what more can be down to rent a unit quickly please.

[jasonp3]

we are using a top property management agent, but what more can be done to assure a nice unit in a good area is rented quickly and doesnt stay vacant for a couple of weeks. We have had a few people come and look but noone definite and one tenant we thought we had earlier on fell through.

Do people still put blackboards or boards on the main road leading to the street as that main rd gets alot of traffic all day and in peak hours. What else can be done to get the most response and find someone. The rent is apparently appropriate for the market as i said its a top agent we are using who has his finger on the pulse.
I dont want the unit staying unrented for a few weeks. is there anything more i can do please.

Thank you.

 

[Scott No Mates]

Drop your price
External signage
Letterbox drops (waste of money)
Local newspaper advert "for lease"

 

[superAndrew]

The rent is apparently appropriate for the market as i said its a top agent we are using who has his finger on the pulse.

Doesn't sound like a top agent. He should be able to advise you on your options.

If you've had a few people inspect it and they didn't take it, then most likely rent is too high. Your options are to either drop rent or include utilities like electricity, internet, etc or add furniture/white goods. Easiest option is to just lower the rent.

What area is it in, what's the rent and bedrooms?

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Xenia IM]

Feature list
Drop the price

 

[jetski]

Drop the price,
Put for lease board on the property if possible,
Are people coming through the door? If not maybe worth taking professional photos if you havent done so. Depending what are it is, if there are alot of supplies/developments, it might be harder to lease, need to drop price to stay competitive.

 

[marg4000]

Drop the price.

Ensure the ad on the internet is inviting with good, clear photos and text listing all the features.
Marg

 

[james start]

You can hire a hot uni student to stand on the corner of the street waving and jiggling a sign around for a few hours during rush hour

This actually does work btw

 

[Kinnon Bell]

Can you post the ad of the property here?

 

[dex]

If your agent is good he should be giving you feedback about what prospective tenants are saying, especially about the one that fell through. What is the feedback? Too overpriced, noisy location? You need to think like a tenant and see what the competition is. Do a search on realestate.com.au and pretend you want to rent a similar unit in the same area, price range and with the same amount of bedrooms etc. Make sure you have good photos.

 

[vaughan]

Get a friend to enquire, and see what the service is like.

 

[Nikoletta]

- Stand out advertisement, good photos, attractive but brief description
- Good presentation during open homes, well ventilated
- Open house frequency and times, flexibility for private viewings - I find this very important. I often see inspections advertised for 15 minutes on a Tuesday at 2pm. If there are 10 similar properties in the area with many open after hours and/or weekend, prospective tenants won't take time off to attend. The more properties they can choose from the more likely they want to view them at their convenience, in my opinion

 

[jasonp3]

Thank you for so many expert hints .

 

[Connolly]

Had a similar issue with 2 that we just leased in Feb. The PM are epic and was more the properties. So what I did to lift the numbers-
1. Add on gumtree under property for rent. No photos or address just description
2. Put my number on requesting call email or text if wanted pictures and address to drive by
3. All the ppl that called or texted, did a basic pre-screen sent them through the real estate.com.au link via text
Result- had a **** load of prospective tenants, houses were leased the following week.

 

[Rudugger]

Jason,

To extend on some of the great responses above, dropping the rent is the easiest option and all landlords struggling to find tenants will do this.

If you are in a new building with numerous investments coming online at once and everyone drops the rent to outbid each other the investments turn to crap. Look at your competition at least if your agent won't, you should. Work out how to set your property apart, find your point of difference.

Foxtel has some fantastic contracts at the moment due to a recent price reduction, $25.00 per month... and you can deduct it. Throw in water usage; Take a look at your last water bill the usage portion was minimal so throw it in because it looks good on the ad and costs you hardly anything.

Cheers.

 

[Richard Feynman]

Get approval for a cat.

 

[Gockie]

Had a similar issue with 2 that we just leased in Feb. The PM are epic and was more the properties. So what I did to lift the numbers-
1. Add on gumtree under property for rent. No photos or address just description
2. Put my number on requesting call email or text if wanted pictures and address to drive by
3. All the ppl that called or texted, did a basic pre-screen sent them through the real estate.com.au link via text
Result- had a **** load of prospective tenants, houses were leased the following week.

Connolly, great work in just taking a simple proactive approach.

More viewers = higher desirability or more prospective tenants = possibly higher rents + higher quality of tenant + quicker to rent out too. Well done!

 

[Lil Skater]

Dropping the rent is usually the easiest, but it's not always the problem.

Always start with the ad, make sure your photos and description are appealing. The more through the door the better, and unless there's a huge oversupply of stock you should get minimum 5-10 at all inspections (provided they're not at stupid times).

If the ad isn't great there will be a lot of people simply pass over it.

Presentation is key. Does the property need a lick of paint? Are the lawns mowed and neat? Are there 30yr old brown curtains that smell funky? Try to look at your property with an unbiased eye, is it as good and presented as well as comparable properties.

Next is inspection times/days. If they only do 15mins at 10am on a Saturday like everyone else people will need to pick which home they go to. This also comes back to the ad, if it's a good ad then most will choose yours - but it's always best to try to make the times after business hours and at a time of day different to other agents.

When you do have inspections, your agent should be asking everyone for their feedback. What they like/don't like, why will they not be taking an application? Is it actually just too small than that person wants, or have they seen 50 other homes and it's over priced?

A few years back when we were looking to move, I found what I thought was a reasonably priced home and exactly what we were after. When I got there, it was a dump. It was vacant, but there was a pair of used women's underwear on the floor, and HUGE cracks to the wall (at least an inch) and the agent just said "it's going to be patched and painted", but that's not going to fix the issue and I found out at the inspection that they were planning on increasing the rent by $50pw once "fixed". I walked out and told the agent that it was poorly presented and overpriced due to this.

I would've paid the extra $50pw if at the time of the inspection the property was presented the way it should've been to start with. Sat there for weeks, when at the inspection I went to there was 20 other people.


So look at all of that first, if that's all in order then start looking at the listed price or what your property could have as a "point of difference". Ie. Free foxtel, discount for 3 months, pet friendly etc.

 

[wylie]

We always held our own open house for an hour on a saturday and any time to suit whoever enquired. Now we have an agent look for a tenant we will hold our own open for an hour and pass applicants to the agent.

One day I sat around a corner to see how many people came through the 15 minute open house and watched the agent arrive five minutes late, go inside and straight back out. I am sure the agent simply used the toilet. Nobody went through in the two minutes he was there.

I realised then that I need to take back control of the open houses even if we have an agent do the checks.

 

[Scott No Mates]

One day I sat around a corner to see how many people came through the 15 minute open house and watched the agent arrive five minutes late, go inside and straight back out. I am sure the agent simply used the toilet. Nobody went through in the two minutes he was there.

That comment rings so true Wylie - rental opens are 15 minutes in many areas and sales opens down to 1/2 hour. Saving that 15 minutes means that the agent can get 1 or 2 more opens completed in the day (@ your expense of course).

 

[depreciator]

We had a client once who was having trouble renting out a flat in a building full of similar properties.
I told him to bite the bullet and bung in a big wall mounted TV. That worked. It was during the time in Sydney where people were giving away a week's free rent and stuff like that, so the cost of the TV was similar.

Scott