I just filled a vacancy. Actually, I still have to get the CO and move the tenants in, but I have already collected the rental “hold” deposit. So, effectively it is off the market and the tenants should be moved-in, less than two weeks from now. Years ago, when I first started buying rental properties, I used to factor in a vacancy percentage and an “advertising” budget as part of my expenses. While I still budget for vacancy, I no longer consider the actual advertising as an expense. Why? Because I have found there are simply so many no-cost (yes, that means free) and low-cost ways to drive tons of qualified applicants to contact you about your vacancies.

Before you shell out a couple of hundred dollars or more to the local paper to place your next “For Rent” ad… or go to a website that wants to charge you big $$$ to place your rental listing… or (gulp) pay a real estate agent over 8% to find you a tenant…

You might want to try these free methods that I have used to get dozens of calls from prospective tenants eager to rent my vacant units. Here they are:

1. For Rent Signs placed outside the vacant property. OK, not free since you have to buy the $8 sign… but practically free (but hey you can use it again and again for other properties, as well.) I use the red and white store bought signs. If you wanted, however, it’s not that expensive to get a custom one made up that looks more professional. In my experience, however, tenants are looking for those “red and white” signs. So, why not use what their eyes are scouting for anyway as they travel the roads in search of their next dwelling? If you are worried about them coming onto your property in your absence, you could always add something to the sign to deter them, like “PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB CURRENT OCCUPANTS” above or below your phone number. Positives: cheap, easy, effective and they know the property appearance and location before they call. Negatives: Many of the calls are unqualified and there is the potential that you are alerting undesirables to the fact that your property may be vacant and might be a good target for vandalism and theft.
2. Craigslist.com has worked well for me. There is not cost to post your vacancy and it is amazing to me how many people search that site. My suggestion is that you be as specific as possible with your listing, so that you don’t get too many calls and emails from unqualified applicants. If you don’t want a lot of calls, one suggestion is to have them respond to you by email and answer specific questions that you post in the ad. Then you can pick and choose and call whichever prospective tenants you think would be the best candidates. What questions should you ask? Well, how about the Screening questions I suggested in my last post? Positives: free, easy, more targeted than “For Rent” signs and I usually get a lot of response. Negatives: I like the format of other sites better, sometimes get nuisance emails from unqualified tenants and scam artists.
3. Online rental sites. You can do a search, like “List Your Vacancy for Free” and come up with a lot of sites. There are hundreds of sites out there that are more than willing to list your vacancy and many of them are free. You want to be sure the site gets a lot of traffic by potential tenants, otherwise you are probably wasting your time. Check out how many visitors the site gets and how many properties are listed in your area (and how long the posting has been listed on that site). One site that I really like is http://www.tenant.com/. They are currently free for landlords to list their properties and tenants to view properties. You can upload pictures, provide property details, etc. The site seems to get a fair share of traffic and they have lots of good quality listings that might draw potential renters to the site. Positives: free, depending on the site, you can get very qualified prospects if you provide enough detail. Negatives: need to do your research to pick a good quality site with good traffic so that you are not wasting valuable advertising time. Sometimes, you may also get emails from scam artists and if you advertise at multiple sites, you’ll need to keep track of where you signed up so you can deactivate or chance your vacancy information at some point.
4. For Section 8 and government subsidized rentals: www.socialserve.com/, www.gosection8.com/. Both of these sites allow landlords to list their vacancies for free in order to attract tenants who are part of a variety of government subsidized rent programs. Positives: free, easy, very targeted. Negatives: choose categories of tenants carefully so that you get calls from ones in the programs you want to accept. Otherwise you will be inundated with applicants from all the programs, some of which might require modifications to your unit, etc.

Hope this list helps. It’s not all inclusive, but it does give you the list of what works for me. In my experience I have gotten dozens of contacts from For Rent signs and Craigslist in a very short time after advertising. Other online rental sites, including the ones from the government programs, have provided less prospective tenants, although seemingly better qualified because of the detail that I can provide in those listings. There are links to these sites and more at my site ManageRentalProperty.com .

If you are an active landlord, let us know what free advertising you like to use to fill your vacancies. The way we all grow into better property managers is by sharing.

Warmest Regards,

Steven Boorstein

Author and Landlord

http://www.mangerentalproperty.com/

http://www.howtobuyrentalproperty.com/