Published: 17 March 2007.

Attracting prospective tenants in quite times!

Finding a suitable tenant for a rental property can often involve the same strategies and hard work as securing a new management. Quality tenants are becoming harder and harder to find and when you do find one, hang on to them as they are a valuable “asset� to the property management department! A quality tenant will make your day so much easier to manage.

During my property management consulting and training travels, I often hear the phrase that “tenant enquiries are slow at the moment or we have a high vacancy rate� - and I believe this to be true of those departments. But what are they doing about it? Property Managers need to not only focus on increasing their rent roll, but also must go out and market for quality tenants.

Take the time in your next property management meeting to sit down and develop unique marketing strategies for securing prospective tenants. Advertising in the local newspaper will generate enquiries, but you are also competing with every other real estate agent who is relying on this same form of advertising. Make contact with the tenants rather than waiting for the tenants to contact you.

Tips for Attracting Prospective Tenants:

Know your quiet times:
When trying to secure prospective tenants, it is important to monitor and know your market. Know your quiet months and your busy months. This can be achieved by monitoring your vacancy rate over a number of years. December to February is generally known for being busy months. However; June to August in most areas tend to be a quieter time of the year. When you know you are coming up to your quiet months for sourcing tenants, increase your marketing (outside of the scope of advertising in the classifieds) to attract more enquiries.

Establish and manage a prospective tenant database:
It will take a little extra time, but make a commitment today to record every prospective tenant that comes into your office. Record their name, contact details, what they are looking for and most importantly ask for their email address.

A prospective tenant database will double as a powerful “marketing� tool when trying to win over prospective investors. When carrying out a listing presentation to secure a new management, you can highlight to the investor that you currently have XXX tenants registered on your database. This could be the defining point (or unique selling point) of securing the listing. Securing a tenant is often one of the most important factors a prospective investor will take into consideration when appointing an agent.

Email your rental listings to your prospective tenant database:
Once you have obtained the tenants contact details, at the click of a button you can keep in contact with the tenant and update them on your rental listings.

Let other tenants in the street, complex or unit block know about your listings

If you have a property that becomes available near another managed property, educate your receptionist to advise the tenants living near by (that come into your office) about the property. Tenants often have friends and family that want to live near to them.

Develop a template marketing flyer for the available rental property to enable you to letterbox drop a street or unit complex to advise all residents of the vacant property. (For security purposes, just list the street address without the property number)

Rental listing sheets:
Allocate time each week or fortnight to visit your local community to place your rental listing sheet on their notice board. For example: shopping centres, kindergartens, surf clubs, bowls clubs, local shops etc.

This not only gets your rental listings out in the community, but is sending a message that you are active in the market place. Remember, when you are advertising for tenants, you are also advertising to prospective investors.

Develop relationships with key people in the community:
Take the time to contact large organisations in your area to develop relationships and offer assistance for their internal staff’s accommodation needs. For example: hospitals, airports, relocation companies, large professional firms, colleges & schools.

Utilise window cards or a LCD screen:
Display your rental listings to the public in out of office hours. Most real estate office window displays are full of sales listings and overlooks the importance of promoting the property management department. Even if you only have limited window space, ensure that you have “at least� one or two window card spaces for the property management department.

Website:
More and more tenants are getting on line to source their next rental property. Ensure that you have your rental properties on your website and that they are kept up to date.

Current Tenants:
If you look after your tenants they will want to stay with you. Look at ways of developing relationships with your current tenants. For example: gifts when they move in, keep them up to date via a regular tenant newsletter (which will also include your rental listings), develop tenant loyalty programs etc.

Telephone Recordings:
Consider the possibility of having a dedicated rental line to record your rental listings. This can be a simple voice recording or you may wish to consider more advanced technology that will assist in automating the process.

Author Debbie Palmer LREA

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