- Peak rental season is right around the corner during the summer months.
- Publish great listings before the peak season arrives to get the most exposure for early hunters.
- Use tech to make showings easier during the busy season.
Peak rental season is an exciting time for property owners like you who wish to rent their properties. It’s an opportunity to showcase your rentals and therefore maximize your earnings. However, without the right information on how to prepare for peak rental season, there’s always the risk of letting the opportunity just pass by in front of you.
In this article, we’ll talk about preparing for the peak rental season. We’ll also provide you with some helpful tips in order to maximize your chances of finding the ideal tenant.
When is the Peak Moving Season?
Across most of the United States, renters are preparing to make the challenging journey to their new home: will your property be their next choice? That depends on a few key factors–including how you choose to address your property listing.
Understanding why renters move when they do will help you make your property more appealing when it comes time to list your rental.
More than 70% of house-hopping will occur in the summer months; specifically between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Some of the top reasons why include:
- The ideal weather: Moving during winter comes with its own set of challenges. Most families looking for their next home will not want to move their belongings in cold winds, heavy rain, or snow. Not to mention the hazards of trying to carry a couch on ice.
- No classes: Families with children still in grade school and college students on a semester-based schedule will try to plan their moves during summer break. Most finals are done by Memorial Day making summer the perfect time for moving.
Given that the majority of your future renters will be hunting for their next home at the same time, listing your rentals during peak moving season will boost your exposure. However, your competitors are going to be employing the same strategy–so your rental homes will really need to stand out from the crowd.
Make Your Rental Properties Pop
With more eyes on your rental homes, now’s the time to go over your property listings and make sure they’re engaging enough to get the attention of applicants. If it’s been a while since you’ve had a refresher, getting started now will allow you to put the work in that you’ll need to get an appealing property listing up and running before Memorial Day.
List Your Property in Multiple Platforms
More eyes equal more opportunities to find the ideal renter. When listing your property, don’t settle for only one platform. If possible, list your properties on as many platforms as you can to ensure your property gets in front of as many prospects as possible.
Some of the places to list your rental property are:
- Zillow
- Trulia
- Hotpads
- Rentpath
- Poplar homes
You may also leverage social media to generate leads or find the ideal renter.
Be Clear and Concise With Your Property Description
When writing property descriptions, write everything your prospects need to know clearly and concisely. Nail down the basics like square footage, price, amenities, and fees. Then, use what you have left to help renters see themselves in your space.
Take Beautiful Photos
Beyond price, potential renters are going to be using the photos in your listing to decide if your property is even worth a visit. Ditch those dingy photos you took in 2005 and highlight the best aspects of your rentals.
Here are a few tips on taking photos of your property:
- Aim to take your pics during the “golden hour” when natural lighting is at its peak.
- Turn on all the lights in your properties during each photography session to highlight each space.
- Take photos from the corners of each area to maximize depth and make the most of smaller rooms.
You might also want to consider giving your property a proper cleaning and adding some design elements before taking photos. This will help your photos be more attractive to your potential renters.
Use 3D Mapping Technology
Aside from taking beautiful photos, you can also consider listing your property on platforms with 3D mapping technology like Poplar to showcase your rental property virtually.
3D virtual tours allow you to show a detailed floor plan and layout of your rental property as well as 360-degree photos of the entire space. This gives your prospective renters a better idea of what living in your property looks like without physically going into your property.
3D mapping is ideal for attracting customers who are not within the area or who can’t physically check out your property.
Update Your Screening Process to Maximize Success
As a rental property owner, you’re likely already aware of just how important your tenant screening process is when it comes to protecting your rental properties and ROI. In fact, it may be one of the most important things you do when it comes to growing your long-term wealth along with routine maintenance.
There are two ways to go about tenant screening: You can do it yourself or hire a tech-enabled property management company like Poplar to do it for you. One of the advantages of the latter is that the tenant screening process is done by professionals.
This helps ensure quality tenants and compliance with the Fair Housing Act. Additionally, it saves you time and effort from having to go through the background checks of several applicants.
If you’re intent on self-screening your renters, ensure you’re building the perfect partnership from the start. Your screening process should include a few of these key queries:
- Check for a history of evictions: A single eviction doesn’t tell the whole story about your renter, especially after a job-busting pandemic, but repeat evictions can indicate something might be amiss.
- Examine their credit history: Alone, credit history won’t always indicate if your potential applicant will be the right or wrong fit for your property. Still, you need to know if your prospective renter has a habit of missing payments.
- Conduct a thorough background check: This is essential to maintain peace and order within the neighborhood of your property. A carefully-conducted background check can save you stress and protect your finances down the line.
You will need to take care with your screening process to ensure there are no forms of bias–unconscious or otherwise. This is why it’s often best to leave your tenant screening to the professionals.
Use Smart Solutions for Rental Property Showings
You can bring your homes for rent into the 21st century by incorporating smart tech and digital solutions into the viewing process. Prospective renters will find the hands-off walk easy and appealing, especially for the millennials and their cohorts in Gen Z.
- Offer easy access to the property with remote locks operated by an app for every self-guided tour.
- Manage background screening and security for each property showing seamlessly with digital solutions.
- Book and schedule viewings online in advance so that there’s no confusion among prospective renters about when to visit.
- Conduct a 3D virtual tour to engage more prospects anywhere in the world
Final Thoughts
Although peak rental season is an exciting time for homeowners, finding the right occupant still needs a lot of time and effort.
With all the solutions available to rental property owners today, there’s no reason to settle when it comes to your property’s potential. Hire a property management company that covers tenant screening in their package. One of the latter’s advantages is that the tenant screening process is done by professionals and oftentimes, free.
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