Marketing – Propertyware

Top 15 Websites for Advertising Your Rental Listing in 2022

Laurie Mega — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 22:19:32 +0000

As property managers, we work in a world where renters are looking for dynamic content—rental reviews, social integration, 3D walkthroughs, and other interactive media—that gives them more than the number of bedrooms and baths. Today, web traffic is as important as foot traffic in getting units filled. So, where should you focus your attention? Below, we’ve listed the 25 best rental listing sites and what each brings to the table for your business:

1. Your Website

Your website should be advertising central for your rental property listings. This is where you can feature photos, videos, 3D tours, detailed information, and the ability to connect easily with your property management staff. Not only must your site feature properties in a beautiful and informative way, it should integrate SEO best practices to help it get a higher search engine ranking, as well. According to Pew Research, 85% of Americans own a smartphone and 15% are smartphone only users (those who access the internet only through a smartphone).That’s why it’s so important to optimize for mobile. Help your prospective tenants see all of the features of your properties in a timely manner with a fast, mobile-friendly website and thorough, attractive listings. Still need a website that’s clean, easy to use, mobile-friendly and built to maximize lease inquiries? Click here to check out Propertyware’s property management website solutions. [Additional Reading: How To Become a Property Manager]

2. Zumper

Zumper is a value-added site that offers up neighborhood information and city guides for your tenants. Its initial listings feature minimal information and a single photo, but its detailed listings offer you the opportunity to add an engaging paragraph about your property. Zumper also gives you the opportunity to upload 3D tours and videos of your property. You can also use Zumper to screen prospective residents and collect rent.

3. Realtor.com

Realtor.com manages both rentals and real estate sales. It only accepts listings from property managers and owners. The interface is a little less straightforward and attractive than sites like Zillow, but it provides a simple search function for price and location.

4. Zillow

With its photo listings, interactive map, and ability to sort by features such as bedrooms, bathrooms, and rental price easily, Zillow is a popular rental property listing site. It also allows prospective tenants to compare two listings side by side.

5. Apartment List

Apartment List is a marketplace that brings renters and property owners together. Apartment List gets to know renters through a comprehensive set of questions to help them find a home they’ll love. Property managers can list their apartments for free, are connected to high-quality leads, and only pay if a renter leases through the platform.

6. Avail

Avail is owned by Realtor.com, which also owns Trulia, Walk Score, Padmapper, Doorsteps, Zillow, Hotpads, Apartmentlist, and Apartments.com. When you list with Avail, your listing is syndicated across all of those sites at once.

7. Padmapper

Padmapper has a fun, interactive map that allows prospective renters to set a price, set a number of bedrooms, and look at cities across North America that suit their price range. Renters won’t see your actual listing until after the initial search when they dig a little deeper.

8. Trulia

Trulia is an attractive and simple property listing site that allows renters to set parameters to see a group of photo listings with vital statistics about a property right underneath. Make sure you have a single great photo for adding your property to this site. [Additional Reading: How to Start a Property Management Company]

9. Apartment Guide

Apartment Guide has a very simple, graphic format with an interactive map. The latest listings show up in red on the map, so that renters can see what’s fresh on the market. It’s also easy for tenants to see whether a property is pet-friendly, and there’s a bulleted list of amenities that you’ll need to fill out.

10. Rentals.com

Rentals.com makes it easy for tenants to search for exactly the type of home they want, with searches compiled into condos, lofts, duplexes, and more. There’s less information required about amenities, and it has your contact information and the availability flagged to press people to call. With all of the calls you’ll be receiving about your property, did you know that Propertyware can ensure that you never miss another leasing call again?

11. Rentdigs

Rentdigs features free photo listings. Prospective tenants can not only find rentals, they can also find rent-to-own homes and moving company quotes. Rentdigs features a single photo and some simple information on the listing, so make sure your photo is a good one.

12. Rent.com

At first glance, Rent.com appears to be largely geared toward apartment rentals but it features a significant number of rental houses, as well. It’s also one of the higher traffic sites on the list. So it’s definitely worth checking out when you’re looking for your next potential tenants.

14. Apartments.com

As the name suggests, Apartments.com (as well as Apartmentfinder.com, its subsidiary) are popular sites that provide a free popular tool for long-term rentals of apartments and condos. Apartments.com offers deals and can provide upfront savings for users if they end up renting through the site.

15. Move

Move is a one-stop shop that provides many services for experienced renters or buyers who know exactly where they want to live and what they want in a home or apartment. It also caters to seniors who may require assisted living, continuing care, and independent living. This company has a database of listings that is viewed by a customer base of 40 million people and provides many helpful tips and links for topics such as owning pets, renting versus buying, painting, decorating and moving.

Other Listing Options

1. Social Media

Don’t underestimate the power of non-housing sites to advertise your rental property listings. If you have a listing on a site or on your website, you can advertise it to your community through social media. If you’re having particular difficulty renting a property, create an infographic with property details. While Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram may not be property-focused, they allow you to reach out to your communities and turn the search for tenants into a more sociable experience.

2. Airbnb

Airbnb connects a community of homeowners directly to customers seeking short-term rentals. Note that Airbnb is geared toward vacation and short-term rentals. If you’re looking for a year-long lease or more, this isn’t the place to list.

3. VRBO

Vacation Rentals By Owners is a top-ranked site that specializes in vacation rentals homes, apartments, condos, B&B cabins, beach houses, villas, etc. Like Airbnb, it is geared toward short-term rentals.

4. Nextdoor

Nextdoor.com has carved out a unique space on the internet as a private social networking site for local neighborhoods, with 80% of neighborhoods across the US relying on the information and services it provides its members. Think Facebook for your community. It’s a popular site for realtors to brand their services and for landlords to list rentals to a highly engaged and active local community.

5. Facebook Marketplace

With over 1 billion monthly global users, Facebook Marketplace is a great place to list your apartment. Marketplace shows users only local listings, so your listing won’t end up in front of a far-flung audience unlikely to rent from you.

6. Walk Score

As its name suggests Walk Score is another niche site whose mission is to promote walkable neighborhoods for those residing in apartments. This is a popular add-on feature to a property management website as it appeals to renters concerned with transportation costs, commute times, access to public transportation or a property’s location to activities, businesses, schools etc.

7. People With Pets

Last but not least, People With Pets. As the name suggests, our often overlooked four-legged family members now have their very own site. This site is essentially a national directory of pet-friendly homes, apartments, and hotels. For renters, this site is free to use, for property managers it charges $99 a year for advertising your pet-friendly property to the approximately 72% of renters that own pets.

8. Sublet.com

Don’t let the name fool you, Sublet.com is not just about sublets. You can list every type of rental here; short term, long term, vacation, furnished and unfurnished as well as private and room rentals. Landlords can post a standard listing for free, but a premium listing can receive up to 500 times more leads and includes tenant screening, employment and criminal background checking services for a sliding-scale fee based on the market you’re listing in.

9. Craigslist

The ubiquitous Craigslist is where people turn for almost everything, including housing that’s focused on a specific metropolitan area. The benefits: it’s inexpensive, and it allows you to write in your own way and with your own photos. The drawbacks: you’ll get many inquiries from those who aren’t serious about your rental and many that are flat-out scams.

10. Oodle

Like Craigslist, Oodle is a classified listing service that includes rental housing. While it’s not solely focused on property listings, it’s good for attracting renters who are local and may stumble on your listing as they browse for other items. As you optimize your rental property marketing and start exploring the best rental listing sites for your business, keep in mind that there’s tools out there to help you make the best first impression on potential residents. Beyond making it easy to syndicate your listings over multiple listing sites, Propertyware lets you instantly update property information, such as unit availability, pricing, floor plans and more—not to mention automatic lead tracking. Whether you’re just getting started listing your units, or expanding to new markets, we’re here to help make property management easier. Explore Propertyware

The post Top 15 Websites for Advertising Your Rental Listing in 2022 appeared first on Propertyware.

7 Pro Tips to Improve the Lead-to-Lease Conversion Process for Your Single-Family Properties

Murphy McNutt — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 12:49:49 +0000

By: Laurie Mega This is the first in a series of posts to help property managers for single-family homes make their businesses more efficient, reduce costs, and increase profits. This article, one of four that will highlight lessons taught by our training team, will focus on lead-to-lease conversion. Every single-family property manager looks for opportunities to make their business more efficient, not only to save money but also to increase customer satisfaction among owners and renters. You’ve tweaked your leasing process and looked for places to reduce costs throughout your business already many times over. But have you looked at your lead-to-lease process holistically and the critical points where you can do even better with technology’s help? Speeding up the lead-to-lease process and honing your conversion throughout your leasing and marketing funnel has big potential benefits, including:

Reduced vacancy rates and time on market
Fewer staff members dedicated to marketing and leasing
Improved team productivity and overall morale
More and better-qualified leads without committing more time and money
Clearer, more efficient processes for your company
A better experience for both tenants and owners

More property managers are turning to tech to make their lead-to-lease process more efficient. Let’s walk through the entire lead-to-lease cycle to highlight some of the ways in which the right tech can help you do the same.

#1. Level Up Your Marketing Process

A key place to look for efficiencies and cost-saving measures is in your marketing strategy and spend – making sure your plan is hyper-focused on finding the most qualified leads before moving them through to the application process.

Customized Listings with a Listing Widget

You’ll want to start by looking at the level of customizability in your listings and the technology you’re using to manage them. Listing widgets allow you to customize your listings on your website easily. Not only can you carry over your branding to all of your listings, but a good listing widget will let you embed video and virtual 3D tours as well. They also allow you to include a tour-scheduling link so that prospects can schedule showings on the go. Finally, you can use a listing widget to target your listings to the right search criteria, based on how you want your audience to be found and categorized. Enhanced filters allow prospects to search for homes based on specific amenities, price, or location.

Track Your Property Listings in Real-time

Once your listings are up, you’re certainly not just sitting back, waiting for prospects to come to you. Instead, you’re monitoring those listings to make sure they’re getting the traction they should be. With customizable software, you’ll be able to decide how you’d like to connect your applicant leads to your marketing process. No matter how you accomplish that, it’s still a good idea to set up your software to measure and compare the number of views versus the number of applicant requests you’re getting. Keep an eye on market trends, and adjust rent price, featured amenities, or other elements as needed. And it’s always wise to track where your leads are coming from, so you can focus your time and money on the sources with the best ROI.

#2. Use Tech to Track Your Entire Process

With sophisticated lead tracking, no one falls through the cracks. Once a lead comes in, a lead-tracking system (supported by customizable software) can log where every prospect is in the process – from first contact, to tour, to application, to screening and signing. Lead tracking will also help you get a macro view of your lead-to-lease cycle and make better decisions on optimizing it. You can see where leads are coming from and what kinds of leads they are. You can determine if and when in the process you’re losing leads, as well. All of this information can help you tighten it up and push the right applicants through.

#3. Implement Virtual and Self Tours

Once a rare nice-to-have, virtual and self-guided tours of homes are now a must-have. According to the digital twin tech company, Matterport, listings with immersive photography and virtual tours capture 49 percent more leads, and 95 percent of people they talked to were more likely to call about a property with a 3D virtual tour. Aside from increasing the number of leads, Buildium points out other notable benefits: ● Expand your lead pool: Prospects can tour your homes anytime, anywhere, which expands the number of people who see your post. ● Collect highly qualified leads: Prospective tenants get more information about your homes upfront, so your leads are more likely to be people for whom your home fits their criteria. 3D property tours can be a bit pricey, but they’re good for the life of the property. Until you decide to update or renovate a property, you can pull out the same virtual tour every time you rent it. Just make sure you review the protocol to make sure nothing has changed. You may find that this transparency level will make a difference and have a halo effect on your conversion rate. To evaluate virtual tours’ effectiveness, try A/B testing (measuring the impact of including and excluding a single variable) on similar properties to understand if the difference is worth the investment across your portfolio.

#4. Activate Online Applications

With an online application, prospects can apply anytime and from anywhere. That means you can capture more prospective tenants, even outside of regular business hours. Usually, applicants can track their application’s progress online, eliminating the need to call your office to check on their status. Of course, you could use an online form to capture applicant information, but an application portal can make your application process even more efficient. With an application portal, prospective tenants can save and come back to their application at their convenience. When they’re finished, applicants will be notified. Additionally, users of Propertyware can see where the applicant is in the process, including those who haven’t finished their application. Pro tip: Even if one of your properties isn’t available, it’s also recommended that you set up your application process with a waitlist. In the case the property does become available again in the short term, you’ll already have another solid potential tenant on deck.

#5. Use a Leasing Contact Center

While a detailed rental property listing will eliminate some phone calls, you’re still going to get lots of calls from prospective tenants. Instead of dedicating staff to taking those calls, consider using a leasing call center. They will take on all those questions prospects and applicants have, freeing up your staff for other critical tasks. Still, be aware that any call center team will only be as good as the data you provide. This is precisely why having detailed listings (and technology) to inform any support team is central to its success.

#6. Digitize Tenant Screening

A good online tenant screening tool will allow you to check credit scores and criminal background all in one place. But a great tenant screening tool, like Propertyware’s AI-powered screening, measures the ability to pay against the willingness to do so and other factors to come up with a comprehensive score that assesses the risk of a prospective tenant. For example, a prospective tenant who carries a lot of debt may not have the best credit rating, but they may still be able – and very willing – to pay their rent. An AI-powered tenant screening tool will take into account their entire payment history and won’t look only at that low credit score.

#7. Get Electronic Lease-Signing and E-Payment Solutions

Just like the online application process, e-signing and e-payment allow approved tenants to complete the lead-to-lease process on the go. This allows you to generate revenue for you and your owners more quickly. With a property management tool, the system will alert you when the lease is signed. Not to mention everything will be recorded and you’ll sidestep needless administrative work. No doubt you’ve set up a well-oiled lead-to-lease machine that works well for your company. But, as with everything, there’s always room to get better, stronger, and faster. Take a look at your process and see if any of these steps could help your business reduce costs, improve on-market times and vacancy rates, and increase revenue for you and your owners. While this article is a high-level overview of the leasing process, Propertyware gives users detailed guides to unlimited customizations. If you’re interested in learning more about Propertyware’s software or the detailed onboarding provided to our clients, contact us.

The post 7 Pro Tips to Improve the Lead-to-Lease Conversion Process for Your Single-Family Properties appeared first on Propertyware.

Property Management Tools for COVID-19 Readiness

Jessica Rivera — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:39:47 +0000

No matter what is going on in the world, our mission remains to support property managers in every way we can—so that they can dedicate their time and attention to what matters most. There are undoubtedly unanticipated challenges ahead that COVID-19 will bring upon your business operations. The good news is that we are already seeing the power of knowledge sharing, community, and technology help us get through this together. The following post highlights the features of Propertyware for you, our customers, that can be quickly put into action. We realize this is a small piece of the puzzle that you are currently faced with solving, but in light of everything, we hope some of the information below will help bring this shifting day-to-day a little more online and a lot more within your control. We’ll continue to update this list and others as we find more resources that can help you manage “a new normal” during this time.

Managing Owner, Tenant and Vendor Communication and Payments Online

Tenant Portal

For whom: Your tenants
For what: A tenant portal for mass communications, online payments, online service requests, conversations and document sharing.
Why it helps: Encourages social distance. A tenant portal supports 100% digital communication from tenants’ phones or computers to you.
How to use it: Provide up-to-the-minute mass communication giving them a direct line to reach you. Allows tenants to both pay online and submit service requests in real time.

Text Messaging (Available for Plus & Premium Plans)

For whom: You and your tenants, owners and vendors.
For what: Fast communication, getting text messages out to your tenants, owners and vendors quickly.
Why it helps: Encourages social distance and is 100% online through Propertyware.
How to use it: Share important notices, documents and updates with tenants utilizing the text messaging platform.
How to get started: Enable text messaging in your account and invite tenants to participate in text messaging through Propertyware. If you do not have text messaging, please contact your sales representative or email sales@propertyware.com.
Ways to communicate with your tenants: Email, community bulletin and conversations within the portal and text messaging.

Online Payments

For whom: You and your tenants and owners.
For what: Collecting rent and fees, plus distributing owner draws, vendor payments and owner contributions.
Why it helps: Eliminates the need for personal contact to make payments and owner contributions or distributions. The funds transfer is initiated through smartphone or computer. Tenant payments can be set up as recurring.
How to use it: Tenants and owners can set up their payment accounts through the portal and initiate payments. Vendor account information is added to the Vendor profile under the ePay/Banking tab. Owner account information is added to the owner contact record under the ePay/Banking tab.
How to get started: If you do not have online payments set up, contact your sales representative or email sales@propertyware.com.

Owner Portal

For whom: You and your property owners.
For what: Allow owners to view real-time financials, work orders, and all activities on their respective properties, as well as share documents, statements and conversations with your owners. Owners also have the ability to contribute money to their properties electronically, ensuring there is no delay in payment to your business or vendors.
Why it helps: Maintains complete social distance. Digital access to financials and communications, as well as to electronic payment options, allows the business to operate fluidly and share information as they normally would.
How to use it: Share access with owners to provide visibility and reduce phone calls.
How to get started: Enable owner portals within Propertyware.
Ways to communicate with your owners: Through the community bulletin within the portal, conversations, text messaging and email.

Tenant & Owner Emails

For whom: Your tenants and owners.
For what: Communicating important messages in mass with owners and tenants.
Why it helps: Keeps them in the loop on important announcements and communications. Keeps the volume lower on your temporarily limited phone resources.
How to use it: http://propertyware.force.com/KB2/articles/Instructional/Send-Email-To-All-Active-Owners/?q=mass+email+to+tennats&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1, http://propertyware.force.com/KB2/articles/Instructional/Email-All-Tenants/?q=mass+email+to+tenants&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

Managing your Applications and Lease Signings/Renewal Signings

Online Applications

For whom: You and your applicants.
For what: For applicants to apply for your units from anywhere through any mobile device.
Why it helps: All actions can be taken by the applicant, and you are notified in real time when an application is submitted. No need to meet in the office or at property—100% digital.
How to use it: Utilize the modern rental listing widget and application portal to allow applicants to apply online for a specific property.
How to get started: Customize the modern rental listing widget and application portal within Sites.

eSignature (Plus & Premium Subscriptions)

For whom: You, applicants, and residents.
For what: Applications, Leases, Lease Renewal Agreements and any document requiring signatures.
Why it helps: Eliminates in-person contact for the signing of leases. Allows applicants to sign a legally-binding application or lease electronically, without required physical interaction between the property management company and the applicant or tenant.
How to use it: Put in place customizable templates with required electronic signature tags and execute documents from anywhere. ESignature application settings are located in the Sites module.
How to get started: If you not subscribed to eSignature, contact your sales representative or email sales@propertyware.com.
Link to helpful information to get started: http://propertyware.force.com/KB2/articles/How_To/eSignature-Mail-Merge-PDFs/?q=esignature&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

COVID-19 is unlike any challenge that we’ve seen before, and over the coming weeks, there may be new situations that arise as this pandemic unfolds. We’ll be in touch with additional insights and recommendations to put technology into practice, along with ways that we are seeing property managers work through it all. On Wednesday April 1, Join Propertyware VP Inaas Arabi and RealPage VP/Deputy Chief Economist Jay Parsons for the live webcast, COVID-19: Impact on Single Family Rentals. You can register here: https://propertyware1.wpengine.com/webcasts/covid-19-impact-single-family-rentals/ We are also adding live COVID-19 Q&A sessions to our instructor led training starting this Friday 3/27 and the following Fridays, 4/3 and 4/10. Log into your account to access Propertyware University and register.

The post Property Management Tools for COVID-19 Readiness appeared first on Propertyware.

How Contact Centers Improve Work/Life Balance for Property Management Staff

Leah Mendes — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 14:21:34 +0000

Sometimes, the simple things can improve work/life balance in property management. Just having someone there to pick up the phone, answer an email or respond to a live chat request can give a leasing staff much needed breathing room, no matter the time of day or night. Single family property managers can’t always be there to take every leasing inquiry or maintenance call, especially when call volumes are high. And believing that most prospects or tenants will call back if they don’t get an answer or reply right away is a false assumption. Covering the bases and providing a great customer experience can be stressful without a little help. “Running a business is not an easy task, which we all know typically comes with wearing a ton of hats,” said rental industry leader Hannah Lau, a Vice President of Operations at RealPage, Inc. “We have found during office hours that the contact center can capture 50 percent of calls that would have gone to voicemail, of which 80 percent will not leave a message and 55 percent won’t inquire again.” Associates at Blackwell Property Management in Charles Town, W.V. know first-hand the value of a contact center. Since choosing Propertyware Contact Center, the full-service property management company has been able to focus on improved customer service and grow business knowing that inbound inquiries are getting handled around the clock.

Enabling staff life after business hours

“Propertyware Contact Center gave us back our private lives, so for the first time we can really leave work behind when we leave the office,” said associate Melissa Francis. Propertyware Contact Center ensures management companies like Blackwell Property Management are open for business after hours. Professionally-trained, live agents are an extension of the front office, capturing every leasing call and email and offering 24/7 maintenance request support on multiple channels. The Leasing Contact Center ensures every call and email is answered in real-time, no exceptions, by live agents who are trained to fit the specific needs of the property and sales strategy. The solution has proved to enable users to sign 2.7 times more leases.

Improving customer service without hiring new employees

Patrick Blood said the Contact Center has enabled Blackwell Property Management to improve service without adding headcount. The company’s property listings have doubled in size as a result. “When a client calls they are speaking with someone who’s seeing their account live,” he said. “This attention to detail has allowed us to double our doors in the past year, taking us from 200 to 400 properties under management.” A contact center enables properties to optimize workforces, understand where their leads originate, gain market visibility and deliver consistent quality, among other advantages. Maintenance teams have become essential to the image of property management companies over the years. The Propertyware Contact Center is committed to providing a great tenant experience when repairs or services need to be completed. A proprietary dispatching system allows maintenance techs or vendors to listen to a recording of the conversation between the tenant and the Contact Center agent. This allows the technician to become familiar with the issue, even before even contacting the tenant. In addition, the vendor is provided with a work order with pertinent details in your Propertyware system, such as the issue, whether or not pets are inside, and if there are locks on the door. It’s a level of customer service that goes above and beyond. “We’d need two more eight-hour shifts to match the benefits we receive from the Propertyware Contact Center,” Blood said. Learn how Propertyware Contact Center can support your business.

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How to Efficiently Market Vacant Properties for Rent

pwadmin — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 14:22:37 +0000

When reading the title of this blog, there is one word that is key: vacant. Many times, rental property owners skirt around this crucial step of the process. They will attempt to advertise an occupied home to prospective tenants. The obvious issue with this is that the rental home isn’t empty yet. It is still occupied, so how can you forecast when it will actually be vacated in some cases, and start preparing for a new tenant? You can’t, so don’t do it. Trying to coordinate showings, move outs/move ins, cleanliness, and deposit refunds becomes a tight rope to walk if everything goes hassle-free. Imagine lining up a new tenant to move in and your current tenants request another two weeks because their new home isn’t ready. What would you do?

First steps for vacant rental properties

Once a property becomes vacant and cleaned/prepared for a new tenant, you can start trying to attract the best prospective tenant. The key to efficient rental property marketing is honesty. When potential tenants view a rental home in person, they want it to match up with the expectations you provided online. If it doesn’t, you will have just wasted their time and yours! Show imperfections in your ads and photos, because they promote honesty and will provide you prospective tenants that are the best match for your rental home. A good rule of thumb is to share between 18-24 photos for a property. Take photos of all of the rooms, storage areas, parking, laundry, common areas and exterior. This will give the prospective tenant a solid idea of your offering. If you only show one photo, you are leaving a huge void in the mind of the prospective tenant. The more details you provide, the more successful you will be.

Save time with video to market vacant properties

The next way to create an efficient listing is to perform a virtual walk through with a three to five minute video. With nothing more than your smartphone, take a stroll around the rental home and provide commentary. Explain the dimensions of the room, features offered and any restrictions (For example, “Please note a king bed will not fit in this bedroom”). Details like this will engage your audience and bring you closer to a qualified, high-caliber applicant. A short video will not give the prospective tenant a full picture, and a video that is too long will probably lose their attention span.

Stick to the facts and forget the fluff

When you post a rental home listing online, include as many details as possible. Avoid subjective words that are up for interpretation. For example, instead of describing a property as: “Beautiful, Charming, Sunny 1 Bedroom in Great Area!” try a title with explanatory terms, such as “1 Bed, Hardwoods, Granite, Parking, Laundry, Pets OK, No Storage.” Factual titles provide clear information to prospective tenants. Your definition of charming and beautiful may not be the same as someone else. Avoid terms that are debatable. In property management, it is not about glamour and prestige. Unlike the house sales market, renters tend to prefer the basics in amenities and folks are usually looking for a clean, affordable place to live. Many property managers will also want to place “For Rent” signs outside the property. This will certainly attract phone calls, but the phone calls may be low quality. Most likely, prospective tenants won’t have any information on the rental home, other than the area it is located in (and whatever you can squeeze on the sign with a marker). If you follow these simple steps, you will find that your lead quality is much higher, and your time spent is boiled down to the minimum needed. In a world full of inefficient property managers, you can be ahead of the pack by light years—making you more savvy, respected and profitable! Nick D’Agnillo is the CEO & Founder of Nexus Property Management, a national property management franchise with offices in Pawtucket, RI, Fall River, MA, and Destin, FL. D’Agnillo’s company manages all types of rental property—from single family homes or condos to large apartment buildings and complexes.

The post How to Efficiently Market Vacant Properties for Rent appeared first on Propertyware.

Creating Powerful Rental Property Listings with Propertyware’s New Listing Widget

Leah Mendes — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 10:28:16 +0000

Rental property listings play a key role in attracting single-family rental prospects. An effective property listing tool has the power to solve core leasing challenges, drive overall activity and increase conversions. Propertyware’s updated Listing Widget employs new technology to offer advanced search capabilities, innovative display options and a sleek and customizable user interface.

Enhanced capabilities

The journey to a signed lease often begins with an online search. The Listing Widget, updated to modernize the prospect shopping experience, now includes sophisticated Search and Featured Rental tools. With improved ease, potential renters can search a company’s portfolio to identify property matches for specific rental needs. New filtering options allow users to shop with a new level of granularity. Featured variables include property type, desired amenities, pet type, move in-date and move-in date flexibility. Prospects can also search via an easy-to-navigate, interactive map. Both map view and list view experiences automatically reformat to perfectly display on desktops, tablets and mobile devices. In addition to user-driven search criteria, the new tool allows property management companies to highlight featured rentals within a carousel that can be placed anywhere on their website. The same carousel now also integrates video.

Next-level details

For prospects, finding the right property can be a daunting task. For property management companies, capturing a prospect’s attention can prove difficult. But a few key details can ease user frustrations, elevate the search experience and lend to a higher conversion rate. The updated Listing Widget includes optional buttons like “Apply,” “Contact Agent” and “Schedule a Tour.” The new tour scheduling functionality integrates third-party scheduling tools to create a seamless, end-to-end process for getting prospects through the door. Banners are another game changer and can be automated to complement a company’s workflow. Available property-specific banners include “Now Available,” “Coming Soon,” and “Newly Remodeled,” as well as time-bound promotional banners like “Weekend Special – No Deposit!” The new Infinite Scroll display was similarly designed with conversions in mind. Previously, users could only view 10 search results per page. Sorting results could be an arduous process for the user, causing them to break from the search – or bounce from the website altogether. With Infinite Scroll, the browsing experience is interruption free.

Customizable visuals

Rental property listings can stand out from the competition by mirroring a company’s unique aesthetics. Propertyware’s Listing Widget offers advanced flexibility in customization options. Companies can match their web presence with new control configurations that adjust font types, font sizes, font color and button visibility. Additionally, there are options to show prospects nearby and related listings that feature similar location, rent range and square footage. For more information on the newly enhanced Listing Widget, and to view a video demo, check out this link!

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Five Ways to Highlight Every Rental Property’s Most Sellable Features

Leah Mendes — Tue, 01 May 2018 18:39:47 +0000

Every property is different—and each one has features that make it stand out from the rest of the rental opportunities nearby. Knowing how to bring those to the forefront to attract new tenants, however, is the challenge. Luckily, there are a few simple ways to highlight these features with minimal photography skills and budget. If you do it right, you can also start building a brand for yourself, thanks to engaging videos, improved Instagram posts and more. Keep these tips in mind as you prepare for spring and summer rental season.

Photograph the right features

The first step in highlighting your property’s most sellable features is to share photos of the right features—a.k.a. the features your potential tenants will care most about. These features can be both design-focused and functional; a mix of the two may appeal to the widest audience. Focus on features like crown molding, new appliances, large outdoor or patio space, and newly renovated areas of the home. To make sure tenants see the property from every angle, put the images into a collage: “This allows somebody glancing through listings to see interior and exterior shots all at once. Because our homes are so beautifully staged, the split photos get a lot of attention and sets it apart from every other listing,” says Paul Moore, of Smith Mountain Homes. You can also add multiple images to Facebook Carousel ads or Instagram’s new multi-photo upload feature to create a well-rounded view of the property.

Do virtual home tours

What better way to highlight your property than with a virtual tour? You can do this by taking a phone video and uploading to YouTube, or take live video with your Facebook or Instagram business page. Either way, this is also a great opportunity to engage with potential renters, so while giving the tour, ask questions. You might say: “We just finished this bathroom, and added the brand new clawfoot tub. Do you like that vintage style? Tell me in the comments!” “Tenants love using the back yard for grilling and hanging out with friends—the grill over there comes with the property. How often would you use this area?” If creating all videos on a social platform, be sure to download them and upload to your YouTube channel. You can begin creating different sections for each rental property, so anyone interested in your listings can get walking tours whenever they want.

Share high-quality images

Photographing the right features is important, and the next step is taking high-quality photos. Luckily, you don’t need an expensive camera or photography experience to do that. The new iPhone 7, for example, has made it even easier for you to get expert-quality photos all on your own, thanks to its new dual lens camera, which features a wide angle and telephoto lens, according to iPhone 7 Rumors Confirmed. Other new phones like the HTC M8 also have this feature, making it possible for you to take photos with depth of field. This is a feature traditionally found only in expensive SLR and DSLR cameras, providing you with a great opportunity for you to get high-quality photos without spending a lot.

Be a data-head

It’s hard to argue with facts, which is why using data to highlight the most sellable features is a great tactic for attracting new tenants. Here are a few data points to include in your listings and ads: Walkscore: Use this to attract tenants who care about accessibility to nearby retailers, grocery stores, restaurants and bars. The key is to know when to highlight it and when to leave it out. Alexa Collins, with Homelight, suggests leaving the walking score out if it’s not high enough: “Buyers who really care about Walkscore are people who want a place with tons of resources nearby, so if you have a score under 70 don’t add it to your listing but anything over 71 is advertising gold.” Crime stats: If a tenant is moving to your area from another town or city, they’re likely unfamiliar with the local crime rates. If yours are notable or lower than average, be sure to include them. This will especially appeal to families and people looking to live alone. Check sites MyLocalCrime and CrimeReports to get the information you’re looking for. Age of property: If you’re renting a new building or house, make that clear in your listing and ads. “It’s worth repeating that tenants want to avoid the hassle of tiresome repairs. Oftentimes, this means they will look for new properties with newer plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems that are less likely to break down and require repair,” says Andrea Collatz, with Legal Zoom.

Use tenant testimonials

No one knows what features are most appealing more than the people who have lived in your rental property. If you have a good relationship with tenants, ask them to write a small paragraph discussing the features they liked most about the property. Everyone will like different things, so this allows you to provide a wide, all-encompassing perspective for every potential renter. Feature these on social media, your website, or better yet—right on the listing page. Include first name, last initial and age range (20-25, 25-30). Age range is helpful because everyone appreciate different features at different times in their lives; this allows potential tenants to qualify the information in terms of whether it’s important to them. Featuring your properties most sellable features isn’t hard to do. With the right strategy and ideas, you can capture the essence of your rental property, attracting more people and building a brand for yourself. Register for “Unboxing the Listing Widget” and visit the Listing and Syndication page to learn about Propertyware’s newly enhanced, easy-to-use widget. You’ll discover how you can leverage your listing power to attract and convert more prospects into tenants. Jessica Thiefels has been writing and editing for more than 10 years and is now a professional freelancer and consultant. She’s worked with a variety of real estate clients, and has been featured on Forbes and Market Watch. She’s also an author for Inman, House Hunt Network, Homes.com and more. Follow her on Twitter @Jlsander07.

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Are You Still Giving Rental Property Tours on Site?

Ashley Chimal — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:43:00 +0000

There’s no question that choosing a home to live in is one of the most difficult decisions. It determines your lifestyle, your commute and the comfort of your day-to-day life. It’s also a lengthy process, which translates into a lengthy sales cycle for single family property management companies. Anything you can do to speed that process up is a definite plus. Fortunately, virtual reality is now in a position to do just that. After years of promises that virtual reality will change the world, it’s here. There are several VR headsets to choose from in all budgets—from Google cardboard to the Oculus Rift—that will literally put you in someone else’s shoes. To film, anyone can pull a smartphone out of their pockets and add a camera attachment like the Insta360, even shooting in 4K. When you’re ready, you can upload to YouTube360, a platform designed for the full immersion video that VR provides. It’s all there, on budget and ready for action. If you’re ready for a bigger production, you can hire a crew or put together a GoPro rig that will give you a higher production value. Regardless of your video’s quality, virtual tours can simplify the single family leasing process. Imagine a prospect doing a virtual tour of the property he or she is interested in renting and signing the lease right away. The benefits of providing property tours are overwhelming—the time savings, the increased interest in your property (prospects that take a tour are much more likely to lease), and the captive audience. In terms of time savings, not only does a virtual tour save travel time to your property, it also cuts down on cross talk when scheduling, not to mention the convenience of touring a property from one’s own home. Once the tour is done, you’ve essentially immersed the prospect in the features of your property, creating a connection viewing photos doesn’t quite reach. Finally, there’s the captive audience. Virtual reality is so immersive that it’s like being engrossed in your favorite TV show. These make up a unique value proposition. Don’t forget, there’s always the possibility of renting one of your other properties if the one they found doesn’t fit the bill. In addition, as your prospects are watching the VR experience, you can carefully monitor the metrics to find out where they pause with interest or end from apathy. Finally, with VR, you’re appealing to a younger generation that is not only comfortable with technology, but also expects you to offer more innovative features to make life easier. And while VR could still be considered as in its early adoption phase, the tools to exponentially speed up the leasing process are available now. With 25+ years of marketing communications experience and 20 years of digital, Brett Moneta is a consultant, strategist, and writer with a web, video, social media (and even print) background. Growing up with a family-owned swimming pool construction business, he learned the ins and outs of construction and real estate well. Brett has built content strategy for Fortune 50 companies and has been a national blogger for Talent Zoo’s Digital Pivot magazine. Presently, he works in Marketing at RealPage, Inc., a leading global provider of software data analytics to the real estate industry, where he’s been since 2015. Brett holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin: BS in Radio/Television/Film and a BA in English.

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5 Tips to Amp Up Your Rental Property Photos in 2018

pwadmin — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 03:30:34 +0000

Potential tenants are checking out your website and property photos before they ever set foot on your property. One way to improve at marketing your rental portfolio is with property photos.

However, these five best photography practices should be kept in mind before you hire a professional photographer or direct staff to take photos:

1. Start with good lighting

Before photos are taken, you should always make sure the space is well-lit. For interiors, open nearby blinds/windows and take advantage of natural light.

2. Quality is key

Say goodbye to tilted, pixelated, blurry photos. Pay attention to the quality of each photo. If a new camera is not in the budget, some newer mobile camera models will fit the bill.

3. Staging is important

Incorporate furniture and props to provide potential tenants a realistic idea of how their new home could look. Don’t forget to clear the clutter.

4. Highlight property details and game-changing renovations

Have you recently invested in major upgrades? Showcase new hardwood floors, granite countertops and an updated kitchen. Bonus points if you have recently replaced outdated appliances.

5. Choose wisely when editing

In case you end up with a tilted photo or bad lighting, you can enhance or adjust your photos with editing tools. For property photos, it’s best to stick to the basics. Increasing the brightness and contrast are good places to start, but don’t overdo it—tenants will wonder if you’re hiding something. With all of the tasks that property managers are faced with, photos are usually the last thing to think of. However, they can be the difference that gets a potential tenant to sign a lease.

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6 Marketing Strategies That Will Help You Rent Your Property

Marc Eiting — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 16:10:53 +0000

Do your property management systems include a proactive marketing strategy? Your marketing should be much more than a “for rent” sign on the street corner. By taking your marketing online and into the communities where you work, you can use a wide array of strategies to rent your property. 1. Target your audience, target your marketing If you don’t have a specific target market, you need to refine your focus. Understand the neighborhoods where you work. Who’s moving in, and who’s moving out? What do they value about that neighborhood? When you target your marketing initiatives, you’re more likely to find the right people for the rental. 2. Get social Social media plays a prominent role in the lives of tenants and prospects. Create social media accounts if you don’t have them already, including accounts like Instagram and Pinterest that focus on visual content and allow you to share photos of properties and neighborhoods. Maintain a consistent posting rate of several posts per week to maintain an active online presence, and post articles related to industry news and best practices along with advertisements for your properties. 3. Use word of mouth People will talk, and you can use this to your advantage. Ask your customers to write recommendations for your website, and give them incentives for sending friends your way. The more you can encourage them to give you a positive buzz in the community, the easier it will be to find new renters for your properties. 4. Develop interest before you need to market While your focus may be on renting today’s properties, you should be proactive and plan for tomorrow. Create email lists for different communities to gather a list of interested renters. Develop valuable community content for these lists to let people know about all of the wonderful parts of that community. Let them know what properties are available, as well. 5. Connect with the community If you have multiple properties in the same area, consider connecting with the community in a deeper way. Sponsor an activity at the local school or have a booth at a community festival. Hand out information in the community parade. By moving your brand into the public eye, you become a trusted source of rental properties that locals will recommend when their friends want to move into the area. 6. Market a community, not a property Different target audiences might value different amenities, but everyone values their community. That community means different things depending on your renters’ demographics. For young families, community could mean excellent schools and daycare, opportunities for inexpensive family activities, and safe neighborhoods. For seniors, community might mean libraries, recreation and seniors’ centers, and accessible walking trails. When you’re marketing a property you’re not just marketing that building, you need to market the entire neighborhood because that’s what your renters will value.

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