Marketing Your Vacant Properties

So you’re ready to put your property on the market but you’re not sure how to make it available for people to find when they search online. 

How do you market your vacant properties?

There are a lot of different methods out there, but it’s important to note that the landscape has changed to support the scope of a digital world. People don’t post listings in newspapers anymore. I know there are still people out there who post on Craigslist, and a lot of people use sites like Zillow – but those aren’t always the best ways to market a property. 

If I’m being honest, it’s been a long time since I’ve looked outside of the program we use to market properties. Here’s how we do it. 

• AppFolio is both our accounting software and how we market properties. 

Between AppFolio and Tenant Turner, we write all the property descriptions, upload all of the pictures, list the rent amount, offer details like whether we accept pets or have a no-pets policy, etc. 

After we’ve finished uploading and finalizing all of these details, AppFolio sends that listing out not only to Roost-branded websites for available properties but also to every other website imaginable – and it’s done instantaneously. Basically, this allows you to get universal coverage for every available property with a vacancy. 

• Two big websites – apartments.com and Zillow – require extra cash for AppFolio to participate. 

Depending on whether an owner needs to be on those sites, this may or may not be worth the extra money. We tend to avoid listing on these sites because AppFolio really does cover everything. 

The fact of the matter is, if your property is ready, marketed correctly, the rent is priced correctly for the neighborhood, the keys are ready, you’ve got a “For Rent” sign up, and you’ve taken care of all the essentials, you don’t need Zillow or apartments.com to list your property. 

We use them from time to time, but it isn’t the immediate solution so many tend to depend on or think about when it’s time to put a vacant property on the market. With AppFolio, owners don’t need to spend any additional money on marketing – it takes care of everything entirely on its own. 

• Another advantage of working with property management companies like Roost is access to various types of management software, like AppFolio. 

These programs do all the work for you, from screening tenants to listing properties. 

Part of the fee you pay us as your management company covers this access, and it could save you money down the road when you don’t need to spend additional funds or budget extra money to list your properties on sites that ask for extra cash and don’t add anything more to the process beyond the name and brand recognition. 

Begin With the End in Mind

All of these tactics will help you get a better handle on how to manage your screening funnel and navigate an upstream approach for managing vacant properties. You want to do your best to keep a steady stream of interest and a large applicant pool of prospective tenants so you can narrow the field and find the right person or people to rent each property you own. 

• The biggest secret to marketing any property comes back to whether it’s priced appropriately for the neighborhood, what people in the community can afford to pay, and for the community as a whole. 

If you market a property to the people who want it, need it, and can afford it, you’re not only going to put cash in your pocket in the short term, but you’ll have better odds of that person continuing to pay you rent throughout the year and even beyond. 

Likewise, because they will be comfortable paying the rent at a rate they can afford, there are better odds of them caring for the property the way you’d hope they would – like it was their own – and that will save you money on the back end in repairs, rehab, and maintenance. 

The last thing you want to do is put someone in a property and a situation where they’ll end up resenting you – sometimes within weeks – because they’re paying more money than any of their neighbors. 

Similarly, if your property is maintained well, managed well, functional, and clean, tenants won’t have issues with their living situation or have problems that need to be fixed, which can cause them to be lax about paying rent or maybe could lead to them not being as careful with the property as you’d like. 

Ask yourself the following questions to determine where you’re at in the overall process:

• Have you done enough to make your tenants feel comfortable in that property where they want to and can afford to keep paying rent consistently for a long period? 

• Have you done your due diligence to ensure your tenant is maintaining the property by doing periodic check-ins and keeping everything that needs to be repaired up to date on your end?

• Will there be any potentially costly repairs or surprises when someone has moved out?

It’s just as important to think about the end – and what will happen when a tenant moves out – as it is to think about putting the right person inside your property. 

Choosing the right people and taking the appropriate steps to help you find those right people is what will benefit you the most in the long run. You can’t predict the future, but you can be proactive about screening, being aware of your options as a property owner, and putting the right people in place on your property management team to help guide you through the process. 

• Vacant properties don’t have to stay vacant and won’t if you’ve got the right strategies to turn them around quickly and get a new tenant in place expediently. 

From there, it’s about managing people and keeping everyone comfortable by ensuring their needs are met. We’re not slumlords, and we don’t manage for slumlords. We want this to be an amicable, mutually beneficial relationship on all sides. 

Being proactive doesn’t mean working harder, but it does involve making small moves to work smarter and plan by thinking about the bigger picture. With that in mind, you’re on a fast track to success and longevity as a property owner and investor. 

Final Thoughts

If you’re working with a property management company that offers you access to programs and software like Tenant Turner or AppFolio, take advantage of how that helps you market your vacant properties. There’s no reason to spend the time, effort, and extra money marketing on the big sites in the hopes that this will get more eyes on a property or properties. I’ve said numerous times that there’s a right tenant for every property – and that means there’s someone for your vacant property, too. 

Strategically, focusing on what you can do to ensure your property is the best option on the market for tenants by upholding it to neighborhood standards is potentially more valuable than marketing it online. If you’ve got a well-maintained, clean, nice property that is priced appropriately for not only the neighborhood but the area or region where you’re trying to rent it, you’re ahead of the curve. 

Remember the Wal-Mart renter: We want to price properties where that individual and individuals like them can afford it. Furthermore, we want them to be excited about this property because it’s a good property for a good price – and they won’t struggle to pay the rent from month to month. 
If you focus more on being proactive about placing the right tenant, you could get lucky and end up with someone who pays the rent on time every month and wants to rent your property for a longer period of time. Be mindful to check in on your long-term tenants to ensure everything is still being cared for, but if you choose the right tenants, you may not have to manage any vacant properties for a while – and that’s something to aspire to as a property owner.