with something higher end looking that are more efficient or going with stainless appliances instead of white when it's time to flip them out. 

Anything that is more aesthetic and increases efficiency at a relatively inexpensive additional cost is the focus.

3.) Charge Market Rent

This may sound obvious, but you'd be surprised how often people price units at the top of the rental market range or even above it and wonder what is going on when it doesn't rent right away.  I'm not saying this isn't the way to go, but this post is about how to rent your property out fast.

That age old equation: time vs money.  Choose which is right for you.

When listing units I generally aim for the mid to upper mid area of market rents.  This has served me well finding quality tenants in a reasonable amount of time.

Conclusion

So as you can see these are rather simple things you can do to help your cause.  That is what I love about real estate investing most, how simple it can be once you learn the rules and framework.

If you are still learning be sure to check out the book or come get some education.